The Nets returned home on Monday after their first 5-0 journey west in the team’s history, part of a streak of six consecutive league wins.
It is a recovery for the Nets, who hit rock bottom with a humiliating defeat in Detroit. From that point – just 14-12 and mired in a lost three game skid – they became the hottest basketball team and a favorite to reach the NBA finals. How did this happen?
Tthey are discovering the defense, particularly switching.
Brooklyn has doubled that figure since it switched to James Harden.
Before Harden’s arrival, the Nets exchanged picks 20% of the time, 3% above the league average. But in its first 14 post-trade games, that jumped to 33 percent, which would take the league this season according to Second Spectrum monitoring. Going to Sunday’s victory at the Clippers, they traded an impressive 41 percent of the choices on the perfect western swing.
In many ways, it makes sense. Only three teams in the age of tracking (since 2013-14) have changed more than 40 percent – the Rockets in the past three years, led by Harden and trained by current Nets assistant Mike D’Antoni.
“They change from 1 to 5 when Jeff Green is at 5, and change from 1 to 4 and fall when DeAndre [Jordan] is in the game. But the confrontation that you think they wouldn’t change, they change, ”said Clippers coach Ty Lue. “It makes teams stagnant.”
Steve Nash is growing as a coach
Nash, who never served as an assistant, is learning on the job.
He 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 sniper, Nash found creative ways to use him as a six-foot cutter, tracker and pseudo-center.
And Nash’s adjustments in Phoenix were impressive. He set up a defense zone that he didn’t show throughout the season to help cool the Suns. Then he took Jordan out of his usual fall cover and had him switch for the first time in the entire season – letting them switch 1 to 5 and challenging Deandre Ayton to punish them. This allowed them to recover from a 21-point deficit at halftime, the largest deficit overcome in the team’s 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 were doing.
“This is a non-negotiable step in any team’s aspirations to have determination, endurance and connectivity,” said Nash.
In the first 13 games after Harden’s switch, the Nets were only 7-6 and last in the NBA in defensive classification. But in the winning streak they showed more firmness in that final, until the 21st. That was enough to see his net jump from 18th place in the league to fourth place.
“Night and day since I got here. We are playing hard now and intelligently, ”said Harden. “What I’m most proud of is our mentality in each game, each possession. We don’t take our opponent lightly, no matter who we’re playing with. It is the same goal. It’s the same mindset. “
Kevin Durant (left tendon strain) leaves Tuesday. Green (right shoulder bruise) and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (right hip bruise) are questionable, while Tyler Johnson (left adductor strain) and Iman Shumpert (left tendon strain) are likely.
Harden was voted Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference for the second time since joining the Nets.