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Recap: Nets 75, Spurs 102 - Nets Lose in Spurs’ Experiment

Credit: Chris Covatta/Getty Images

Credit: Chris Covatta/Getty Images

After a first half that included spirited energetic play by the bench unit once again, Brook Lopez finding his teammates out of double teams, and holding the San Antonio Spurs to under 40% shooting in the first half, the Nets found themselves in the surprising position of being ahead 47-42 in the Spurs home opener at halftime.

That changed very quickly in the 3rd quarter where Tony Parker scored 8 straight points to open the half, the Spurs reverted to their familiar ball and player movement, and Parker and Kawhi Leonard combined for 18 points on 9-12 shooting from the field.

After watching the entire game (in which the Nets lose 102-75), it’s hard not to come away with the feeling that the Spurs used a first half against a team they didn’t respect (the Nets) to spend some time working through the transition to make LaMarcus Aldridge the focal point of the offense.

Granted, some of that could have been the game plan. Thaddeus Young was over-matched by the Aldridge-Tim Duncan front line and the Spurs attacked the Aldridge Young match-up often early on his signature spot on the left block. The results were mixed with the biggest impact being an unfamiliar lack of spacing and movement for the Spurs.

Even though the Spurs didn’t look right offensively, there were still concerns for the Nets even as they hung in the game in the first quarter. The Spurs murdered the Nets on the boards throughout the game 56-32, expected given the match-ups, and especially on the offensive end (the Spurs had 12 offensive rebounds to the Nets 2, 15-0 Spurs in second change points).

The bright spot for the Nets was the energy the bench unit of Shane Larkin, Bojan Bogdanovic, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Thomas Robinson, and Andrea Bargnani played with in the first half. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was a force defensively early in the game and he showed great cutting instincts and some flashes offensively when he was aggressive and going to the basket.

The Shane Larkin-Andrea Bargnani pick and pop found a nice little rhythm as well after Larkin established himself as a scoring threat with two mid-range shots and a nice finish on the right side of the basket.

FULL BOX SCORE

But, the what might have come back to bite the Nets (among other things), was their reliance on the mid-range jumper. It was falling in the first half and it wasn’t in the second. The Nets didn’t do themselves any favors. Not only were they shut out in second chance points, they were silenced in fast break points as well (9-0), the Spurs outscored them 44-30 in the paint and the Spurs knocked down 9 three pointers to the Nets 5 (40%-31%).

In the third quarter, after being limited to 42 points at halftime on under 40% shooting from the field, the Spurs put the ball in Tony Parker’s and Kawhi Leonard’s hands and use Aldridge and Duncan as the pivots around which those two ball handlers raced. You know, the Spurs offense.

The Nets offense digressed, and the next thing you know Boris Diaw is dropping silly bounce passes out of the post to Patty Mills for wide open three’s and Manu Ginobili was slashing into the paint at will. The Spurs scored 60 points in the second half and shot 50% from the field.

The same bench unit that provided the best play for the Nets in the entire game went silent in the second half. After scoring 25 points off the bench in the first half, the Nets had only  bench points with 5:50 left in the game; garbage time (otherwise known as when Ray McCallum checked into the game).

A few other notes:

  • Joe Johnson was a ghost besides getting called for fouls for grabbing Kawhi Leonard as he ran by him. His first score was with 9 minutes left in the game. He finished with 2 points and 2 rebounds on 1-7 shooting.
  • Brook Lopez had another fine performance in a tough match-up scoring 17 points on 6-11 shooting. The Spurs doubled him often and he was finding cutters early.
  • Thaddeus Young was relegated to a spot up shooter for much of this game. Not ideal for him. The Nets will have to find a way to allow him to showcase his mobility against bigger front lines like the Spurs rather than trying to stretch them out.
  • Jarrett Jack had a really nice first half in his return. He finished with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists on 5-13 shooting from the field. But when the Spurs came out of halftime, Tony Parker attacked Jack, scoring 8 straight points.
  • Kawhi Leonard is a monster. He has at least one spectacular defensive play per quarter including an insane chase down block against Ellington in the 2nd quarter and he stole Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s lunch in the back court in the 3rd quarter.

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Evaluating the Nets’ Shooting Guard Position

The Brooklyn Nets started the year with their first loss of the season to the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night. While the Nets were able to work inside the paint through Brook Lopez with ease, the team was unable to match the Bulls on the perimeter. As Chicago nailed 14 of their 28 shots from deep, the Nets provided an unacceptable zero makes in nine attempts from beyond the arc.

Six of the nine shots from deep came from the shooting guard position, comprised of Bojan Bogdanovic, Wayne Ellington, and Markel Brown.

Of course, the Bulls are one of the better perimeter defending teams in the league, but hitting no shots from beyond the arc while your opponent converts half of their 28 shots is cause for alarm no matter how talented the opponent. Jarrett Jack did not help the team’s cause by sitting out this season opener, and was perhaps the reason the starting unit appeared relatively unprepared offensively, as no one could be relied upon to get baskets outside of Lopez and Bargnani.

The starting job was the topic of much debate heading into the season, even after Ellington was named starter for the opener. Prior to Wednesday’s atrocious shooting from deep, the minute distribution at the position was by no means set in stone for the season. Minutes at the position will almost certainly be jumbled around all season as Lionel Hollins will likely ride the hot hand for the first few weeks of the season.

But let’s see if we can put ourselves in Lionel Hollins’s shoes and break down each of his shooting guard options to see who is best suited for the job:

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The Morning Tip-Off: Jarrett Jack Returns?

Every weekday morning, Brooklyn’s Finest will scour the interwebs for the best (and worst) of Nets coverage from the previous day (and night).

1. Andy Vasquez of NorthJersey.com reports that Jarrett Jack is expecting to suit up for the Nets second game of the season in San Antonio tonight:

A hamstring injury kept Jack out of Wednesday’s season opening loss to the Bulls.

But Jack returned to practice Thursday, and tonight he hopes to be in the starting lineup for the Nets when they play the Spurs in San Antonio.

“Hopefully, I won’t have any restrictions or soreness from [Thursday’s] practice,” Jack said. “Just waiting on the doctor’s clearance at this point.”

As much was made about the drop off from Deron Williams to Jarrett Jack in the preseason, the drop-off from Deron to Shane Larkin looked even more devastating. Larkin was given an opportunity in the Nets loss to the Bulls on Wednesday night, but he didn’t exactly run with it. Donald Sloan didn’t get much of an opportunity at all. Instead Markel Brown played crunch time minutes at the point guard position.

The Nets would do well to get Jack back, not only to help steady the offense, but also to provide a threat of outside shooting after the Nets didn’t knock down one shot from the outside on Wednesday.

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Brooklyn Nets Opening Night Notes: 3 Lessons Learned From a Loss

Well, there’s one game in the books. The Nets lost their home opener to the Chicago Bulls, 115-100, but there are 81 games to go. After defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers on opening night, the Bulls seemingly couldn’t miss, being led by Jimmy Butler who scored 24 points on the strength of 9/11 shooting with three of the shots from the land of the extra point. Nikola Mirotic had 18 points while enjoying the starting lineup. Pau Gasol had 16 points, while Derrick Rose scored 15.

The opening night loss was the Nets’ first since moving to Brooklyn. Brook Lopez led the Nets with 26 points and seven rebounds. Andrea Bargnani (you mean he actually plays?) had 17 points coming off the bench. For a total recap of the game, please check out Paul Mitchell’s report on Brooklyn’s Finest, your best choice for all things Brooklyn Nets. It’s a very informative read.

Here are three things I learned from game one of the Brooklyn Nets season. (Well, besides Andrea Bargnani’s uniform number…)

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The Morning Tip-Off: ‘Grasping at Wispy, Ephemeral Strands of (Nets) Positivity’

Every weekday morning, Brooklyn’s Finest will scour the interwebs for the best (and worst) of Nets coverage from the previous day (and night). 

 

1. Andrew Keh of The New York Times highlighted the story of last night’s loss to the Chicago Bulls (recapped here by our Editor-in-Chief, Paul Mitchell) which was a mostly discouraging performance with a flash of positivity in the second quarter:

Optimism around the Nets has been hard to come by. The feeling appeared — unexpectedly and ever so briefly — in an energetic spurt in the second quarter of their season-opening game Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls, when they somehow trimmed a sizable deficit to 3 points.

It popped up again with about four minutes to go in the fourth, when the Bulls’ lead shrank momentarily to 6 points. But again, as quickly as the feeling came, it was gone.

Things may go this way this season for the Nets — grasping at wispy, ephemeral strands of (Nets) positivity — as they go forth shrouded in low expectations. In an early display of mediocrity, they lost, 115-100, to the Bulls at Barclays Center.

The Nets outscored the Bulls 36-28 in the second quarter including 10 points from Brook Lopez and 11 assists for the team (Shane Larkin had 4 during this period). Rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson played almost the entire quarter with a +/- of 8 and shooting 3-3 from the field for 6 points. If only the Nets could sustain this stretch over the entire game.

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Recap: Nets 100, Bulls 115 - New Season, Same Nets

Lionel Hollins, upon looking at his team’s shot chart against the Chicago Bulls (photo courtesy of www.twitter.com/sam_nba)

The Brooklyn Nets opened their 2015-16 regular season showing much of the same frustrations and inconsistencies that plagued them last season, in losing 100-115 at home to the Chicago Bulls, but also slight flashes of optimism and - finally! - some athleticism.

A 7-0 run by the Bulls to start the game led to a quick timeout from Lionel Hollins, as the Nets began 0/4 with two (Thaddeus Young) turnovers. The team responded by scoring on their next three trips down the floor but totaled just 10 points over the first eight minutes of the game, and trailed by as many as 16 before the close of the first quarter.

It was the Nets’ second unit, and some interesting lineup combinations from Hollins, that triggered a 12-2 run and a 36-point outburst in the second quarter, which trimmed the Chicago lead to just three points at halftime. The team’s second quarter would be its highest-scoring period in nearly six seasons, and featured an increased effort on the defensive end that quickly translated into baskets. Even Bojan Bogdanovic, a player who struggled significantly on defense last season, looked much more engaged in chasing his opponents off the ball, while the combination of Thomas Robinson and rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson jumped passing lanes and turned them into transition opportunities.

The second half largely resembled the first, however, only without the exciting bench run. The starting unit again struggled to put up points, going without a field goal on at least three separate minutes-long stretches in the third quarter, while the Bulls managed an 11-0 run to extend their lead to 19 following an Aaron Brooks three-pointer.

Hollins went to a big lineup in the final period, with a Markel Brown/Bojan Bogdanovic/Joe Johnson/Bargnani/Brook combination that drew 15 free throws and made it a six-point game at the 3:41-mark of the fourth. A strong defensive possession for about the first 21 seconds of the shot clock would result in a Derrick Rose crossover and layup, and a Mirotic three on the next trip down the court re-established the deficit at ten. For a team that literally could not manage a three-point make all night, a ten-point lead with under three minutes remaining would prove to be insurmountable.

As the Nets did all last season, the team held the advantage in points in the paint (+4) and limited their turnover output on the night (13). The Bulls, on the other hand, turned the ball over 20 times and took 25 fewer shots than their opponents, yet converted on 53.8 percent of their field goals and held an incredible 42-0 advantage from the three-point line. The Brooklyn Nets fell behind big early and received some inspired bench play in their 100-115 loss to the Chicago Bulls, but their lack of spacing and production from deep remains an issue, even after 48 minutes of an entirely new season and featuring a new roster, and continues to hinder the team’s ability to compete against their conference’s betters.

FULL BOX SCORE

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BK’s Finest 2015-16 Season Predictions

At least according to our staff predictions entering the 2015-16 NBA season, the Brooklyn Nets may be in for some trouble. We polled the staff of writers here at Brooklyn’s Finest, in the hopes of gaining some insight into the Nets’ variance of outcomes, and every response resulted in a record rather significantly below the .500 mark. Read our rationales, add your predictions in the comments below, and enjoy another season of Brooklyn Nets basketball!

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2015 ESPN #NBArank – Brooklyn Nets, Part 2

This second portion of the Brooklyn Nets/ESPN #NBArank project will focus on the projected starting lineup for Lionel Hollins and the Nets. Last season, the starters had an offensive efficiency rating of 104.0 (good for 14th overall), and a defensive rating of 106.1 (6th worse in the league). Outside of Williams, the starters will return everyone and bump veteran Jarrett Jack into a starting role. With owner Mikhail Prokhorov looking to get out of the luxury tax and Deron Williams growing unhappy in Brooklyn, the decision to part ways seemed more mutual than toxic. Williams remaining $27.4 million were stretched out over a five year period at $5,474,787 per Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

  1. Bojan Bogdanovic

Looking to build on his rookie campaign, where he started 28 games and won Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month in April, Bogdanovic should get all the minutes he can handle at the 2 and 3 spot. At the beginning of last season, Bogdanovic had trouble staying in front of opposing players on defense, specifically athletic swingman. Albeit he progressively got better over the course of the season, he will need to continue working hard on defense in Hollins’s defensive-driven schemes. The Croatian swingman needs to improve his range more consistently, specifically his three-point jumper (35.5 percent). Per Synergy Sports, on offensive spot-up possessions (possession ending either as a catch-and-shoot or catch-and-drive), Bogdanovic executed this play at a 34.8 percentage clip and was effective at 0.97 PPP (points per possession). It is essential that Bogdanovic improves on this efficiency in order for him to take the next step offensively. If Bogdanovic wants to move up the rankings next season, he needs to continue to make advances and stay more dependable while on the court. 

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The Morning Tip-Off: Hat Tip to Tim Bontemps

Every weekday morning, Brooklyn’s Finest will scour the interwebs for the best (and worst) of Nets coverage from the previous day (and night). 

 

1. The big Brooklyn Nets-related news of the day yesterday was the fact that Jarrett Jack will not be healthy enough to take his role of Opening Night starter at the point guard position. And of course, The New York Post‘s Tim Bontemps, reported on the story:

But Jack won’t be starting for the Nets when they face the Bulls in Wednesday’s season opener at Barclays Center, after he was ruled out for the game because of a sore left hamstring. Jack has missed the past four practices because of the injury.

Without Jack, the Nets turn control of the offense over to Shane Larkin and Donald Sloan.

Given that the Nets will have to rely on at least one of these players (Larkin and Sloan) in the rotation during the season, it won’t be a bad thing to get an early look at them in tonight’s match-up against the Chicago Bulls, who are on the second night of a back to back after Pau Gasol’s rejection of LeBron James last night.

But the larger news, both for Nets fans and NBA fans in general, is that Bontemps announced via Twitter that he will no longer be covering the Brooklyn Nets for The New York Post and will be moving on to cover the NBA at large for The Washington Post.

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Will Brook Lopez and Lionel Hollins Get Along?

Well, here we are, Brooklyn Nets fans! The NBA season is finally here. No more preseason games. No more predictions. No more looking into a crystal ball trying to figure out the future based on all of the internet articles (Brooklyn’s Finest included) breaking down the Nets’ moves in the offseason. Starting this week, the Brooklyn Nets get the post-“Five Year Plan” started on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls in the Barclays Center.

The one thing that Brooklyn writers, players, fans, and the coaching staff should know is this… the Brooklyn Nets are either going to be solid (not good, but solid) or very bad; there will be no middle ground here. Looking over this squad, the Brooklyn Nets will be walking a tight rope all year long. The way the team is built, with a collection of journeymen and short-termed contracted players (also read: cheap) surrounding a center with health problems and an above-average power forward, there is no wiggle room here.

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