Check out the advanced box score from last night’s dismal Brooklyn Nets loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic here.
Five final takeaways:
- For all the talent the Nets added this offseason, they didn’t appear to find an immediate fix for one of their biggest weaknesses: defending quicker, more athletic teams playing with purpose. The Magic dominated the Nets in second-chance points (23-12) and fast-break points (12-3). Those two figures account for a 20-point Magic advantage in a game they won by 21.
- The Nets have some of the most talented midrange shooters in the league, and it’s going to kill them if they treat the midrange game like they did Sunday night. They went back to it time and time again, early and late in the shot clock, open spot-up or off the dribble, whether it was the best look they could get in 24 seconds or not. 39 of the team’s 89 shots were two-pointers outside the paint, and Orlando’s defense wasn’t that stingy.
- Holy Victor Oladipo:
But he did get a “Welcome to the NBA” moment from Paul Pierce:
- We’ve known since day one that this is a potentially explosive blend of offensive talent, a blend we saw on display Friday night against the Miami Heat. When this team is locked in offensively, forget just this year –they’ve got a chance to be one of the most dangerous offensive teams ever. But Sunday night proved that the Nets are going to have off nights, where they still feel out each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and that feeling-out process will result in some clunkers like this.
- Former Nets coach Avery Johnson, while still coaching the team, said that it doesn’t really matter what offense you run — the pick-and-roll offense, the zipper offense, the triangle offense, whatever — you’ve still got to put the ball in the basket. For much of the first half, the Nets did run a successful offense and got good looks at the basket, they just couldn’t convert. That doesn’t concern me. But in the second half, the Nets seemed to eschew many of those principles, taking shots that weren’t readily apparent as a part of any offense. The Nets are only three games into an 82-game season, so there’s time for road bumps like this, but they can’t give up blowout losses to lottery-bound teams when they’re fighting for playoff position come March.
