Brooklyn doesn't show up for game against Washington

Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn doesn’t show up for game against Washington

March 1, 2019

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Two nights after securing a big home win against the Spurs, Brooklyn decided not to show up to a home date against the Wizards. The Nets blitzed their way to a 10 point lead in the beginning. Two minutes and 19 seconds into the game, Brooklyn had built a 10-0 lead, and Washington called a timeout. Over the next 27 minutes and 9 seconds, the Wizards pummeled the Nets, outscoring Brooklyn by 32 points. With 6:28 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Washington was up 22.

The lead hovered around 22 for the next 10 and a half minutes. Bradley Beal, who tormented Brooklyn all night, hit a three with 7:59 left in the 4th quarter to push the lead to 24 points. The Nets subsequently called a timeout and waived the white flag. Once play resumed, Kenny Atkinson had functionally sent in a lineup change. Tahjere Mccall, Rodions Kurucs, Shabazz Napier, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson entered the game for D’Angelo Russell, Joe Harris, Jarrett Allen, and Allen Crabbe.

That reserve unit outscored Washington by 15 points during the remainder of the game. As a result, the final margin of victory was just 9, which is not properly indicative of how much the Wizards dominated.

A huge takeaway is how poor the defense played. Washington had crossed the 100 point mark by the end of the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn had absolutely no answer for Bradley Beal. This hits on some of the Nets’ biggest weaknesses, serious questions that need to be sorted out if they are to have a chance at winning a playoff series.

Observations

1. Poor Defense

Brooklyn allowed a 115.7 offensive rating in this game. 115.7 is almost equidistant between Golden State’s and Houston’s first and second place marks on the year. What’s more, the team had no response for Beal. The Wizards guard had 31 points on 22 shots, and was getting whatever he wanted with the ball in his hands.

It’s significant that Beal is who killed the Nets. While it is logical considering he is Washington’s best player, Brooklyn sorely lacks perimeter defense as a team. According to our data tools, two of the Nets five biggest weaknesses this year are perimeter defense and wing perimeter defense. The team ranks in the 3rd percentile of perimeter defense, and in the 12th percentile of wing perimeter defense.

The top five seeds in the east are jumbled together while the bottom three seeds are jumbled together. Brooklyn may draw Khris Middleton, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, or Jayson Tatum in the first round. The Nets need to be better than horrendous in guarding any of those players if they wish to have a prayer at winning a playoff series.

2. Russell Got to the Line

D’Angelo Russell is not adept at drawing contact and getting himself to the free throw line. Out of 200 players that have attempted at least 300 field goals this season, Russell ranks 199th in free throw rate.

Last night, however, Russell got to the line 10 times. This would be the easiest way for Russell to become a more efficient scorer. Without his nine made free throws last night, Russell would have posted 19 points on 16 shots, which is more inline with how he has been performing this season. In terms of points per shot attempts, Russell is scoring 106.4 points per 100 shot attempts which ranks in the 45th percentile, per Cleaning The Glass.

3. Jarrett Allen Through Contact

It’s great to see Allen finish through contact. It reminds you that there is functional strength in his game. Allen’s rebound rate is low for someone of his profile. There are fundamentals that go into this, but it also makes you question his functional strength.

It’s subtle, but Allen is able to bump Thomas Bryant backwards just enough to create the space needed to go up mostly uncontested. It would be nice for Allen to use his size to grow his offensive game. Allen doesn’t self create often, as evidenced by the fact that 82.6% of his two point field goals this season come from an assist. If Allen wants to expand his game, he needs to be able to create for himself more often.

Questions

1. Can the Nets Regain Their Mojo?

For a stretch of time, Brooklyn was one of the hottest team in the league. From December 7th to January 30th, the Nets went 20-6, tied for the second best winning percent during that time. Since then, Brooklyn is 4-7, including this blow out loss at home from Washington, along with a loss in Orlando and a brutal loss at home against the Bulls shortly before the All-Star break. One of the four wins was against Cleveland, and it took three overtimes to pull out the victory.

As of now, the Nets are 3.5 games up on the 9th seeded Magic and 10th Heat. Fivethirtyeight is giving the team an 82% chance of making the playoffs as of this writing. The odds are with the Nets, but this recent stretch is concerning. Brooklyn has six winnable games on deck; Charlotte, at Miami, Dallas, Cleveland, at Atlanta, Detroit. All teams are below .500, and half of those games are against teams in direct competition with Brooklyn for playoff seeding. These six games to begin the month of March are a crucial period for the team.

2. Joe Harris Playmaker?

Three Point Shootout winner Joe Harris is an assassin. He has also demonstrated an ability to attack the rim when he gets the ball moving downhill. However, his 13% assist rate on the year leaves room for improvement. Last night, Harris flashed some playmaking prowess.

Harris has already improved as a driver, so if he can add the kick part of drive and kick then his value contract will begin to look even more ridiculous.

Prediction

Brooklyn appears to be a streaky team. The Nets suffered an eight game losing streak earlier in the year right before ripping off nine wins in ten games. As stated above, for almost two months they were one of the hottest teams in basketball.

Through it all, Brooklyn finds itself one game above .500 with 19 games left to go. They’re over performing their point differential by a single win, as they sit at 32-31 with a pythagorean record of 31-32. A better indicator of future success is the whole picture instead of one of the tales of a streak in either direction.

Therefore, the Nets will close out their final 19 games going either 10-9, or 9-10.

Bold, I know.

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