The Nets returned home Monday after the first 5-0 trip west in the team’s history, which was part of a six-game winning streak in the league.
It’s a rebound for the Nets, who had come out with a humiliating defeat in Detroit. From that moment on, at just 14-12 years old and sunk into a three-game losing streak, they have become the hottest basketball team and the favorite to reach the NBA Finals. How did this happen?
They find out the defense, especially the change.
Brooklyn has doubled this even further since it was listed by James Harden.
Prior to Harden’s arrival, the Nets changed selections 20 percent of the time, 3 percent above the league average. But through his first 14 games after the negotiation, that went to 33%, which would lead the league this season according to Second Spectrum follow-up. With Sunday’s win over the Clippers, they had changed an impressive 41% of selections to the perfect western swing.
In many ways, it makes sense. Only three teams from the follow-up era (since 2013-14) have changed more than 40%: the Rockets over the past three years, led by Harden and coached by current Nets assistant Mike D’Antoni.
“They change from 1 to 5 when Jeff Green is at 5 and they change from 1 to 4 and they fall when DeAndre [Jordan] is in the game. But the clashes you think don’t change, they change, ”said Clippers coach Ty Lue. “It makes teams stagnate.”
Steve Nash grows as a coach
Nash, who had never been an assistant, has been apprenticed at work.
He has maintained an optimistic tone, but knew when to join his team after the defeat in Detroit. Despite the shortcomings of guard Bruce Brown as a shooter, Nash has found creative ways to use him as a cutter, screen, and 6-foot-two pseudo-center.
And Nash’s adjustments in Phoenix were impressive. He deployed a zone defense that he hasn’t shown all season to help cool the Suns. He then took Jordan out of his usual coverage and made him change for the first time all season, letting them change from 1 to 5 and daring Deandre Ayton to punish them. It allowed them to rise from a 21-point deficit at halftime, the largest deficit to fall in team history.
The Nets got tough enough
The Nets didn’t have to be the Bad Boy Pistons; they just couldn’t afford to be historically bad, which is exactly how they had been working.
“This is a non-negotiable step in any team’s aspirations to have that resolution, toughness and connectivity,” Nash said.
In the first 13 games after Operation Harden, the Nets were down just 7-6 and died last in the NBA in defensive standings. But in the streak of victories they have shown more strength up to 21st position. That has been enough to see his net jump in the standings from eighteenth place in the league to fourth.
“Night and day since I first arrived. We are playing a lot now and we are playing smart, ”said Harden. “The thing I’m most proud of is our mentality in every game, every possession. We do not take our opponent at all, regardless of who we are playing. It is the same goal. It’s the same mindset. “
Kevin Durant (left hamstring strain) leaves on Tuesday. Green (right shoulder contusion) and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (right hip contusion) are questionable, while Tyler Johnson (left adductor strain) and Iman Shumpert (ischial curve strain) are likely.
Harden was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second time since joining the Nets.