Early within the Nets’ 137–117 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, one sequence completely captured Brooklyn’s defensive struggles.
Michael Porter Jr. had simply missed a 3-pointer from the left wing when Charlotte’s Miles Bridges grabbed the rebound and fired an outlet to a sprinting LaMelo Ball. Nic Claxton did his job, slicing off Ball in transition, however Porter and rookie Ben Saraf jogged again on protection.
Their sluggish restoration opened the lane for Ball to toss an uncontested lob to Brandon Miller for 2 of Charlotte’s 23 fast-break factors. In the meantime, Cam Thomas and Terance Mann barely crossed half court docket as 4 Hornets crammed the paint.
It was a sequence uncharacteristic of a Jordi Fernández-coached staff, one which prides itself on protection, vitality and energy. And compounding moments prefer it added as much as one of many extra deflating losses of the NBA’s opening week.
“I know this is the first game, and at some point, there’s a lot of emotions, but we were doing things with no purpose, just running around, running around,” Fernández stated.
On prime of their transition points, the Nets allowed Charlotte to shoot 53.3% from the sector and 47.2% from deep, leading to a dreadful 128.3 defensive score — the second-worst mark within the NBA by the league’s opening slate, forward of solely the Clippers.
9 of Charlotte’s 10 rotation gamers completed in double figures, led by Miller, who posted 25 factors on 8-of-19 taking pictures. After watching movie from the loss, Mann stated Brooklyn’s defensive struggles got here all the way down to communication, a far cry from Thomas’ preseason confidence that the group was already effectively linked.
“First game of the season, a lot of jitters, a lot of nerves,” Mann stated forward of Friday’s dwelling opener towards the Cleveland Cavaliers. “Away game, different environment, there’s a lot of factors at play when it comes to the first game of the season. So, I don’t really look too much into the first game of the season. In all my years of playing, I don’t remember any of my first games of the season. I don’t know what happened, who scored, who won, who lost. So, we got 81 more.”
Mann is true. Overreacting to Sport 1 of 82 wouldn’t be clever, and there’s loads of basketball left to play. Nonetheless, for a staff projected to win simply 20.5 video games, defensive efforts just like the one in Charlotte will solely reinforce doubts about how a lot this group can actually accomplish.
Younger and creating or not, the Nets have to tighten up defensively — quick.
The Cavaliers go to Barclays Middle subsequent, a staff that blew out Brooklyn twice final season and remains to be fuming from a loss to the Knicks on Wednesday. After that, the Nets face Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, then Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets in a street back-to-back this weekend. At this price, an 0–4 begin may very well be on the desk earlier than the Atlanta Hawks come to city subsequent week.
“Like I said, being loud, just talking consistently,” Day’Ron Sharpe stated. “We’re taking plays off. When adversity hits, everybody just shuts down. No matter if they go on a 10-0 run or a 4-0 run, we have to keep the same, consistent talking and aggressiveness on defense.”
