New coach. Same broken offense. That's been the story for the Brooklyn Nets since the All-Star break.
The team is 1-3 under interim head coach Kevin Ollie, ranking dead-last in points per game (92.8) and field goal percentage (40.5) during the stretch.
A season-worst shooting slump for Mikal Bridges has been at the center of those struggles. Brooklyn's leading scorer is 2-of-25 from three over the last three games. He scored a season-low four points on 0-of-7 from distance during Tuesday's 108-81 loss to the Orlando Magic.
Despite the eye-opening cold stretch, Bridges isn't wavering from his three-point-heavy approach.
“It's just reading the game. When I’m open, I’m gonna take the threes,” Bridges said when asked if he feels he should be driving more. “They all feel good. They’re just not going in, unfortunately, which is not fun. Just gonna continue to take what the defense gives me and just keep being aggressive. The only way to get out of a slump is to keep shooting.”
Bridges' confidence as a shooter isn't without merit. The recent cold stretch follows one of the best shooting stretches of his career. Over 15 games prior, he shot 42.0 percent from deep on 9.5 attempts per game. Only one NBA player made more threes during that period: Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry.
Mikal Bridges' struggles vs. Magic
Cam Thomas was sidelined by an ankle sprain Tuesday. As a result, Orlando shifted all their focus to Bridges, blitzing pick-and-rolls to force the ball out of his hands. With Thomas' short-term status in question, interim head coach Kevin Ollie said he needs to find creative ways to get Bridges back in rhythm.
“I have to do a better job trying to get Mikal involved more. They were trapping his pick-and-rolls tonight, which led to him getting off the basketball. We just have to try to get him some more open looks so he can see that basketball go in,” Ollie said. “I just saw him not getting in a rhythm. They were blitzing the pick-and-rolls and I thought he was just trying to make the right play.
“When he got an opportunity to get some looks he just didn’t knock them down. But he had some good looks, and hopefully we can get those looks when we get back home… But when he does get some looks I know he’ll be able to knock those down.”
The Nets' 1-3 stretch has dropped them to 22-36 overall, four games back of the Atlanta Hawks for the Eastern Conference's final play-in spot. However, Atlanta recently lost Trae Young for at least a month due to a torn ligament in his left hand, and Brooklyn has the NBA's second-easiest remaining strength of schedule.
Bridges and Co. will have a prime opportunity to re-enter the play-in conversation when they return home to face the Hawks on Thursday and Saturday.
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