What an NBA game is – at its core – no longer seems to apply to Brooklyn nets. Rather than an opportunity to score a victory, build their record and please their fans, competitions for them simply seem like obstacles to overcome to get closer to the finish line of this hellish season.
Rather than glory, this is a team looking for relief.
Even a meeting on the other side of the river with the “rival” New York Knicks was of this nature. With a win, Brooklyn would have gained an extra day or two before its mathematical elimination from the Play-In in a week or two, rather than any real momentum or bragging rights. Another day on death row? Hooray.
Either way, it wasn’t something the Nets needed to worry about, as they dropped their sixth straight loss by a score of 105-93. As Brooklyn “overcame” another one, here’s what we learned.
Basketball without turnovers is major
There has been no shortage of talk about Brooklyn’s offensive shortcomings this year. But while the “there are no guys to address” and “their spacing sucks” arguments continue to clash, recent evidence suggests the Nets are running one of the simplest and the most fundamental aspects of the game trump everything else.
From the start against New York, Brooklyn kept it noticeably clean, turning it over only once in the opening period and taking a 30-28 lead in the process. They were punctual and precise in their decision-making with crisp cuts and passes to generate a well-functioning attack.
Then in the second, they dropped the rock six times. In the third and fourth, they dropped four times each. Brooklyn has lost all these images.
It was also the no-turnover ball that sparked Brooklyn’s run against Milwaukee the previous game. It was at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth period that the Nets made their decision, giving it up only three times between the two frames. However, in the first and second, they did it 11 times, falling behind by a margin of 60-44.
Pointing to fewer turnovers as a catalyst for more wins isn’t exactly basketball rocket science, but specifically for Brooklyn, it’s somewhat of an underappreciated element contributing to their losses. In fact, the Nets are top 10 in the league in fewest turnovers per game for the year, but in their last 15 games, they rank bottom 10.
I can’t get too much out of center rotation
After Noah Clowney took Day’Ron Sharpe’s place as Brooklyn’s backup center against the Bucks, performing relatively well, everyone rushed to the mic to sing his praises. I was certainly included in that set.
However, we may have all been thinking a little too much about this question. It’s understandable. After all, there are very few things bad teams can focus on aside from their young players, much less bad teams without any draft picks this year.
Regardless, Sharpe once again served as Nic Claxton’s understudy against the Knicks, contributing five points, four rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. Clowney entered the contest, but not before garbage time.
With so few games remaining and so little to play for, it makes sense to see a lineup variation like this from Ollie. Although the Nets technically remain alive in the Play-In race, it feels like that ship has sailed. They are now 6.5 games behind Atlanta with 11 games remaining.
They have nothing to lose, so expect to see more experiments in the future. Don’t read too much to them.
We go out sad
If there was ever a game for the Nets to “win for pride,” it would have been yesterday’s. Against New York, a rival of sorts, there should be extra motivation to steal a win, even if it wouldn’t mean much in the long run.
Either the Nets didn’t feel that motivation or they didn’t care. Beating the Knicks in the hustle department is no easy task, but Brooklyn barely put up a fight where you’d expect in a “play for pride” game. They finished -23 in second chance points, -13 in transition and -6 in turnovers.
“They just wanted more, and it showed,” Kevin Ollie said after the game. This is why we are here.
Okay, coach.
Losing is one thing, but Brooklyn’s poor effort makes watching this team a real chore. There has been an excess of talk on the Nets Twitter about how bad this team is. Really East. The general consensus seems to be that while they aren’t as awful as their 70-loss forebears, they are among the most underrated teams. Low effort is surely at the heart of this.
With their last two games of the season against the Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ersthere is still a chance for the Nets to play spoiler against some rivals and give their fans something encourage via spirited effort. But yesterday it was suggested that they are planning to go out like a piece of cardboard in the wind.
