February 4, 2025 • 35 mins
In Episode 15 of The Backcourt Podcast, NetsDaily’s Lucas Kaplan flies solo while YES Network's Sarah Kustok is in Miami covering the Unrivaled Basketball League. Lucas breaks down the Nets’ impressive road wins in Charlotte and Houston, highlighting key contributors to the all-around team effort, including the return of Trendon Watford, and dives into Ziaire Williams’ energetic play. And of course, no episode is complete without a round of Nets Trivia!
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
You are now in the backcourt a Brooklyn Nets podcast
presented by Ticketmaster. I am your host, Lucas Kaplan, writer
for Nets Daily. I cover the team also of Nets
Film Focus, where we do great videos, insightful videos about Nets.
You know, real x's and o's, And normally I'm joined
by Sarah Kustack, yes network color commentator covering the Nets.
(00:31):
But she is the busiest person in the world, at
least that I know, And while she's been able to
do every week so far, this season caught her at
just a rough or a busy time of the year.
She's down in Miami doing unrivaled. She is flying back
to Brooklyn. The Nets have an upcoming back to back
this week at home against Houston on Tuesday night and
(00:54):
against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. So I am
recording solo dolo on myight and we're going to talk
about the Brooklyn nets last two games. They only had
two games last week. I'm kind of liking these off
days between games. So the Nets played last Wednesday, a
victory against the Charlotte Hornets. They also played on Saturday night,
(01:18):
a victory in Houston against the Western Conferences number three
seed I know the Rockets were a little banged up,
but that was a pretty great win, and of course
it may not have been the primary focus of the
NBA world. Was a pretty crazy weekend. I was out
to dinner with some friends. We were going to, you know,
(01:40):
another spot. I was on the train. I had just
snapped the string on my pants and I was feeling
real upset, you know, I just hate when that happens.
And they were falling down and I was all annoyed
and just muttering to myself the whole night. And then
I saw Luka Doncic got traded for Anthony Davis and
kind of fixed my night. I don't know, I was
like right a high that I suspect a lot of
(02:02):
you were. But I have finally been able to put
down my phone, get off social media, stop reading all
of the memes and stories and rumors about all that craziness,
and lock into some pretty great Nets film from their
past two games. And so I figured we'd start with
the Charlotte game on Wednesday. And that was just a
(02:26):
really well rounded effort against an opponent that not only you.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Know, was missing a lot of their key players.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So the Nets out talented them but they really outworked
them and just out executed them, and I think that's
going to be a theme of this episode. So against Charlotte,
you know, all ten Nets who played made a field goal,
eight made at least three shots, and they had six
double digit scores. But I do feel like I should
lead with a guy who scored nine points, and that
(02:56):
is trendon Watford. Brooklyn welcomed back t Watt, who returned
from a twenty one game absence. He re injured his
left hamstring in December. He missed the start of the
season with that injury or you know, an injury to
his left hamstring.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm not sure if it was the same tear.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But he came back, played a few games, got hurt again,
and now is back after missing all those games. And
I gotta say he did not look too rusty. He
looked very physically fit, and you know, as you'd expect
with the Nets training and performance staff, but he was
getting it done on the court, specifically in that Charlotte game.
(03:35):
In total, you know, he's played thirty two to thirty
three minutes between Charlotte and Houston. Against Charlotte, he had
nine points, four boards, two assists, and you know, I
don't want to say surprisingly, but very encouragingly did not
have a turnover against Charlotte, which is you know, a
part of his game that might be a swing skill
for him. How he's able to handle the ball at
(03:57):
his size, attack the rim and not turn the ball over.
That's going to be a big key for him moving forward.
And to come back against Charlotte plays seventeen and a
half minutes not turn the ball over.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It was just really impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And he made a bunch of nice plays versus Houston two,
even though he didn't quite shoot as well. But you know,
top of the list. I think you have to be
impressed with Trenton Watford in his first action back, you know,
in so long. However, I would say that game both
games really, but against Charlotte, that game was won, you know,
(04:30):
on defense and Brooklyn's ability really to force turnovers. It
was a seventeen to eleven victory for Brooklyn, you know,
in the turnover battle. So they forced seventeen and they
got out and ran. You know, the nets didn't light
it up on their jump shots from three from the
mid range, you know, what have you, but they outscored
(04:52):
Charlotte twenty one to one on fast break points. And
the funny stat about that is it was all twos.
You know, the box score has them going ten of
twelve in transition, so all two's an end one layup.
And they scored fifty four points in the paint against Charlotte.
I really thought that a lot of their ancillary guys,
(05:16):
so you know, not D'Angelo Russell, who was great but
is handling the ball all the time at the top
of the key, Ben Simmons, who made a return from
a five game absence, but Keon Johnson, Jalen Wilson's Aira Williams,
these guys that have to attack closeouts, you know, catch
it on the move. I thought they were really good
about not forcing the issue. You know, some things that
(05:36):
lead to turnovers or tough shots. They would probe they'd
get two feet in the paint and if they didn't
have anything, they'd kick it out and you know, reset
the offense. And I think that really just helped Brooklyn
play to their talent level. Sometimes the NBA is not
about all the spectacular plays you can make, but it's
about avoiding the negative ones. And that was a theme
(05:59):
against Charlotte was a theme against Houston, and I think
that's really what led to the win offensively, but again,
they held Charlotte to you know, just eighty three points
on the on the night, you know, twenty eight point
six percent from three. They shot under forty percent from two.
They were just great. And it started with Nick Claxton,
(06:20):
who I have to give a shout out to. He
had three blocks in the first quarter. And it's been
a theme of the season or a recurring, you know
issue for the Nets that they've really dropped off in
rim protection in terms of blocks. That's not the only
way to measure rim production. You know, opponents field goal percentage,
but they have dropped off greatly in blocks. And you know,
(06:43):
so has Nick Claxton down, you know, closer to one
when he's been closer to two blocks a game his
whole career. But part of that has been the Nets
playing a very aggressive defensive scheme. So when they're guarding
pick and rolls this year, Nick Claxton, Dayron Sharp, whoever
it may be, Ben's Immens, they are at the level
they are trapping the ball handler, they are on the
(07:05):
three point line. They are not just sitting back in
the paint waiting for ball handlers to come to them,
and that's you know, Nick Claxton hasn't done a ton
of that in his career, but now he's really not
doing that. He's not even really switching either. The nets
are trapping ball handlers trying to create pressure. And against
Charlotte it obviously worked. You know, they forced seventeen turnovers,
(07:25):
they got out on the fast break because of it
all the time. But what was really encouraging is that
Nick was still able to protect the rim despite this.
So there were some plays in the first quarter. I
have him in my notes here his first block in
the game. He hedges and recovers, which is not a
common you know, pick and roll defense you see in
(07:47):
the NBA a lot, considering how good these guys can
shoot off the dribble nets. Jordy Fernandez has been doing
that lately, and I thought the Charlotte game was the best.
Both Nick Claxton and Dayron Sharp handled that coverage.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So one of the first possessions.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Of the game, Nick Claxton meets the ball handler out front,
you know, recovers to his man TOAJ Gibson down low
ToJ has to evade. You know, another line of help
defense puts up a layup and Nick Claxton has recovered
from the top of the key all the way to
the rim to block that shot. His next block, also
in the first quarter, Hedges recovers, the ball gets swung
(08:26):
to the other side TOAJ Gibson's trying to seal him
out of the lane. Doesn't matter. Nick Claxon gets there
for a block. And so, you know, three blocks in
the first quarter. That third one was similar. All of
them had to do with his ground coverage, his ability
to defend on the perimeter and in the paint, and
I think that just really set the tone for Brooklyn.
(08:47):
Jordi Fernandez was extremely you know, gave him a lot
of praise in his postgame press conference, and you know,
I don't see why he wouldn't have, you know, per Jordi,
he said, Nick and Dayron have done a really good job.
And when they execute that coverage, our points per possession
allowed is very good. Sometimes you blitz, you you know,
(09:09):
you really trap to get the ball out of their hands.
Sometimes you corral just to contain the ball handler. We
do all these different things, but when we're aggressive, we
impact the basketball, and we make ball handlers uncomfortable. And
when we're there consistently, we've done a great job and
we've shown that in different games. And I thought that
was the key against Charlotte. You know, at the point
(09:31):
of attack above the key, the nets brought defensive pressure,
and I thought it flustered the Hornets. It was the bigs,
but it was also the wings. You know, these the hornets,
you know, guard to guard screens. The nets were able
to switch, they were able to navigate ghost screens. You
know when a guy slips out to the three point line.
They only got.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Caught on that a couple times.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And Miles Bridge is one of the only healthy starters
that Charlotte hadn't asked in that game. He had twenty
three points, but he needed twenty one shots and seven
free throws to get there. He only had one assist
to two turnovers. So yeah, you know, Charlotte's lead ball
handler lead score, maybe got his but wasn't efficient doing it,
(10:13):
and he wasn't really distributing the ball like that, And
that I think is where you see how good the
nets are at the start of possessions. And again, another
guy I want to give a shout out to was
Ben Simmons. You know, he had missed ten of fourteen
games with a couple of various you know, day to
day injuries, and right away in the first quarter he
(10:34):
scored six points, and they were all those righty floater
you know, kind of hook shots we've been seeing him
make this year. And something interesting I just want to
point out about Ben right he his you know, as
he works back from serious back injuries, something he's been
open about trying to find his game again. The frequency
(10:55):
with which he gets all the way to the rim
is down trendy up in you know, recent weeks, but
down overall from you know, maybe his Philly days or
when he first got to Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
However, he's now shooting.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
A career high from the mid range, you know, from
the non restricted area paint, so from four feet to
twenty two feet. You can look on Synergy, you can
look on Basketball Reference, you can look on cleaning the glass.
You know, Synergy breaks it up into floaters, hooks, you know,
shot type. But he's really kind of figuring out his
(11:30):
in between game as a score. And those six early
points against Charlotte came on like three straight maybe five
total possessions. You know, he scored, scored, came down a
couple more times, then he scored again. And it is
a joy to see Ben Simmons kind of navigate, you know,
this version of himself in his career, and he's been
(11:50):
a really positive player for Brooklyn this year. It hasn't
always looked the way you'd expect. Occasionally, yes, you want
him to take even more shots. Jordi Fernandez has mentioned
double digit field goal attempts a game, but at the
end of the day, the nets are six nearly six
points better per one hundred possessions when Ben is on
the court, and you know, near the All Star break
(12:13):
first week of February, I know, sample sizes for on
off data you want a little more than just half
a season, but it's not nothing. And I do think
Ben has really helped this team when he's been on
the court, and I think his expanding kind of mid
range game in between game has really helped that. And
so it's cool to see him progress as a score.
(12:35):
Last thing about that Charlotte game. Quick shout out to
Seth Curry right, who became the two hundred and fourth
NBA player ever to hit nine hundred three pointers.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Cool little stat.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I think he was the two hundred and third and
then Tyler Hero in a game after that caught him
so good for Seth. Curry made a lot of threes
when he was in Brooklyn, but that brings a to
I think Brooklyn's more impressive win, you know, I mean,
it definitely was the more impressive win considering Houston is
third in the Western Conference. I'm not sure if they
(13:10):
still are. I know they lost again on Monday night
against the Knicks, but that's a good basketball team. I
know they were missing Opera and Shengoon. I know they
were missing Fred van Vliet after halftime. I know they've
been missing Jabari Smith junior. But it's a good team
and the Nets took it to him. They Houston is
(13:30):
a team that prides themselves on defense, on energy, on toughness,
and you saw that in Spurts. But as the Nets
radio reunion on the TV broadcast, Chris Carino and Tim
Kapstraw doing their first TV game together in fifteen years, they.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Were great all night, but they Cappra was all over it.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
The Nets were the more energetic, they were the more
forceful team from start to finish, and they really deserved
that win. There was no kind of shooting luck here.
I know Houston didn't shoot well from three, but man,
the Nets really took it to him. And I think
it started on like the first offensive possession of the game.
(14:12):
You know, the Nets shot around thirty one percent from
three against Charlotte, and there's some various guys shot well.
Keon Johnson was zero seven from three. First possession. He
finds himself with an open three at the top of
the key, swishes it, and I think that really set
the tone. I think it helped him out. He had
a strong game and once again though it was an
(14:34):
all around effort, Zaire Williams led the way with twenty
one points, but once again six double digit scores. Every
one of the nine Nets who touched the floor made
a field goal, eight of them hit at least three.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
The ball was popping.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
They shot fifty five percent from two and thirty seven
percent from three, and the final score was one ten
ninety eight. And so typically you think, oh, you shoot
that well, you only have eleven turnovers, maybe you score
more than one hundred and ten points. But I think
the way Houston attacked that offensive glass, I think it
just took a lot out of Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
It took a lot of effort.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
They needed five bodies in the paint at all time,
all times. I think that maybe limited the amount of
transition points they were able to get and maybe suppressed
their total score. But they played a really strong offensive
and defensive game, and I thought they also ran when
they had their opportunities. One guy I really have to
(15:34):
shout out here is the nets other big man.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I kind of mentioned him in the Charlotte game and
he played well there too. But Dayron Sharp checks in
in the first quarter when the Nets are down fifteen
to thirteen, and at this point it's not really apparent
that the Nets are outworking Houston.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
You know, you can tell.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
They showed up to play, but it's not a huge
disparity in effort and all that. But I'll tell you
when Dayron checks out of the game, you know, nearly
a quarter later, the Nets are up thirty four twenty five.
So he won that first stint by eleven points, and
he was just everywhere. On the first defensive possession, he
(16:14):
had a hedge and recover against Fred van Vliet where
he kind of reached and had to recover and the
nets ended up getting a stop, but it wasn't perfect technique.
And then after that it was like possession after possession
after possession. He deflects, you know, a little pocket passing
the pick and roll, playing at the level. He totally
sticks to amend Thompson on a switch, runs down the court,
(16:38):
kind of bullies Jock Landale under the basket, gets an
offensive rebound tip in, and so you know, you may
look at his final line from this game and it's
not crazy. It's thirteen points. Four rebounds, very low for him,
but doesn't explain his activity inside. Two of them were
offensive and a block shot. But once again, you know,
(17:02):
Jordi was extremely compliment complimentary of him after the game.
And it's what Dayron has gotten better at. I've talked
about it a lot on this podcast, but the fact
that he's not just as way better technique around the
rim and drop coverage, meeting you know, attackers in the
restricted area. But he's sliding his feet on the perimeter,
(17:24):
he's up at the level, he's getting deflections there, he's
sticking to a men Thompson, he's guarding in space. I
remember he had a really nice one on one defensive
possession against Miles Bridges in the Charlotte game, Miles Bridges
ends up having a change direction two or three times.
It ends up actually making like a really tough righty
hook shot, you know, which is his off hand over Dayroon.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
But Dayron's just been great.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And he also shot six of eight against Houston, and
that is sort of his final frontier. He's hovering a
little below league average as a finisher right around the basket,
but he's just made so many strides now nearing the
end of his rookie contract that you know, he's gone
(18:10):
from late first round pick kind of unsure NBA guy
even after his first two.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Years, to bonafide rotation player.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Will come in off the bench and bring defensive energy,
will attack the offensive glass, will be a problem, you
know for other teams to handle. And the way he's
worked on his body, the way he's improved at everything else,
I just I trust his finishing to keep improving and
for him to you know, become an even more valuable
(18:39):
NBA player.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So that's really been great to see.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And I thought Houston was a great example of that
because it wasn't captured just in the box score because
when Dayron came in and he brought that energy and
he pushed Jock Landale around a little bit and he
started messing stuff up, and the Nets took the lead.
They didn't give it back, and from that point, the
energy to verity, the effort disparity was clear. The Nets
(19:03):
took it to Houston, and uh, you know, it was
great to see it. Obviously wasn't just effort. Houston does
pick it up in the second half, and you know
it's a little bit of a dog fight, so it's
not just effort. And then that's obviously how to execute
you know, basketball principles, and I think they did a
great job of that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
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(19:45):
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Speaker 1 (19:53):
Houston shoots forty six percent from two to thirty percent
from three. And you know, if you rewatch it or
if you you know, we'll see in the rematch, you know,
tonight Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
How the Nets do with this.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I thought they did a great job at funneling drivers.
So I thought if a guy caught the ball on
the left side of the court, you know, whoever's closing
out on him, funnels him maybe towards the baseline and
Nick Laxon under day, Ron Sharp is there early to
meet him outside the paint. I thought Ben Simmons had
a few really good, you know, examples of this. Tosana
(20:27):
Woma continues to impress me with his closeouts. But I
thought they really stuck to their principles. And you did
not see Houston drive into the middle of the floor
and spray the ball out.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
There was one possession early in the first quarter where
Jack Landale kind of had it around the free throw line,
wasn't going anywhere, and Trendon Watford comes up from the
corner trying to get a steal, and it leads to
Atari Easton open corner three and Tim Kafstra was all
over it on the broadcast. You know, he says, it's
great to help, it's great to be active, but we
got to have smart help. You know, if Jock Landale
(21:01):
has to hit a sixteen footer at the end.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Of the shot clock, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And then I think from the second to the fourth
quarter after that, the nets were really strong about where
they were helping from where they were funneling guys. You know,
Houston is twenty eighth in three point percentage, and I
don't think it's an accident that they ended up, you know,
shooting only thirty percent from three. I don't think it's
(21:25):
an accident that they took a lot of threes. I
think the ones they did take were ones the nets
were very okay with, you know, Jalen Green kind of
similar to the Miles Bridges thing. Jalen Green, right, one
of their only healthy, you know, offensive starters, Shangoon Jabari
Smith junior, Fred van Vliet. That's a lot of offense
missing from the lineup, and he scores twenty nine points, right,
(21:51):
but he needs twenty four shots to get there. Again,
only two assists, and he's three of eleven from three
and he was taken a lot of step back through
these a lot of tough ones at the end of
the shot clock. So I know three point defense is
built on variants. You have to hope some guys miss.
But the Nets really did a good job there. And
(22:12):
this is where I want to give a shout out again.
Obviously the players get it done. There's a few more
guys I could mention. I think the Nets really fix
some of their defensive rebounding issues. You know, the Rockets
missed a ton of shots, so they had a ton
of opportunities to get second chance points. I scored a
lot of them. They scored thirty six second chance points.
But changed kind of at the end of the first
(22:34):
half when the Nets actually went small. They had Jalen
Wilson and Ben Simmons in the front court at the
end of the first half and they took it to
Steven Adams. I don't think Houston really got a second
chance point for that stint. I think that helped build
the lead to fifteen, which it was at halftime, and
credit those two, you know, small guys, smaller forwards for
(22:55):
getting it done. But what I was going to say
before that is I think This is one of and
again it's hard to tell from sitting from your couch,
but one of Jordi Fernandez's best games as a coach,
as a just a tactician. I was just really impressed,
and obviously been impressed all year.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Been a tough job with guys.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
In and out of the lineup, all these injuries, a
couple of trades, but against Houston, not a great offensive
team and missing some guys, but Jordi really shined to me, right.
So he was the associate head coach for the Sacramento Kings,
but he was also I maybe informally, I don't know
(23:38):
if they get this. I don't think coaches get these
titles formally, but he was the defensive coordinator essentially, so
more of his responsibilities, you know, were on the defensive
side of the ball. His first year in Sacramento, they
go from twenty fifth in defense the year before to
fourteenth in defense, and so he's a proven defensive guy.
And I think it's funny when you think about European coaches,
(23:59):
European backs basketball, European head coaches in the NBA, you
think of him as offensive guys. They're on the cutting
edge of you know these concepts, and Jordy's talked about
playing through the center, and he's coached Demontis Sabonis and
Nikola Jokic and the handoffs and the side to side
action and we've obviously seen it, but you know, you
don't want to forget. He's really made, you know, some
(24:22):
of his bread and butter on defense. And so they
start same thing, glitching, blitzing, kind of hedging and recovering early.
And I think that gets to Jalen Green. I think
that's part of why he wasn't super efficient. You know,
Houston only scores thirty eight points in the first half,
and credit to the Bigs, they're doing that well, but
(24:44):
he's mixing in zone as well, and it's it was
an interesting zone the Nets played against Houston, you know,
kind of a two three and then halfway through the possession,
you know, once Houston swung the ball a couple of times,
the Nets would fall back in man and the Nets
did not play a lot of zone really before January,
(25:05):
probably before a couple of weeks ago. These last couple
of weeks, they've been playing zone, and to not just
play a regular two three zone, but a two three
zone in which you know, you're you're kind of you
really have to talk, and you're falling into man halfway
through the possession, and you're you don't have a lot
of practice time in the middle of January to put
this in.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I think it reflects well on Jordy.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I think it's why he said the thing he has
loved the most from his big men the last couple
of weeks has been communication above all else. You really
have to communicate to pull something like that off. And
I think it's an example of how connected the Nets
were and have been, you know, in these two wins.
Then we get into the third quarter, Houston starts Jeff
Green shout out old friend uncle Jeff over Steven Adams
(25:52):
try to catch up. They're down fifteen. They go five out,
five three point shooters on the court, and there's an
early possession where Amen Thompson rubbles the whole length of
the court, gets a transition layup. Jordi calls the timeout
with ten minutes left in the third quarter, looking like
Houston's going to make a little run. The building's loud
and men Thompson just made a cool play. That time
out really shut down the momentum. Nets come out, they
(26:14):
eventually build the lead, you know, to seventeen, and they
start switching one through five. So I think that helped
limit the against the five out offense. We haven't seen
Nick Claxton switch a bunch this year. I know, he's
kind of been famous for that. One of his most
renowned skills is a defensive big.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
But he starts.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Switching on to Jalen Green. Houston's not getting those short
role opportunities to play four on three, which can be
even more dangerous when you have five shooters, you know,
surrounding the perimeter. Right, So now the Nets are switching.
I think that was a great adjustment, you know, in
the second half, slowed down the offense. And I think
it was a big part of why Jalen Green, Miles Bridges,
(26:56):
and just in general other teams lead creators did not
have great games, you know. I know, they scored a
lot of points, but they really didn't drive great offense.
And it is how the Nets held teams under one
hundred points in consecutive games. Pretty impossible to do in
today's NBA considering how offensively talented guys are. So just
(27:17):
a couple of really strong wins for Brooklyn, and I'm
glad got to dive a little deeper on this episode
into them. Of course, you know, I'd give Jordy Fernandez
Brooklyn's finest maybe for that performance if I could, but
I think that goes against the spirit of the award,
and you know I don't want to because a guy
I haven't mentioned a ton yet, Zaire Williams, was just
(27:38):
awesome in both games. You know, the stat lines reflected
a little bit. Against Charlotte, right he had thirteen points
on five to ten, shooting three or six from three,
three boards, three assists, two steals, no turnovers, so again,
didn't do a lot wrong there. And then against Houston,
leading scorer with twenty one points eight to fifteen from
(28:01):
the floor, two of six from three eight boards and
assist and no turnovers, two blocks.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
And in Houston you really felt it.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You know, if Dayron was the guy that kind of
first brought it off the bench that energy, Zaire was
right behind him one b and he was great. And
after the game, Jordi said he brings quote extreme energy,
like what he always brings, but he also brought discipline today.
Sometimes his energy could be all over the place, but
in his last two games, he's just been amazing. He's disruptive,
(28:31):
he uses his length, He's there rebounding eight rebounds. You know,
we start three guards and Zayre has eight rebounds, And
I thought that really made the difference. Not much more
for me to say right there. I think Jordi really
summed it up. Zaya's just been great. He had a
couple great drives and kicks. You know, he's one of
those guys I mentioned that. I thought his drives were,
(28:53):
you know, maybe not spectacular, but just solid, moving the
ball around, making good decisions. Really his best week I
think as a net. And I don't say that to
detegrate the season he's had prior to this, but I
thought he was just awesome these past two games. And
it is a well deserved Brooklyn's Finest from me. I
think he's probably had more important praise and you know,
(29:20):
compliments on his performance. But hey, you know, Zia, if
you're listening, I give you my Brooklyn's Finest award for
the week that brings us to the next net. So
you know what am I looking you know, who were
looking for going forward? What do we want to see?
I'm gonna go with Keon Johnson, I know the three
point shooting has fallen off a little bit. You know,
(29:42):
he's gonna need to make some threes, especially playing in
that off guard role.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
But he's gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
This season, even just from the beginning of the year,
and he's talked about feeling more comfortable from the beginning
of the season. And I think it's also a testament
to him that he's continuing to shoot these threes. As
Jordi Fernandez is, you know, very clear about what he
wants from his guys. Shoot threes if you're open, and
it's hard to keep doing that if you're not making threes.
Keon's doing it, and I think he's getting rewarded with
(30:10):
more minutes and a bigger role because he is executing
the game plan. And then I think his drives have
gotten a lot better. He's the sort of athlete where
he jumps off two feet, he gets to a jump stop,
he can dunk on anybody. But it's also I think
really helped him, you know, getting to two feet, slowing
(30:32):
down and surveying the floor. You know, he had a
play against Charlotte ware got to jump stop on the
left block, and there were some guys digging at the ball,
and he kind of had to pivot a few times,
looked like he had nothing and boom, headfake moves the
defense throws a lob to Nick Claxton.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
His drives have gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
He's really shown some stuff and I want to see
how that keeps improving. You know, he's going to have
to make some threes, so that's part of the two.
But there's more and more and more drives and offensive
opportunities that end well for him. And so the more
that increases, you know, the better, the better player he's
(31:11):
going to be. You know, against Charlotte, he he ended
up only shooting seven of eighteen, but seven of eleven
from two and four to four from the free throw line.
You know, five boards, four assists, only one turnover, So
you can see it's coming for him. And he shoots
three of nine against Houston, three assists, one turnover, so
(31:35):
he's two turnovers. Excuse me, I won five assists. Sorry
I was looking at the wrong looking at the wrong
box score. Kean at thirteen points, five assists, two turnovers,
did shoot three of nine. But you can see the
signs are coming, and I'm just excited to keep watching
him as we as we get to the All Star
break and then of course the second part of this season.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So with.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
That said, it's time to close on a little bit
of trivia. Did mention Seth Curry before? And it got
me thinking, you know, who are the Nets with at
least nine hundred threes? Now nine hundred threes? There's been
two hundred guys, So I bumped it up a little bit.
Who are the players? And you can pause this after
(32:25):
I ask it, and you know, get a better sense
of you know, take your time and think it through.
Play the Jeopardy music in your head. Who are the
Nets with two thousand threes in their career? Anybody who's
played for the Nets that has two thousand threes in
their career? Big, nice round number. Someone recently got to
(32:49):
two thousand threes in the NBA. Who was Buddy Healed?
Not a Net, but I figured it'd be an interesting question.
So players that have been Nets that have two thousand
threes in the NBA? All right, you guys ready?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Number one on the.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
List, James Harden. He's one of two guys ever with
three thousand threes. Number two on the list, Vince Carter,
he's tenth all time in threes. I hit a bunch
of them with the Nets, you know, obviously VC three
icon of call. Then Jason Terry right behind him on
(33:26):
the all time list. Yes, Jason Terry, the Brooklyn Net.
I hope you didn't forget that one. That should give
you a hint for the fourth Net with two thousand threes.
Guy who's been a Net, Paul Pierce, same Oir of
the Brooklyn Nets, and right behind him Kevin Durant. So
the Nets have had five players in franchise history join
(33:48):
the two thousand three point make club. Only seventeen guys
in NBA history have done it. Buddy Heal just did
it recently. So that's again the getting those threes up,
excuse me.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
And they will continue to get those threes up, you know.
Over the next week.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
They close out with a home stand before the All
Star break, so they will be rematching against the Houston
Rockets at home on Tuesday night. They will be taking
on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, the Miami Heat
on Friday night, and then the Charlotte Hornets once again
next Monday, and then the seventy six Ers next Wednesday,
(34:26):
all at home, so a five game home stand before
the All Star break. Almost forgot the sixers there. Go
to Barkley Center watch the team for their eight days off.
I'm sure we'll have something fun for you. Then it'll
be you know, right around All Star break. We can reminisce,
you know on great Nets moments in All Star history.
You know, there have been a bunch. And with that
(34:47):
we'll wrap it up. Thanks for rocking with me. I know,
no Sarah Kustack this week. You know she's doing a
great job down with Unrivaled. We've joked about, you know,
missing her on this show, missing her on the Yes broadcast,
as Gus Kapeper mentioned a few times. Well they're not jokes.
They're not jokes. We do miss her, but we'll be
very excited to have her back. And that just about
(35:09):
wraps up Episode fifteen. Wow, Episode fifteen of the Backcourt.
Thank you guys for rocking with us. Brooklyn Nets podcast
presented by Ticketmaster. Shout out to them to rate us,
like us, subscribe, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
All the positive feedback helps.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Hope you enjoyed it and we will see you next week.
You are now in the backcourt a Brooklyn Nets podcast
presented by Ticketmaster. I am your host, Lucas Kaplan, writer
for Nets Daily. I cover the team also of Nets
Film Focus, where we do great videos, insightful videos about Nets.
You know, real x's and o's, And normally I'm joined
by Sarah Kustack, yes network color commentator covering the Nets.
(00:31):
But she is the busiest person in the world, at
least that I know, And while she's been able to
do every week so far, this season caught her at
just a rough or a busy time of the year.
She's down in Miami doing unrivaled. She is flying back
to Brooklyn. The Nets have an upcoming back to back
this week at home against Houston on Tuesday night and
(00:54):
against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. So I am
recording solo dolo on myight and we're going to talk
about the Brooklyn nets last two games. They only had
two games last week. I'm kind of liking these off
days between games. So the Nets played last Wednesday, a
victory against the Charlotte Hornets. They also played on Saturday night,
(01:18):
a victory in Houston against the Western Conferences number three
seed I know the Rockets were a little banged up,
but that was a pretty great win, and of course
it may not have been the primary focus of the
NBA world. Was a pretty crazy weekend. I was out
to dinner with some friends. We were going to, you know,
(01:40):
another spot. I was on the train. I had just
snapped the string on my pants and I was feeling
real upset, you know, I just hate when that happens.
And they were falling down and I was all annoyed
and just muttering to myself the whole night. And then
I saw Luka Doncic got traded for Anthony Davis and
kind of fixed my night. I don't know, I was
like right a high that I suspect a lot of
(02:02):
you were. But I have finally been able to put
down my phone, get off social media, stop reading all
of the memes and stories and rumors about all that craziness,
and lock into some pretty great Nets film from their
past two games. And so I figured we'd start with
the Charlotte game on Wednesday. And that was just a
(02:26):
really well rounded effort against an opponent that not only you.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Know, was missing a lot of their key players.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So the Nets out talented them but they really outworked
them and just out executed them, and I think that's
going to be a theme of this episode. So against Charlotte,
you know, all ten Nets who played made a field goal,
eight made at least three shots, and they had six
double digit scores. But I do feel like I should
lead with a guy who scored nine points, and that
(02:56):
is trendon Watford. Brooklyn welcomed back t Watt, who returned
from a twenty one game absence. He re injured his
left hamstring in December. He missed the start of the
season with that injury or you know, an injury to
his left hamstring.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm not sure if it was the same tear.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
But he came back, played a few games, got hurt again,
and now is back after missing all those games. And
I gotta say he did not look too rusty. He
looked very physically fit, and you know, as you'd expect
with the Nets training and performance staff, but he was
getting it done on the court, specifically in that Charlotte game.
(03:35):
In total, you know, he's played thirty two to thirty
three minutes between Charlotte and Houston. Against Charlotte, he had
nine points, four boards, two assists, and you know, I
don't want to say surprisingly, but very encouragingly did not
have a turnover against Charlotte, which is you know, a
part of his game that might be a swing skill
for him. How he's able to handle the ball at
(03:57):
his size, attack the rim and not turn the ball over.
That's going to be a big key for him moving forward.
And to come back against Charlotte plays seventeen and a
half minutes not turn the ball over.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It was just really impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And he made a bunch of nice plays versus Houston two,
even though he didn't quite shoot as well. But you know,
top of the list. I think you have to be
impressed with Trenton Watford in his first action back, you know,
in so long. However, I would say that game both
games really, but against Charlotte, that game was won, you know,
(04:30):
on defense and Brooklyn's ability really to force turnovers. It
was a seventeen to eleven victory for Brooklyn, you know,
in the turnover battle. So they forced seventeen and they
got out and ran. You know, the nets didn't light
it up on their jump shots from three from the
mid range, you know, what have you, but they outscored
(04:52):
Charlotte twenty one to one on fast break points. And
the funny stat about that is it was all twos.
You know, the box score has them going ten of
twelve in transition, so all two's an end one layup.
And they scored fifty four points in the paint against Charlotte.
I really thought that a lot of their ancillary guys,
(05:16):
so you know, not D'Angelo Russell, who was great but
is handling the ball all the time at the top
of the key, Ben Simmons, who made a return from
a five game absence, but Keon Johnson, Jalen Wilson's Aira Williams,
these guys that have to attack closeouts, you know, catch
it on the move. I thought they were really good
about not forcing the issue. You know, some things that
(05:36):
lead to turnovers or tough shots. They would probe they'd
get two feet in the paint and if they didn't
have anything, they'd kick it out and you know, reset
the offense. And I think that really just helped Brooklyn
play to their talent level. Sometimes the NBA is not
about all the spectacular plays you can make, but it's
about avoiding the negative ones. And that was a theme
(05:59):
against Charlotte was a theme against Houston, and I think
that's really what led to the win offensively, but again,
they held Charlotte to you know, just eighty three points
on the on the night, you know, twenty eight point
six percent from three. They shot under forty percent from two.
They were just great. And it started with Nick Claxton,
(06:20):
who I have to give a shout out to. He
had three blocks in the first quarter. And it's been
a theme of the season or a recurring, you know
issue for the Nets that they've really dropped off in
rim protection in terms of blocks. That's not the only
way to measure rim production. You know, opponents field goal percentage,
but they have dropped off greatly in blocks. And you know,
(06:43):
so has Nick Claxton down, you know, closer to one
when he's been closer to two blocks a game his
whole career. But part of that has been the Nets
playing a very aggressive defensive scheme. So when they're guarding
pick and rolls this year, Nick Claxton, Dayron Sharp, whoever
it may be, Ben's Immens, they are at the level
they are trapping the ball handler, they are on the
(07:05):
three point line. They are not just sitting back in
the paint waiting for ball handlers to come to them,
and that's you know, Nick Claxton hasn't done a ton
of that in his career, but now he's really not
doing that. He's not even really switching either. The nets
are trapping ball handlers trying to create pressure. And against
Charlotte it obviously worked. You know, they forced seventeen turnovers,
(07:25):
they got out on the fast break because of it
all the time. But what was really encouraging is that
Nick was still able to protect the rim despite this.
So there were some plays in the first quarter. I
have him in my notes here his first block in
the game. He hedges and recovers, which is not a
common you know, pick and roll defense you see in
(07:47):
the NBA a lot, considering how good these guys can
shoot off the dribble nets. Jordy Fernandez has been doing
that lately, and I thought the Charlotte game was the best.
Both Nick Claxton and Dayron Sharp handled that coverage.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So one of the first possessions.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Of the game, Nick Claxton meets the ball handler out front,
you know, recovers to his man TOAJ Gibson down low
ToJ has to evade. You know, another line of help
defense puts up a layup and Nick Claxton has recovered
from the top of the key all the way to
the rim to block that shot. His next block, also
in the first quarter, Hedges recovers, the ball gets swung
(08:26):
to the other side TOAJ Gibson's trying to seal him
out of the lane. Doesn't matter. Nick Claxon gets there
for a block. And so, you know, three blocks in
the first quarter. That third one was similar. All of
them had to do with his ground coverage, his ability
to defend on the perimeter and in the paint, and
I think that just really set the tone for Brooklyn.
(08:47):
Jordi Fernandez was extremely you know, gave him a lot
of praise in his postgame press conference, and you know,
I don't see why he wouldn't have, you know, per Jordi,
he said, Nick and Dayron have done a really good job.
And when they execute that coverage, our points per possession
allowed is very good. Sometimes you blitz, you you know,
(09:09):
you really trap to get the ball out of their hands.
Sometimes you corral just to contain the ball handler. We
do all these different things, but when we're aggressive, we
impact the basketball, and we make ball handlers uncomfortable. And
when we're there consistently, we've done a great job and
we've shown that in different games. And I thought that
was the key against Charlotte. You know, at the point
(09:31):
of attack above the key, the nets brought defensive pressure,
and I thought it flustered the Hornets. It was the bigs,
but it was also the wings. You know, these the hornets,
you know, guard to guard screens. The nets were able
to switch, they were able to navigate ghost screens. You
know when a guy slips out to the three point line.
They only got.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Caught on that a couple times.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And Miles Bridge is one of the only healthy starters
that Charlotte hadn't asked in that game. He had twenty
three points, but he needed twenty one shots and seven
free throws to get there. He only had one assist
to two turnovers. So yeah, you know, Charlotte's lead ball
handler lead score, maybe got his but wasn't efficient doing it,
(10:13):
and he wasn't really distributing the ball like that, And
that I think is where you see how good the
nets are at the start of possessions. And again, another
guy I want to give a shout out to was
Ben Simmons. You know, he had missed ten of fourteen
games with a couple of various you know, day to
day injuries, and right away in the first quarter he
(10:34):
scored six points, and they were all those righty floater
you know, kind of hook shots we've been seeing him
make this year. And something interesting I just want to
point out about Ben right he his you know, as
he works back from serious back injuries, something he's been
open about trying to find his game again. The frequency
(10:55):
with which he gets all the way to the rim
is down trendy up in you know, recent weeks, but
down overall from you know, maybe his Philly days or
when he first got to Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
However, he's now shooting.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
A career high from the mid range, you know, from
the non restricted area paint, so from four feet to
twenty two feet. You can look on Synergy, you can
look on Basketball Reference, you can look on cleaning the glass.
You know, Synergy breaks it up into floaters, hooks, you know,
shot type. But he's really kind of figuring out his
(11:30):
in between game as a score. And those six early
points against Charlotte came on like three straight maybe five
total possessions. You know, he scored, scored, came down a
couple more times, then he scored again. And it is
a joy to see Ben Simmons kind of navigate, you know,
this version of himself in his career, and he's been
(11:50):
a really positive player for Brooklyn this year. It hasn't
always looked the way you'd expect. Occasionally, yes, you want
him to take even more shots. Jordi Fernandez has mentioned
double digit field goal attempts a game, but at the
end of the day, the nets are six nearly six
points better per one hundred possessions when Ben is on
the court, and you know, near the All Star break
(12:13):
first week of February, I know, sample sizes for on
off data you want a little more than just half
a season, but it's not nothing. And I do think
Ben has really helped this team when he's been on
the court, and I think his expanding kind of mid
range game in between game has really helped that. And
so it's cool to see him progress as a score.
(12:35):
Last thing about that Charlotte game. Quick shout out to
Seth Curry right, who became the two hundred and fourth
NBA player ever to hit nine hundred three pointers.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Cool little stat.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I think he was the two hundred and third and
then Tyler Hero in a game after that caught him
so good for Seth. Curry made a lot of threes
when he was in Brooklyn, but that brings a to
I think Brooklyn's more impressive win, you know, I mean,
it definitely was the more impressive win considering Houston is
third in the Western Conference. I'm not sure if they
(13:10):
still are. I know they lost again on Monday night
against the Knicks, but that's a good basketball team. I
know they were missing Opera and Shengoon. I know they
were missing Fred van Vliet after halftime. I know they've
been missing Jabari Smith junior. But it's a good team
and the Nets took it to him. They Houston is
(13:30):
a team that prides themselves on defense, on energy, on toughness,
and you saw that in Spurts. But as the Nets
radio reunion on the TV broadcast, Chris Carino and Tim
Kapstraw doing their first TV game together in fifteen years, they.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Were great all night, but they Cappra was all over it.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
The Nets were the more energetic, they were the more
forceful team from start to finish, and they really deserved
that win. There was no kind of shooting luck here.
I know Houston didn't shoot well from three, but man,
the Nets really took it to him. And I think
it started on like the first offensive possession of the game.
(14:12):
You know, the Nets shot around thirty one percent from
three against Charlotte, and there's some various guys shot well.
Keon Johnson was zero seven from three. First possession. He
finds himself with an open three at the top of
the key, swishes it, and I think that really set
the tone. I think it helped him out. He had
a strong game and once again though it was an
(14:34):
all around effort, Zaire Williams led the way with twenty
one points, but once again six double digit scores. Every
one of the nine Nets who touched the floor made
a field goal, eight of them hit at least three.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
The ball was popping.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
They shot fifty five percent from two and thirty seven
percent from three, and the final score was one ten
ninety eight. And so typically you think, oh, you shoot
that well, you only have eleven turnovers, maybe you score
more than one hundred and ten points. But I think
the way Houston attacked that offensive glass, I think it
just took a lot out of Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
It took a lot of effort.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
They needed five bodies in the paint at all time,
all times. I think that maybe limited the amount of
transition points they were able to get and maybe suppressed
their total score. But they played a really strong offensive
and defensive game, and I thought they also ran when
they had their opportunities. One guy I really have to
(15:34):
shout out here is the nets other big man.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I kind of mentioned him in the Charlotte game and
he played well there too. But Dayron Sharp checks in
in the first quarter when the Nets are down fifteen
to thirteen, and at this point it's not really apparent
that the Nets are outworking Houston.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
You know, you can tell.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
They showed up to play, but it's not a huge
disparity in effort and all that. But I'll tell you
when Dayron checks out of the game, you know, nearly
a quarter later, the Nets are up thirty four twenty five.
So he won that first stint by eleven points, and
he was just everywhere. On the first defensive possession, he
(16:14):
had a hedge and recover against Fred van Vliet where
he kind of reached and had to recover and the
nets ended up getting a stop, but it wasn't perfect technique.
And then after that it was like possession after possession
after possession. He deflects, you know, a little pocket passing
the pick and roll, playing at the level. He totally
sticks to amend Thompson on a switch, runs down the court,
(16:38):
kind of bullies Jock Landale under the basket, gets an
offensive rebound tip in, and so you know, you may
look at his final line from this game and it's
not crazy. It's thirteen points. Four rebounds, very low for him,
but doesn't explain his activity inside. Two of them were
offensive and a block shot. But once again, you know,
(17:02):
Jordi was extremely compliment complimentary of him after the game.
And it's what Dayron has gotten better at. I've talked
about it a lot on this podcast, but the fact
that he's not just as way better technique around the
rim and drop coverage, meeting you know, attackers in the
restricted area. But he's sliding his feet on the perimeter,
(17:24):
he's up at the level, he's getting deflections there, he's
sticking to a men Thompson, he's guarding in space. I
remember he had a really nice one on one defensive
possession against Miles Bridges in the Charlotte game, Miles Bridges
ends up having a change direction two or three times.
It ends up actually making like a really tough righty
hook shot, you know, which is his off hand over Dayroon.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
But Dayron's just been great.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And he also shot six of eight against Houston, and
that is sort of his final frontier. He's hovering a
little below league average as a finisher right around the basket,
but he's just made so many strides now nearing the
end of his rookie contract that you know, he's gone
(18:10):
from late first round pick kind of unsure NBA guy
even after his first two.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Years, to bonafide rotation player.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Will come in off the bench and bring defensive energy,
will attack the offensive glass, will be a problem, you
know for other teams to handle. And the way he's
worked on his body, the way he's improved at everything else,
I just I trust his finishing to keep improving and
for him to you know, become an even more valuable
(18:39):
NBA player.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So that's really been great to see.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And I thought Houston was a great example of that
because it wasn't captured just in the box score because
when Dayron came in and he brought that energy and
he pushed Jock Landale around a little bit and he
started messing stuff up, and the Nets took the lead.
They didn't give it back, and from that point, the
energy to verity, the effort disparity was clear. The Nets
(19:03):
took it to Houston, and uh, you know, it was
great to see it. Obviously wasn't just effort. Houston does
pick it up in the second half, and you know
it's a little bit of a dog fight, so it's
not just effort. And then that's obviously how to execute
you know, basketball principles, and I think they did a
great job of that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Hey that fans dunks, dimes and no looks are great
on TV, but nothing compares to catching them irl. And
that starts with buying tickets. A Ticketmaster, the official ticket
marketplace of the Nets in the NBA. Ticketmaster get you
to the game so you can catch every highlight in person,
from seeing your favorite Nets stars up close to hearing
the squeak of the sneakers on the hardwood, put that
(19:45):
jersey collection to uston. Get tickets a Ticketmaster. There's no
better brag than saying you saw it live, see your courtside, Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Houston shoots forty six percent from two to thirty percent
from three. And you know, if you rewatch it or
if you you know, we'll see in the rematch, you know,
tonight Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
How the Nets do with this.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I thought they did a great job at funneling drivers.
So I thought if a guy caught the ball on
the left side of the court, you know, whoever's closing
out on him, funnels him maybe towards the baseline and
Nick Laxon under day, Ron Sharp is there early to
meet him outside the paint. I thought Ben Simmons had
a few really good, you know, examples of this. Tosana
(20:27):
Woma continues to impress me with his closeouts. But I
thought they really stuck to their principles. And you did
not see Houston drive into the middle of the floor
and spray the ball out.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
There was one possession early in the first quarter where
Jack Landale kind of had it around the free throw line,
wasn't going anywhere, and Trendon Watford comes up from the
corner trying to get a steal, and it leads to
Atari Easton open corner three and Tim Kafstra was all
over it on the broadcast. You know, he says, it's
great to help, it's great to be active, but we
got to have smart help. You know, if Jock Landale
(21:01):
has to hit a sixteen footer at the end.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Of the shot clock, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And then I think from the second to the fourth
quarter after that, the nets were really strong about where
they were helping from where they were funneling guys. You know,
Houston is twenty eighth in three point percentage, and I
don't think it's an accident that they ended up, you know,
shooting only thirty percent from three. I don't think it's
(21:25):
an accident that they took a lot of threes. I
think the ones they did take were ones the nets
were very okay with, you know, Jalen Green kind of
similar to the Miles Bridges thing. Jalen Green, right, one
of their only healthy, you know, offensive starters, Shangoon Jabari
Smith junior, Fred van Vliet. That's a lot of offense
missing from the lineup, and he scores twenty nine points, right,
(21:51):
but he needs twenty four shots to get there. Again,
only two assists, and he's three of eleven from three
and he was taken a lot of step back through
these a lot of tough ones at the end of
the shot clock. So I know three point defense is
built on variants. You have to hope some guys miss.
But the Nets really did a good job there. And
(22:12):
this is where I want to give a shout out again.
Obviously the players get it done. There's a few more
guys I could mention. I think the Nets really fix
some of their defensive rebounding issues. You know, the Rockets
missed a ton of shots, so they had a ton
of opportunities to get second chance points. I scored a
lot of them. They scored thirty six second chance points.
But changed kind of at the end of the first
(22:34):
half when the Nets actually went small. They had Jalen
Wilson and Ben Simmons in the front court at the
end of the first half and they took it to
Steven Adams. I don't think Houston really got a second
chance point for that stint. I think that helped build
the lead to fifteen, which it was at halftime, and
credit those two, you know, small guys, smaller forwards for
(22:55):
getting it done. But what I was going to say
before that is I think This is one of and
again it's hard to tell from sitting from your couch,
but one of Jordi Fernandez's best games as a coach,
as a just a tactician. I was just really impressed,
and obviously been impressed all year.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Been a tough job with guys.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
In and out of the lineup, all these injuries, a
couple of trades, but against Houston, not a great offensive
team and missing some guys, but Jordi really shined to me, right.
So he was the associate head coach for the Sacramento Kings,
but he was also I maybe informally, I don't know
(23:38):
if they get this. I don't think coaches get these
titles formally, but he was the defensive coordinator essentially, so
more of his responsibilities, you know, were on the defensive
side of the ball. His first year in Sacramento, they
go from twenty fifth in defense the year before to
fourteenth in defense, and so he's a proven defensive guy.
And I think it's funny when you think about European coaches,
(23:59):
European backs basketball, European head coaches in the NBA, you
think of him as offensive guys. They're on the cutting
edge of you know these concepts, and Jordy's talked about
playing through the center, and he's coached Demontis Sabonis and
Nikola Jokic and the handoffs and the side to side
action and we've obviously seen it, but you know, you
don't want to forget. He's really made, you know, some
(24:22):
of his bread and butter on defense. And so they
start same thing, glitching, blitzing, kind of hedging and recovering early.
And I think that gets to Jalen Green. I think
that's part of why he wasn't super efficient. You know,
Houston only scores thirty eight points in the first half,
and credit to the Bigs, they're doing that well, but
(24:44):
he's mixing in zone as well, and it's it was
an interesting zone the Nets played against Houston, you know,
kind of a two three and then halfway through the possession,
you know, once Houston swung the ball a couple of times,
the Nets would fall back in man and the Nets
did not play a lot of zone really before January,
(25:05):
probably before a couple of weeks ago. These last couple
of weeks, they've been playing zone, and to not just
play a regular two three zone, but a two three
zone in which you know, you're you're kind of you
really have to talk, and you're falling into man halfway
through the possession, and you're you don't have a lot
of practice time in the middle of January to put
this in.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I think it reflects well on Jordy.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I think it's why he said the thing he has
loved the most from his big men the last couple
of weeks has been communication above all else. You really
have to communicate to pull something like that off. And
I think it's an example of how connected the Nets
were and have been, you know, in these two wins.
Then we get into the third quarter, Houston starts Jeff
Green shout out old friend uncle Jeff over Steven Adams
(25:52):
try to catch up. They're down fifteen. They go five out,
five three point shooters on the court, and there's an
early possession where Amen Thompson rubbles the whole length of
the court, gets a transition layup. Jordi calls the timeout
with ten minutes left in the third quarter, looking like
Houston's going to make a little run. The building's loud
and men Thompson just made a cool play. That time
out really shut down the momentum. Nets come out, they
(26:14):
eventually build the lead, you know, to seventeen, and they
start switching one through five. So I think that helped
limit the against the five out offense. We haven't seen
Nick Claxton switch a bunch this year. I know, he's
kind of been famous for that. One of his most
renowned skills is a defensive big.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
But he starts.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Switching on to Jalen Green. Houston's not getting those short
role opportunities to play four on three, which can be
even more dangerous when you have five shooters, you know,
surrounding the perimeter. Right, So now the Nets are switching.
I think that was a great adjustment, you know, in
the second half, slowed down the offense. And I think
it was a big part of why Jalen Green, Miles Bridges,
(26:56):
and just in general other teams lead creators did not
have great games, you know. I know, they scored a
lot of points, but they really didn't drive great offense.
And it is how the Nets held teams under one
hundred points in consecutive games. Pretty impossible to do in
today's NBA considering how offensively talented guys are. So just
(27:17):
a couple of really strong wins for Brooklyn, and I'm
glad got to dive a little deeper on this episode
into them. Of course, you know, I'd give Jordy Fernandez
Brooklyn's finest maybe for that performance if I could, but
I think that goes against the spirit of the award,
and you know I don't want to because a guy
I haven't mentioned a ton yet, Zaire Williams, was just
(27:38):
awesome in both games. You know, the stat lines reflected
a little bit. Against Charlotte, right he had thirteen points
on five to ten, shooting three or six from three,
three boards, three assists, two steals, no turnovers, so again,
didn't do a lot wrong there. And then against Houston,
leading scorer with twenty one points eight to fifteen from
(28:01):
the floor, two of six from three eight boards and
assist and no turnovers, two blocks.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
And in Houston you really felt it.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You know, if Dayron was the guy that kind of
first brought it off the bench that energy, Zaire was
right behind him one b and he was great. And
after the game, Jordi said he brings quote extreme energy,
like what he always brings, but he also brought discipline today.
Sometimes his energy could be all over the place, but
in his last two games, he's just been amazing. He's disruptive,
(28:31):
he uses his length, He's there rebounding eight rebounds. You know,
we start three guards and Zayre has eight rebounds, And
I thought that really made the difference. Not much more
for me to say right there. I think Jordi really
summed it up. Zaya's just been great. He had a
couple great drives and kicks. You know, he's one of
those guys I mentioned that. I thought his drives were,
(28:53):
you know, maybe not spectacular, but just solid, moving the
ball around, making good decisions. Really his best week I
think as a net. And I don't say that to
detegrate the season he's had prior to this, but I
thought he was just awesome these past two games. And
it is a well deserved Brooklyn's Finest from me. I
think he's probably had more important praise and you know,
(29:20):
compliments on his performance. But hey, you know, Zia, if
you're listening, I give you my Brooklyn's Finest award for
the week that brings us to the next net. So
you know what am I looking you know, who were
looking for going forward? What do we want to see?
I'm gonna go with Keon Johnson, I know the three
point shooting has fallen off a little bit. You know,
(29:42):
he's gonna need to make some threes, especially playing in
that off guard role.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
But he's gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
This season, even just from the beginning of the year,
and he's talked about feeling more comfortable from the beginning
of the season. And I think it's also a testament
to him that he's continuing to shoot these threes. As
Jordi Fernandez is, you know, very clear about what he
wants from his guys. Shoot threes if you're open, and
it's hard to keep doing that if you're not making threes.
Keon's doing it, and I think he's getting rewarded with
(30:10):
more minutes and a bigger role because he is executing
the game plan. And then I think his drives have
gotten a lot better. He's the sort of athlete where
he jumps off two feet, he gets to a jump stop,
he can dunk on anybody. But it's also I think
really helped him, you know, getting to two feet, slowing
(30:32):
down and surveying the floor. You know, he had a
play against Charlotte ware got to jump stop on the
left block, and there were some guys digging at the ball,
and he kind of had to pivot a few times,
looked like he had nothing and boom, headfake moves the
defense throws a lob to Nick Claxton.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
His drives have gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
He's really shown some stuff and I want to see
how that keeps improving. You know, he's going to have
to make some threes, so that's part of the two.
But there's more and more and more drives and offensive
opportunities that end well for him. And so the more
that increases, you know, the better, the better player he's
(31:11):
going to be. You know, against Charlotte, he he ended
up only shooting seven of eighteen, but seven of eleven
from two and four to four from the free throw line.
You know, five boards, four assists, only one turnover, So
you can see it's coming for him. And he shoots
three of nine against Houston, three assists, one turnover, so
(31:35):
he's two turnovers. Excuse me, I won five assists. Sorry
I was looking at the wrong looking at the wrong
box score. Kean at thirteen points, five assists, two turnovers,
did shoot three of nine. But you can see the
signs are coming, and I'm just excited to keep watching
him as we as we get to the All Star
break and then of course the second part of this season.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So with.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
That said, it's time to close on a little bit
of trivia. Did mention Seth Curry before? And it got
me thinking, you know, who are the Nets with at
least nine hundred threes? Now nine hundred threes? There's been
two hundred guys, So I bumped it up a little bit.
Who are the players? And you can pause this after
(32:25):
I ask it, and you know, get a better sense
of you know, take your time and think it through.
Play the Jeopardy music in your head. Who are the
Nets with two thousand threes in their career? Anybody who's
played for the Nets that has two thousand threes in
their career? Big, nice round number. Someone recently got to
(32:49):
two thousand threes in the NBA. Who was Buddy Healed?
Not a Net, but I figured it'd be an interesting question.
So players that have been Nets that have two thousand
threes in the NBA? All right, you guys ready?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Number one on the.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
List, James Harden. He's one of two guys ever with
three thousand threes. Number two on the list, Vince Carter,
he's tenth all time in threes. I hit a bunch
of them with the Nets, you know, obviously VC three
icon of call. Then Jason Terry right behind him on
(33:26):
the all time list. Yes, Jason Terry, the Brooklyn Net.
I hope you didn't forget that one. That should give
you a hint for the fourth Net with two thousand threes.
Guy who's been a Net, Paul Pierce, same Oir of
the Brooklyn Nets, and right behind him Kevin Durant. So
the Nets have had five players in franchise history join
(33:48):
the two thousand three point make club. Only seventeen guys
in NBA history have done it. Buddy Heal just did
it recently. So that's again the getting those threes up,
excuse me.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
And they will continue to get those threes up, you know.
Over the next week.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
They close out with a home stand before the All
Star break, so they will be rematching against the Houston
Rockets at home on Tuesday night. They will be taking
on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, the Miami Heat
on Friday night, and then the Charlotte Hornets once again
next Monday, and then the seventy six Ers next Wednesday,
(34:26):
all at home, so a five game home stand before
the All Star break. Almost forgot the sixers there. Go
to Barkley Center watch the team for their eight days off.
I'm sure we'll have something fun for you. Then it'll
be you know, right around All Star break. We can reminisce,
you know on great Nets moments in All Star history.
You know, there have been a bunch. And with that
(34:47):
we'll wrap it up. Thanks for rocking with me. I know,
no Sarah Kustack this week. You know she's doing a
great job down with Unrivaled. We've joked about, you know,
missing her on this show, missing her on the Yes broadcast,
as Gus Kapeper mentioned a few times. Well they're not jokes.
They're not jokes. We do miss her, but we'll be
very excited to have her back. And that just about
(35:09):
wraps up Episode fifteen. Wow, Episode fifteen of the Backcourt.
Thank you guys for rocking with us. Brooklyn Nets podcast
presented by Ticketmaster. Shout out to them to rate us,
like us, subscribe, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
All the positive feedback helps.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Hope you enjoyed it and we will see you next week.
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