Biggest Adjustments Brooklyn Nets Must Make in Game 2 Versus Atlanta Hawks
The Brooklyn Nets kept the Atlanta Hawks closer than many expected during Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, but they were far from perfect Sunday afternoon.
As the Nets prepare for Wednesday evening's Game 2, there are plenty of adjustments for Lionel Hollins and Co. to make. Brooklyn probably won't win the series, especially after falling in a winnable initial match, 99-92, but it might be able to steal one or two victories.
If it wants any chance of doing that, it'll have to improve on the flaws that leaked through its schemes in Game 1.
Limit Turnovers
The Nets became philanthropists during Game 1, turning the ball over 17 times.
The number of giveaways wasn't the only problem. The style of them was truly disconcerting.
Shockingly, the Nets were prone to overdribbling Sunday. But it wasn't just the usual candidates of Jarrett Jack and Deron Williams, though they were right in the middle of it. Even Markel Brown was handling the ball far more than we'd seen him all season. And with all this pounding, almost none of it was done by Brook Lopez. (There will definitely be more on this later.)
Some of the Nets' turnovers during Game 1 were fixable, such as the five from Jack. Of course, these were the ultimate examples of overdribbling.
This was one of the Nets' six first-quarter giveaways—matched up with exactly zero first-quarter assists.
The Hawks defended the ball screen well, but Jack still should've dumped it off to Lopez around the free-throw line. Instead, he turned his back and eyes to the defense (rarely a good thing) and lost possession trying to make a play on his own.
Mistakes like these can change with quick decisions, yet the Nets remained indecisive.
Williams was making similar gaffes too.
This was hardly the time for a clear-out, but Williams went for it anyway, obviously unaware of the Nets' cramped spacing in the paint:
That alignment allowed Al Horford to help out on D-Will. From that moment on, Williams didn't have a chance. And he could've changed his mind, pulling out of the post and running something different with ample time on the shot clock. Instead, he elected to post up Jeff Teague, spin into the paint and lose the ball to a gambling defender (because of the help a waiting Horford afforded him).
The Nets' offensive recognition just wasn't there (the team constantly failed to identify doubling and trapping situations all afternoon), and this isn't simply an issue of the offense not having second options on play calls. That's a whole other concern, one which probably won't ever change under Hollins.
These problems are rectifiable in theory. All you need is a switch in mentality and an infusion of self-awareness. But the dilemma extends once you realize the Nets have done this before. Time and time again.
"We just came down and fired shots and didn't pass out of double-teams—every one of us, myself included," Williams said after Brooklyn's 27-point loss to the Chicago Bulls in the second-to-last game of the regular season, per DeAntae Prince of Sports Illustrated. "We were all selfish tonight. For us to win, we can't play like that."
Brooklyn's everlasting game of Selfish Basketball Whack-a-Mole has been going on since Joe Johnson broached the topic all the way back in November.
The Nets need to change, and they need to do it now.
You're not going to beat the Hawks playing tentatively. The Nets don't just have to make the right decisions to keep the ball out of Atlanta's hands; they also have to make prompt ones.
Starting Anderson
Let's begin first with this: Markel Brown has been great this season. He's given Brooklyn more than it could've ever expected from a second-round pick, starting the team's final 29 games and playing hard-nosed defense all the way through. But this isn't the right series for Brown.
A coach can certainly justify starting a guy who plays as little as Brown, even if he usually goes with Bojan Bogdanovic to start second halves. If a team has an energy problem, sometimes starting an "energy guy" can provide it with enough of a jolt to last the game—or most of it.
But an "energy jolt" isn't enough against Atlanta.
Brown is the Nets' best on-ball defender by the perimeter. There isn't much of a doubt about that anymore. But he is still learning the game, and that includes guarding away from the rock: running off screens with potential shooters, defending against jerky cuts, etc. And the Hawks move off the ball just about as well as any other team in the league (if not better than everyone).
The key? Kyle Korver.
Now that he's healthy, Alan Anderson becomes the ideal Korver defender—well, "ideal" if you have Brooklyn's roster. Anderson is a high-IQ player who understands how to navigate those picks with which Brown struggles. And considering how often Korver uses pin-downs and flare screens to get open, it might not be the worst idea in the world to make sure Anderson is in the game with him.
Hustle Back
The Nets are an easy target right now, as shown by Paul Pierce's recent words plus comments in a postgame show from Rick Fox and Isiah Thomas critiquing their point guards. But the following isn't a knock on hustle as much as it's an observation about combating the Hawks' fast-moving offense.
When Mr. Pace and Mrs. Space hand out their business cards, they give out pieces of paper with Mike Budenholzer's face on them, but that term doesn't necessarily mean what the connotation implies.
People tend to believe "pace-and-space" suggests putting up a quick shot. And that's part of it, but it's not all of it.
In actuality, ending a possession hastily isn't important for the Hawks. Starting one is, though. It's essential for Atlanta to get a play going early in the shot clock.
You'll rarely ever see Bud's boys walk the ball up the floor. Instead, a point guard, Teague or Dennis Schroder, will jog or run it to the other side of the court, hoping to start a play as soon as possible. Beginning a set expeditiously allows the Hawks to run another play with necessary time remaining on the clock if the first one fails.
There were times, though, that the Nets didn't run all the way back with the Hawks, which isn't necessarily Brooklyn's fault. Atlanta can gun it, and it can be disorienting for an opposing team. But that's not an excuse.
The Nets have to prioritize picking up their proper assignments on each defensive possession.
It all comes back to Korver. Much of what the Hawks do is predicated around their best shooter bouncing off screens, something Korver does more than any other player in the league—pretty easily. And if you're the Nets, you need to get the right defender on him.
So, when Anderson is in the game, he has to make finding Korver a priority at all times. Korver's defender can't meander to the other side of the court. Look at what happens when Anderson casually strolled back after a turnover and left Bogdanovic to pick up the best catch-and-shoot player in the world:
The Nets actually communicate pretty well on this action from the Hawks. Korver fields a dribble handoff and then rounds a screen from Pero Antic. Bogdanovic and his teammates make the proper switches, but Lopez gets beat by a Horford basket cut.
Even if the Nets did guard this right on the wing, the rookie Bogdanovic is still learning how to navigate screens as a defender and is ill-equipped to man someone like Korver. The Nets need Anderson on him, and they have to do everything they can (as does he) to make sure he sticks to Atlanta's artilleryman every play.
In this particular scenario, Brooklyn might be best throwing Bogdanovic on DeMarre Carroll while moving Jack onto the ball so that Anderson can take over Korver duties. Maybe that's how it'll defend with similar lineups as the series develops.
Give the Ball to Your Best Player
We've left the most important for last.
Put in your earplugs because I'm about to scream this really loud. Got them in? OK, good. Here we go:
WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS BROOK LOPEZ?!
The Nets can't help their leading scorer and most-talented offensive player do a Carmen San Diego impression during Game 1 of the playoffs. Yet, they did.
Lopez averaged 23.7 points and 9.4 rebounds during Brooklyn's final 16 games of the season. He's easily been one of the NBA's best centers during that stretch; you can take your own pick if you think he's top-three or top-five or top-seven. Either way, he's been tremendous. There's no denying that.
So, what happened in his 17-point performance that included only seven field-goal attempts?
That shot total is inflated by Lopez's own doing too. Four of his attempts came as putbacks after grabbing offensive rebounds. (He had six of those, 14 boards in total.) Actually, Lopez didn't even get a shot within the flow of the half-court offense until under two minutes to go in the second quarter.
Unacceptable.
This all comes back to the overdribbling. Brooklyn has to hit Lopez on those short rolls after ball screens. It has to find him in the paint when he makes those quick basket cuts, which he uses to open himself up for six- or seven-foot floaters. In reality, all it has to do is use him the exact same way it has for the past month.
The Nets' best chance to steal a game is probably letting Lopez shoot 20 times and hoping his arsenal of floaters, hook shots and crafty moves around the basket is effective enough to lead them to a win. He's dominant enough to carry a team for a night, maybe more than that. But his teammates have to feed him the ball first.
Follow Fred Katz on Twitter at @FredKatz.
All quotes obtained firsthand. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of April 20 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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