DENVER — Patience and time. That’s how the Nets treated their process on defense. Even after giving up 147 points to the Hawks three weeks ago, the thought was “wait and see.”
Flash forward to Wednesday night. The Nets held the Suns to only 24 fourth-quarter points in a 116-112 win on the road. It came two games after holding the lowly Wizards to six three-pointers in a 124-97 home win.
During this 7-2 stretch entering Thursday’s game at the Nuggets, the Nets’ defense has figured something out. There’s better communication and more intention with their length to cause disruption and force missed shots.
For the first time this season, the Nets have resembled the defense-first unit coach Jacque Vaughn wanted them to be. They’re looking like a physical group that can change coverages on the fly depending on situations or personnel.
“I think we’ve honed in a little bit in the direction that we want to play, the style that we want to play defensively and now [are] putting those pieces together,” Vaughn said. “We start pretty small and we don’t start our best defensive lineup, and so we’ve had to figure out ways to be defensive-minded at the beginning of a game.”
Over the last nine games, the Nets are fifth in opponent field- goal percentage and opponent points per game, and eighth in defensive efficiency. They’re still not forcing turnovers at a high clip but, as one of the league’s best rebounding teams, they’re making up for it by limiting multiple possessions.
What they’ve been able to do is switch easily from man-to-man, to zone, to drop coverage — something Vaughn instituted more this preseason. At times, they’ve played a full-court trap on several possessions.
It’s easier when players like Mikal Bridges help set a tone and Royce O’Neale and Cam Johnson can guard multiple positions on the perimeter. But, after 23 games, there’s finally a growing comfort in knowing who has what responsibility and how to rotate better to…
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