Allright, this is going to be a quick one, short and sweet. We are going to be looking at defense exclusively here. In each one of these games, the Nets couldn’t stop one thing. Against the Bucks, the Nets couldn’t stop the pick and roll. Against the Hawks, the Nets couldn’t stop the three point shot. After the jump, we are going to look at some clips.
Nets vs. Bucks
Defending The Pick & Roll
It’s a side screen and roll here. Brook shows, to prevent Luke Ridnour from getting to the basket. So far we are looking good. Brook is wide, and he is forcing Ridnour towards the baseline.
Luke Ridnour gets to the baseline and he has nowhere to go. This is where the good defense stops. As Dooling tries to get back to Ridnour, he needs to get in the passing lane, to make Ridnour’s pass to Bogut harder. He doesn’t, so as Bogut cuts, he has a clear lane to receive the pass.
So the pass gets made, and since Dooling was out of position, he lunges for the steal, but just misses it. Notice the wide open lane for Bogut to drive through when he makes the catch.
By the time Lopez and Najera get to Bogut, it is too late because he was already allowed to load up his jump.
And he finishes with the dunk.
Nets vs. Hawks
Defending The 3 Point Shot
The Hawks shot 13-22 from 3 against the Nets. A lot of these three point shots were wide open looks with no hands in the shooters’ face. A lot of this was because the Nets gave the Hawks a heavy dose zone, but even in man to man defense, the Nets gave up a ton of open looks. This was because of poor rotations.
Mike Bibby makes the catch, and he gives Devin a pump fake. You have to close out hard on Bibby, he is a good shooter, so you have to respect the shot.
After closing out though, Devin needs to use his speed to regain position on Bibby, and not let him drive. Instead, Harris just reaches. I can’t understand this, Devin Harris is one of the quickest guard in the league, but slower guards continue to get by him because he chooses the lazy way out and reaches. Once he reaches here, Bibby puts him on his hip and forces the Nets into rotation.
Lee makes the correct rotation (he rotates over to Al Hortford as the pass gets made), but everyone else is late with their rotations.
As Al Hortford makes the catch, all 5 Nets are in the paint. After Hortford assess the situation, he realizes that Joe Johnson (one of the better shooters in the NBA) is wide open for 3.
Joe Johnson gets the pass, and is allowed to pull up for 3, without a defender getting a hand in his face. As the Nets continue to mis-rotate, Nets’ players are going to lose faith in their teammates in terms of rotations. So instead of allowing his man to get open shots, nobody is going to help, and opponents are going to be able to drive to the lane with ease. This is what I am most worried about, as this team moves forward, they need to clean up their rotations.
