April 19, 2023 • 44 mins
Chris and his radio partner Tim "The Capper" Capstraw review game 2 of the Brooklyn Nets' first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Chris Carrino with you. This is the voice of the
NETS podcast along with my sidekick. Is it okay to
call you my sidekick?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, that's the fact. I prefer that you prefer.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That, all right? My sidekick of the last twenty one
NETS seasons right here on NETS Radio. It's Tim Kapstraw,
the Kapper as he's affectionately known as, or the Kappa,
as as Patty Mills will call you, or Dan Mehan
or the number of Australians that are on the staff.
Uh cabra. This is it. This is our podcast to
(00:41):
go over what we saw in game two and look
ahead a little bit to Game three. I thought, you know,
we talked about a lot of people will we'll say,
you know, basketball is art. You know we've heard that term, right,
and we know that it's not really because there's a
there's a score right, there's a scoreboard. How you know,
(01:01):
a point counts, basket counts a certain amount of points,
and that's what you get. But the game itself, it's
got an artistic quality to it and it kind of
paints a picture, right, it's a and some some games
are very straightforward, very realist, naturalist, And I thought Game
one was kind of like that, we saw what we
(01:24):
can interpret it. A lot of people interpreted it the
same way, and then it made it easy to say, R,
what adjustments you have to make the game to Game two,
I thought was a little more interpretive, you know, a
little more like a Christopher Nolan film. Kapper like you,
there's gonna be a lot of different ways of dissecting it.
(01:46):
You know. Game one was like a rom com. You know,
we kind of very kind of predictable and outcome happened,
and we know what we saw. Game two is a
little more open interpretation. And the reason I would say
this is I feel like in reading stories or even
tweets that we got last night, a lot of different
opinions on what we saw. So why don't you give
(02:10):
us a little a little interpretation, a little review. Okay too, how.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I see it or I thought about how I'm thinking
about it right now after trying to dissect it today,
let me give it a run right here. First of all,
let's throw out defense right now. I thought the defense
there was mistakes made, they didn't rebound at critical times.
They've had mistakes in their rotation, but the overall effort
(02:39):
and execution and forcing turnovers and all that. So I'm
going to throw defense out because you hold a team
to ninety six points, that's an elite team. Yeah, I
would take that night in and night out. You take
that the rest of the series. So what do you
got to do now? You got to correct offense, and
let's just all right, let's throw out the first half.
(03:01):
Let's just go right now to the second half and
go over what we saw and what, you know, what
could be done about it. And I thought this, I
thought this was as big a chess match basketball game
as I have witnessed in a long time. Talk about
adjustments to adjustments from game one to game two. I
(03:23):
think throughout the game there were massive adjustments going on
on both ends. But the two main ones were the
nets went very small, really small. And the seventy six
ers played zone defense, not exclusively, and that's important to know.
They played zone in you know, a couple of times,
(03:46):
two or three times in the first half, and then
they came out in the second half in zone defense
and a.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Little bit different. They played it like Miami.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
They put a tall guy up top to Bias Harris
at the tyrese maxis it had.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Speed and Laith up top, and they were.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Hiding their weaker defender, James Harden, in the corner. And honestly,
I thought that, you know, it was very effective. I
thought the I think basketball is art, it's also part
of that art. It's music and it's rhythm, and I
thought there was a rhythm missing in the game for
the Nets. I thought they missed the rhythm of how
(04:29):
to attack the zone at times. I thought there was
some rhythm and that that wasn't included in the way
guys were.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Able to shoot. The basketball was a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
It was a rhythm that was missing in making some passes,
and there was some rhythm and you know, executing offense
and that things were oftentimes later on in the shot
clock when they didn't have to be. And the other
part of that happened in that third quarter where they
only scored fourteen points. They saw zone defense for a
good portion of it, but not all of it.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
What happened was.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The Sixers went back to man to man and I
think the Nets.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Were confused then too.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
There was an awful lot of standing around patiently wondering what,
you know, what was the call. There wasn't much movement,
and you know there's there's you know, a number of
three point shots attempted. A number of them were pretty good,
we're pretty good looks. But then there are others where
the clock was winding down and you know, TNT does
(05:25):
you in the favor of you know, give you a
countdown within the within the circle of the fall line.
You know, they'll let you know that when you're down
below five seconds or whatever and it clicks down.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So I thought there was a rhythm.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I thought there was a balance that the Nets didn't
really have in their offense and their execution and then
their approach. And I think there's an approach that we
know the Nets want to shoot a lot of threes.
But I also think there's an adage. I don't know,
Like I always think I'm not a great you know,
my MBA mind isn't great because I was a college
(05:57):
guy for one hundred years ago compare to the NBA guys.
But when I see his zone defense, I kind of
my eyes light up. In the one phrase, I think, yeah,
with a one phrase, I didn't say to you last
night that I was mad. I didn't on the ride home.
You've got to play through a zone, not around it.
And I thought the Nets played around the zone. They
(06:20):
passed the ball time was going down, and then they
oftentimes just shot a three. They got a couple of
times mc cel bridges pulled up and did this, and
they didn't mix it up enough. They didn't have rhythm
in their attack against the zone.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
They had some shots that were pretty.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Good, though I won't deny that they didn't have windows
where there were shots. But then when the Sixers went
back to man to man.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I thought that's when the Nets look worse.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
They weren't really ready. I thought there was a disruption
in the rhythm. I thought there was an awful lot
of chess match things going on, and I thought the
Nets didn't react well to it. That was the third quarter,
fourth quarter. I think things carried over a lot like that.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Also. Well, what's interesting though, and just to go back
to that chess move by Doc Rivers to go zone
defense to start the second half and how it kind
of changed the game right and took the Nets out
of their rhythm offensively, because a lot of times, you know,
zone is used in the NBA basically just for that
like you don't see I mean, in extreme examples the
(07:19):
heat will play you know, a whole game in zone
or or years ago when you know, remember the Kenny
Atkinson Nets, they got a lot of uh success when
they would play you know, zone for a good chunk
of games.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They played it a lot. Though they did play it
a lot, but a.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Lot of times it's but they played a lot. But
I was saying, there's a lot of times it's used
just to sort of throw you off and just because
NBA teams will adjust to it and then you switch it.
It's different looks. It's to change the pace. It's like
a pitcher thrown, you know, taking a little something off
a fastball to just throw the hitter off balance. But
your point about playing through the zone. So Doc Rivers
in the in the start of the second half, they
(07:54):
go to a zone right off the bat right, and
I think the Nets they miss a three. You had
a Phinney Smith miss three. Sixers come down they don't
the Nets get a stop on the other end. Then
I want to say the Nets score. Dinwittie goes through
the zone, gets to the rim right and scores and
Doc Rivers time out like a minute into the second half.
(08:17):
He's like probably telling his team at that point, Hey,
we want to play zone, but that's not the way
we're gonna have to do it. And then from that
point on, maybe they're approach defense, you know, to playing
the zone and figuring out I don't know, but it's
interesting that you said that go through it because I'm
looking back at the game and I'm like, the first possession, Yeah,
(08:37):
the Nets score and make you know, you always talk
about you want to make the other team in the
second half is a coaches thing you always talk about, right,
make the other team call the first time out, right,
and the Nets made Doc Rivers called the first time out.
You know, they go up seven and they had just
gone zone and you're thinking, oh wow, they they made
(09:01):
a correction and it didn't work right away. But Doc
Riverge wasn't willing to just say oh it didn't work. No,
He's saying, no, no, no, no, we're competent that our adjustment
is going to work. But that's not the way you
have to do it. And I feel like from that
point on, the game changed, well.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
The game did change because after that timeout, the you know,
I said, I wasn't going to talk about defense, but
that's when the Nets had defensive problems also, it's all connected.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It's all connected. It was a twenty to five run.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
They went on after that for about the four almost five,
for about five minutes.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It began, of course with the TJ PJ.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Tucker offensive rebound back to Maxi for three. Then remember
there was a lazy pass against his own by mikel
Bridges that was stolen by Tobias Harris. That was a
five zero run. Then Jock Vaughan calls time out, right,
so then you know, so then the nets call a timeout.
Now you're coming back. Now the offense, you know, what
were you going to do offensively and where were you
(09:56):
going to get your shots? Mckel Bridges did come off
into the fallow line and make a shot in that area,
But it just felt like the flow, the pace see
zone slows you down too, right, I mean, it slows
down the pace of a game.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It slows it down.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
And then and then there were times, you know, Cam
Johnson did have an open look, Dorian Phinney Smith did
mcil bridge's, but there wasn't a great mix or rhythm
or attack going.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
In the way that the nets were playing.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
They were pausing, they were holding, they were playing around it.
I would have preferred them to play through it with
the dribble through it through the pass. Yes, I know
embiid is there, and let's not forget they're playing zone
mostly because the Nets are playing small ball and they
want to keep embiid on the floor. But they don't
want them chasing anybody, so that's why they're doing it.
(10:49):
So they're doing that for that purpose and it's achieving
the help to keep embiid right there. But also the
rhythm of how the Nets played I thought got totally disrupted.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And yeah, a lot of times it could be as
simple as you know, we talked about Game one where
the Sixers made a lot of threes. We could talk
about Game two the Nets miss a lot of threes.
But one of the things we talked about from in
the game one reaction in game two preview was you
wanted to see the Nets shoot more threes. You know,
don't be hesitant, you know, go out there with guns
(11:20):
blazing right when you get but it was like, when
the ball swings, don't be hesitant to shoot it, and
you're going to see a lot of you know, Net
score thirteen of forty two from three in the game
and I used this analogy last night on our postgame
show that I've I've talked about in football, because there's
a there's a stat in football that kind of gets
(11:40):
over you sometimes third down percentage, right, and people say, well,
it doesn't mean anything, because you know, sometimes you're facing
a third and two and sometimes you're facing a third
and thirteen, and how are you comparing the two? And
I've even seen guys that you know in broadcast that
will break it down, well, there were this and this
(12:01):
and this range. But here's the thing. Third down percentage
tells you a story because if you have a very high,
a good third down percentage where you're related to offensive defense,
it probably means that you are putting yourself in good
position on third down. Right, If you're converting a lot
(12:22):
of third downs, it's probably because you're in a lot
of third and shorts, all right. And the same thing
with three point percentage, it's a barometer, I think, for
how well you're playing offensively, because not every three is
the same. They're all the same distance, but they don't
come in the same manner. Some guys are better off
the dribbling with three. Some guys are better if it's
(12:44):
swung to them. Some guys are better when they catch
it and shoot immediately. Sometimes the pass comes in a
position where you catch it in a shooting position. There's
all sorts of factors to go in to whether you
make or miss a three pointer, and a lot of
times a three point percentage you can be getting shots that, yes,
you should make, but a lot of times it's really
(13:06):
telling you what kind of a rhythm your offense is in.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, that is very well said.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
It's it's that's kind of what I'm saying in that,
because if you look at the if you were to
break down to threes, you would say, you know, boy,
that's that's pretty open. That's pretty open. Uh, that one's
you know, like they weren't like bad. It's just the
feel thing of how the game exactly what you said
how would should flow. There wasn't early There wasn't an
(13:33):
early attack. The ball wasn't hitting the paint and then
sprayed out and you got we talk about that against man.
That's just as important against zone. And I thought it
got stale, it got stagnant, and again it got really
stale when the nets when that when the sixers and
I was thrown off by this. Looking watching the game again,
they went back man to man for a big portion
(13:56):
of that third quarter. And remember I was saying, Chris,
the nets are just stand ending out there. Why are
they just standing? I think they're wondering what defense they're
going against. And uh, I thought that that that hesitation,
uh you know, cause cause issues. You didn't have that
same attack mentality. And again that's why I go back
(14:16):
to rhythm. And the other thing is, I think there
has to be some judgment. I mean analytics is I
we totally believe in analytics and shooting. But if there
are times when when you know you don't have it,
you know you haven't got it going from the three
point line, that you need to mix it up too
as a player, just to kind of get get your
attack going uh the other way and get inside there.
(14:39):
And that's a feel thing, and uh you know that
that's also part of it all. And that carried over
even to the to the fourth court of the game.
You know, uh, you think about there were some critical
times and let's remember in the fourth quarter of this game,
it was a one point game at at I don't
know ten ten.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
You know, tend to go.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
And if you were, you know, and then here the
nets are, they're still getting some decent I'm not so again,
I'm not talking defense and rebounding right now, we know
that offensively, you know, what were the looks they were
gonna get. I just thought they stopped playing the game.
There wasn't there wasn't action going there wasn't screening going
on there when they saw the zones and know one's
(15:21):
shots would come back. I mean, Royce O'Neill had a
number of shots. Who wouldn't take Royce O'Neill shooting fourth
quarter threes.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Everybody loved them now in their best clutch player this
year exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
But the context matters. Context matters.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
We're also talking about a guy who was playing over
thirty minutes. Then this guy you ended up playing thirty
five minutes and he defended Joel Embiid. It's and that's
not to say I would still tell him to take them.
And it's really easy to say that after after the fact.
It's easy to say, oh boy, you know, maybe he
was tired, maybe this or that.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
But again, I just thought there was in the.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Great keep going to that word rhythm and feel, and
again a little bit more mixed in the game. And
I you know, when I say mix, I you know,
I want bridges involved a lot, you know what I mean.
I want them involved a lot. I want him touching
in that hype, in that mid post area a little bit.
And I'm curious to see what the Nets, you know,
how they attacked the zone, because I'm sure they'll probably
(16:22):
see it again throughout this series.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, there are a lot of things to dissect here.
It's funny because you when I look at the headlines
of the game, you know, I look at over the
stories and a lot of times you can say something
everybody could see the same thing and just interpret it differently.
But things like, uh, you know, from the Net standpoint,
you saw stuff about how the offense was awful. I
didn't think it was awful. No, you look at them there. Yeah,
(16:51):
I mean, obviously I can't argue with the final score.
But this also game was played in a very I mean,
you know, there weren't a ton of possessions like they
would be in a normal game. You know, you talk
about adjustments, you think about all the things that we
talked about after Game one that the Nets succeeded in doing. Yes, right,
you know they they you know, think about they only
(17:14):
give up forty four points in the first half of
the game. We talked about the defensive adjustments they had
to make, going small the attack, not letting Philadelphia dominate
on the offensive, glass, not turning the ball over the
shots were even after the nets said, giving up nineteen
more shot attempts in game one. That was the frustrating part.
I think is that a lot of the things we
(17:35):
said they had to correct they corrected. No, just didn't
do enough to go out and actually win the game.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yeah, no, I listen, and they threw a variety of
different angles of the double teaming. Also, it was almost
like they were coming from from the blind side often
on Joel Andbi they're rotating out. Did they make mistakes
and leave Maxie open at times? Yeah, that's gonna happen.
Did they make me?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
He made some very difficult shots, especially in the.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Second half there there, you know, he was teeing them
up from the corners too.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
He was at the beginning of the game. I thought
he just made he kept them. He actually kept the
seven game in the game by making some ridiculous contested shots.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
And you know what he does better and you know,
like when you think about beating a double team, you
think the ball swung you and you shooting threes. Every
time he touched it, it was you know, he's catching
the ball that oftentimes attacked the basket. And he really
kept them Nets who are out playing them except Max.
He was was the guy, uh in the certainly in
the first throughout the entire game, he was terrific. Uh.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
We we talked about, you know, even even what could
happen in the series if you get on him. You know,
if you could get up on him and you play
well against the six Ers. We saw the Nets go
up ten in the second quarter and the crowd started booing,
you know, and you could you could feel that pressure
in the building on the Sixer players, on Doc Rivers.
I mean, there's there's legit that that crowd, that fan
(18:58):
base puts pressure on its teams, and they were kind
of at the last straw with this group. You know,
they want to see this group. They feel like this
is a championship caliber team. And you know, you always
said if the Nets could get some momentum, that could
that pressure could get notched it, you know, ratcheted up
that heat, that goes on, the six Ers can get
turned up a little bit. So they had them, you know,
(19:20):
they had them. You talked about it that moment in
the game was another critical time, and you said it
on the air at the time. I think when the
Nets are up ten in the second quarter, you said,
this is a critical moment. How the Nets finish out
this first half, And not that they didn't, you know,
they just they let the Sixers get cut it to
five going at the half, and you really felt if
(19:43):
the Nets could have just kept their foot on the
gas there, they really could have made the Sixers play
catch up in the second half.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
And yeah, no, remember the last minute of the play
in the first half, kel Bridges had two free throws.
He missed them both, and then they came down and scored.
I can't I can't recall exactly who scored. I remember
Bridges missed a couple free throws. Yeah, I mean, this
is how these games go. I understand that, but I'm
trying because here's the big conflict I had all day
(20:13):
is that, Yeah, the Nets have to shoot enough threes
to beat a better team like the Sixers, so they
shoot forty three.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
But then there are.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Times when I didn't want him to shoot a three
or at least explore the interior more and see what
was there. So that is the balancing act I'm having
because you know, you know, you got to do that.
But then you got to feel the individual player must
feel what he's got going. Also, if you're one for five,
(20:44):
maybe you gotta you gotta get it into the paint
some you know, you gotta get it in there. You
gotta see what you got in at mid range area.
Remember it's his own. You can break it down. You
can go you know what you can do. You can
go where James Harden is in his own and look
to beat him off the dribble.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
You don't even have to get complicated, but I do
know that is effective.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You know, Embiid is a big guy back there.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
And the one or two times that there was a
dribble pull up by mckel first of all, the one
he did he snaked the screen and he made a
fifteen footer. Embiid came out, but he's really good at
shooting over. I wish they had tried to do that
a little bit more. And then I do think if
the defense converges and then you're moving the ball. It
feels like the same kind of threes that you get
(21:30):
against a man and man. That's why I keep going
back to the rhythm of the game.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, and you know, just you know, you talk about
sometimes NBA games they become that you know, we know,
guys switch screen, so it's we can hunt. We get
a weak defender and a pick and roll, and then
you get the switch and then you hunt them that way.
Zone is kind of like switching is almost like zone,
(21:54):
so you know where guys are in the zone. Instead
of having a set of screen to get the matchup
you want, you can get just get the ball where
the guy, like you're saying the weak defender is.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I thought you nailed it perfect in beginning.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
It's just that the passes and the timing against the
zone is just different. And that's why we see when
teams play it and play it that there's the turnovers
a lot in the beginning of it, and then they
don't get used to it. I just again, I keep
repeat it because I thought that playing zone affected them,
(22:28):
But I also feel like when they got out of
the zone.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
The Nets never got back into their offensive men rhythm.
It's like, that's what really hurts.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
It's like you back in the day, you're in the
club and you get a song that you like, and
you got it going right. You're feeling, you're dancing, you're feeling, you're.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
In it, You're in over I got the overbite.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, you got it going like. You feel like you're
looking good, you're feeling good. People are starting to dance
around you. And then the DJ changes the music to
a song. Now you can't you can't find the beat,
you can't find the you can't adjust. You're not a
good enough dancer. I don't know, no, no, And.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
You know because when I talk about rhythm, you know
pace has you know they were Rhythm and pace are
kind of connected, right, you want to get it up quick,
but you want to do things quick with authority inside out,
move it around and uh yeah, they changed they changed
the song on the nets last night.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That was beautiful the specter of You know, you talk
a lot too about things. I mean, let's just talk
about Joel and Bead because you talked about open to interpretation, right,
I mean you could say, well, they trapped better, did
a better job, but and and and yes, Joel Embiid
(23:43):
was thirteen points under his scoring average, but he had
twenty points, nineteen rebounds, seven assists. He did, but they
forced him into eight turnovers. Yeah, so they did. I
mean that was a big part of the Nets being
able to hold the Sixers under one hundred points. Is
what they kind of did to Joel Embiid. And we
(24:03):
talked about looking at game one what they had to
do better in game two, and a lot of it
was the approach to Joel Ebid, but really doing that
much better.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, I thought they did.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I thought they did for big stretches, really for the game.
There was a stretch certainly the top periods of time
in the second half where he was able to do
different things and make good passes. He also also the
Nets went a couple of times where they played Claxton
straight up on him right remember the first time, Yeah,
he threw it out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Second time he traveled.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Third, fourth time he went right through him and you know,
made a play.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But that's the thing, you just got to keep them
off balance.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
You noticed a lot of the double teams came from
the blind side. He didn't see him coming in the
first half. But then the rotations, you know, are. You know,
you've got to really rotate out of it. It's a
huge challenge and beat is a big, tall quarterback. It
is a challenge. I thought the Nets their effort on defense.
That's why you said, well, they gave up the rebounds,
(25:06):
they didn't rebound.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I know that.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
But you can't.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
You can't do everything. It's hard.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It's hard, and if you do a solid job, then
you That's why I only wanted to point to the
offensive side of the bas you know, the offensive side
of the floor in the second half. Otherwise you can
just break down everything.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, and talk about that when you're trying to attack
and you talk about you know, you want to take
it in to the paint. That specter of Joe el
Embiid is always there, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It is, and that is a factor. That is a
factor for all these guys. Also, he is a big,
huge presence if I were ever have I ever had
a him? And when I was coaching in college and
the seven to two in the middle there that's a problem.
But you still there's still had to be more exploring
of that, more attacking, more inside out more. Yeah, but
(25:54):
here's the again, play through the zone, not around the
zone via the pass or the drib inside out moving around.
I think that again you and you would have improved
some of the looks. Although again the looks were pretty good.
The looks were good, but I'm just saying that that
could have been maybe even better.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Well, think you, man, and some mid range shots aren't
out of the question.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
You just want to get especially for a guy like
Bridges and Cam Johnson shows the ability getting where they're
right there. Seth Curry when he's there the mid range,
you can't. It's okay when you certainly when you don't
have a game going from deep, don't be afraid to
get into that mid range here and mate, you might
not hit that number forty on threes. That's remember that's forty,
(26:38):
but that's a lot of threes for the amount of
shots that were taking in the game last night, because
you know what, it was a slower paced game.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
And think about though, it's more than that's more than
half their shots were threes. Forty two eighty field goals. Right.
The thing about the mid range you talked about, because
we talked about this after Game one too, how do
you get himbid? You're not gonna get him out of
the paint and Bee's not gonna to go guard the
three point line. But how do you get him just
a little further away from the basket because that will
(27:07):
help you rebound the offensive glass if you do miss,
that'll the mid range is the way to do that.
And I feel like that's something that's still and because
I think a lot of that shows up and Nick
Klaxton not having anything offensively. You know, when Embiid is
just playing right at the rim, you know, Colax is
not gonna get rebounds from me. He's not gonna get
second chance points. You're not gonna be able to dump
(27:29):
the ball off to him to finish around the rim. Like,
you've got to figure out a way and to get
Embiid not that he's coming out of the paint, but
just get him a little bit so you can play
behind him a little bit.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Well, I mean, the one thing they wanted to do,
they thought they would get him out because they went
really small. So I mean that was again, this was
a great chess match game. This is a great chess
match game because nets were small. Doc was like Doc
Rivers is like whoa, whoa, We'll try to guard him,
all right, let's go to our zone. Let's go to
our zone. And it turns out they've played you know,
(28:03):
I'll be honest with you, I wanted to research how
much zone they've played.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
They've had a.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Decent amount of success with it this year, you know,
and but I don't know it was I thought it
exactly how you you're you know, comparing it to the
music on the dance floor, was exactly what kind of
I felt happened in the game.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Let's talk about Cam Johnson in this game, because when
you talk about when things were going well, uh, in
the first half, it was Cam Johnson and he's uh,
he's making threes right, So that was a big part
of it early on. But then you talk about when
you got to feel take it to the basket. The
dunk on Joel embiid, I mean that was a fearless
(28:45):
attack right at the rim, and you know he was
able to you know, you've got to have that kind
of fearless attack if you're going to beat a team
and beat a player like Joel Embii.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yeah, No, that was impressive.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
I've been ever since he's gotten aggressive this year, you know,
I think it was probably a month ago, maybe his
first whatever several weeks it saying he had a nice
looking player. Boy's good looking guy, can make shots, you know,
good length all that when he started getting more aggressive
and going at the basket, then started making moves off
to dribble. I think his game has really expanded. I
(29:20):
thought he was really good. I would have liked to
see him, yes, out of the corners, and he was
saying I was in the corner all the time.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I would have like to see him get the ball.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
He shot a couple and he you know, he made one,
but you know he missed a couple. I think he
actually just took two in the fourth quarter where he
made one and missed one. But I would that's the
when when they sometimes you again you find the weak
leak in the zone. You know, if you don't want
to get complicated, just go at him, get Cam Johnson,
going at James Harden, get into the teeth at the
(29:48):
defense and see what you can get and then be
able to play that way.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Some again, these are all just.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
You know different, you know, as nothing is like definite,
you know, like nothing is like every time.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I'm just talking about a feel of the game.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's why, you.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Know, coaches talk about the pace of the game a lot.
It's not every possession. Every possession doesn't look the same.
It's not the same. It's a game, it's a strategy,
it's a momentum changes a lot of things. But just
in general overall feel for the game, I think the
Nets got they got disrupted and their flow was not
in attack mode like they needed to be.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Well, sometimes I think people think when you talk pace
that you're talking about fast breaks.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, you know, no, I I know.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It's sometimes it's even well, I mean that is too.
I think the Nets could benefit by maybe getting the
ball up the floor a little But also it's just
getting into your offense a little quick exactly.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
There are too many dribbles before things happened yesterday and
I'm talking about you know, I sometimes the first thing
you can do is get the ball up quick and
try to get right, you know, get after it a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You know, again, they're playing around it, they're playing a plan.
Don'ta man move the ball, get it in.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
What are the other things we talked about from game
one to game two? You know, we mentioned mckel bridges
and you know he had to go on to the
first half of game one and then only had two
shot attempts in the second half and only finished the
game with one assist. And we talked about how the
next level for Mikel Bridges is to be able to
be the focal point of the offense and be the
(31:30):
guy you play through. And it's gonna really be contingent
on his ability to now find other guys when he
draws attention. And he had six assists last night and
only one turnover in the game. And I thought, excuse me,
he had three turnovers in the game, but he had
seven assists. He should be seven assists and three turnovers
in the game last night. And and you know, I
(31:52):
feel like that's another you know, in the in the
evolution of mcel Bridges, because he's a lot of attention
now and he got a lot of attention in game two.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Uh, And I thought, I thought, you know, that was
an evolution we saw from game one to game two. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
No, there's nothing you don't like about him.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
That's again, I thought he could have been a good
you know, even more creative as a second half one.
I thought most of those assists were first half. I
would like to see him get into the again a
little bit more into the teeth of the defense. Maybe
score in that mid range area, or again track attract
defenders and uh, you know, spray the ball around. You know,
I always hear that talked about against man man. That's
(32:31):
exactly what I wanted to see when when the Nets
played against his own. I, you know, walking around last night,
got a chance to see a few people, and I
saw the uh, you know see him all the time.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
But the great Steve Serby, you know, a column misted
over at the Year Post, and uh had a good
story today because he got he talked to Jay Wright
about michel Bridges and Uh, I just wanted this this
little uh excerpt that I wanted to relay along. He
was talking about Steve Serby asked Jay Wright, who is
mckel bridges coach in Villanova? And in the article Jay
(33:05):
was talking about how he said, you know, mckel bridges
is being asked to do things in this offense with
the Nets, and he's being successful at it that he
wasn't even asked to do. Forget about his time in Phoenix,
forget about his time in Villanova. He wasn't asked to
do this in high school, you know, to play to
(33:27):
carry the team offensively at this level. But what he
said about he's Steve Serby asked Jay Wright, what do
you want net fans to know about mckel bridges and
he said this, He said, just appreciate him as a winner.
He said, he wants to win worse than probably any
NETS fan wants them to win, regardless of how many
(33:47):
points he scores, regardless of what his role is. He
really looks at the game every time he plays a
game as I just want our team to win. It's simple.
But we know how rare that is these days. Or
Jay Wright was saying, and think about last night. You
know he's he does do a little bit of whatever
is needed of him, right and even last night, the
(34:10):
subtle defensive adjustment that helped him in the first half
was that he played James Harden. A look at the
game James Harden had. Yeah, no, he played not good.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
That was again the chess match beginning to end of
this game went on and on, and you're right, that
was a big part of it was you know, he
was he was defending James Harden.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
He's the primary defender on James Harden.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
And we we we have to before we conclude this
we have to get into Royce O'Neill. You know, I'm
the president of the Roys O'Neill fan club, and you know,
I know he missed a lot of threes last night. Yeah,
but the guy, I mean, he talked about just giving
yourself up for the sake of the team. He's either
(34:54):
guarding Harden and he's picking him up at half court,
or he's in that small ball ball lineup. He is
just battling Joel Embiid. He wasn't just standing around trying
to get in front of him. I mean he was
wrestling him. Yeah, So I cut Royce O'Neill a little
slack when he's two for nine from three, because I'm saying,
the guy's got to be worn out. You know. It's
(35:16):
one of the reasons why a lot of times you
don't want your best offensive player or your guy you're
playing through a lot offensively to have to guard the
other team's best player. And that's gonna be an adjustment, Right
Mickel Bridges becomes your focal point offensively, you can't have
him be the guy that sticks to the other team's
best player. He's gonna wear him out. I understand what
you're saying sometimes if you not don't have it going though,
don't shoot it. But at the same time, I can't
(35:39):
say enough about the effort of Royce O'Neill.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Last Yeah, and you know something, if you had asked
me before the game, Royce O'Neil is gonna be out there,
he's gonna be defending the heck kind of And Joel Ellenbi,
do you trust him in the fourth quarter, even if
he's played a lot of minutes to shoot threes, I
would say yes.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Right, yeah, and you know I'll make one in the
fourth quarter. You know, the ball got to them.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
And again these were I think Jacques Vaughan's going to
be happy with the shots. I just you know, maybe
I'm picking it apart in a way that isn't is it.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I don't know. That's how I felt felt the game went.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
I thought the shots were good, and yet the game
being plot and fell like the game was being played
the right way.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
In the second half, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
I didn't think the attack was correct, the intent was right,
the pace with which they were getting into stuff and
moving the ball wasn't the same.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Even though the shots didn't look too bad, you.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Know, well, see now what adjustments are made from game
two to game three. I think it was very clear
cut what had to happen from game one to game
two if the Nets were going to have a chance,
and I think they gave themselves a chance. But then
Philadelphia in game we talked about making some adjustments that
help them get it back. And you know, we know
that the old adage it doesn't you know, a series
(37:05):
doesn't start until you win on the other team's home floor.
It's hard though, when you're down two, because you know
you're you're playing a team that's favored to begin with.
After game one, there may have been a little bit
creeping in with Nets fans that I don't know if
we can you know, I don't if we could beat
this team. Game two I think should have given you
a little bit more hope that you do have a
(37:28):
shot here, Like you know that you you figured out
you can play with them, but it was discouraging maybe
at times that you didn't take advantage of how well
you played on the defensive end. So as we look
to game three, what gives you hope? What sort of
are you looking for the chess match? What are the
chess moves that can happen in a game three.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Well, I think the nets to be more ready for
you know, the potential of seeing his own defense. They'll
be more ready when they don't see fit and when
they're you know, to get organized quicker, get up the
floor and into things quicker, you know, not not just
being spread out and pausing. They want to get into
the flow, get action, get movement, get screening. And uh
(38:10):
I think that I think that would be a big
emphasis for them, uh it regardless if it's his owner,
man a man. I think that that is going to
be a big part of what they want to do.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
And also see some success. You know, you saw some success.
You saw what it looks like in the first you
know half yeah of game two that you can maybe
bring in game three.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Well, you know, here's the thing, let's not forget you
saw what success looks like offensively in game one, as
far as you can shoot the ball from anywhere on
the floor and score enough points. I mean, it's sixty
five points in the first half of game one and
you didn't shoot that many threes, right, it was, Michael.
That's why Bridges has to be a factor, or guys
(38:51):
have to be a factor.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
On all three at all three levels, right.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
I think they were just uh playing around the perimeter
too much and too late in the club. You know,
here's the other side. I mean, Philadelphia has seen an
awful lot of what the Nets can do right now too, right,
I mean, but then band just sees that all the time,
and I think going small fooled them, right, They weren't
(39:15):
particularly ready for that. So you're gonna maybe see an
adjustment of you know, I don't know, they want to
keep them beat up in that high post area so
you can kind of get away with you know, uh,
you know, the Roy O'Neill or Dorian Fittey Smith guarding
him for and then but then you got to bring
the double team. You know, you got to bring the double.
(39:35):
Where's the double gonna come from?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
He?
Speaker 2 (39:38):
You know, he figured it out as the game went on.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
But certainly I thought the Nets kept them off balance,
and that's really all you can hope for.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah, a lot of times, you know, you're you're using
a smaller lineup because you feel like it will benefit
you offensively. Yeah, And where it seemed to benefit the
Nets was on the defensive end because they really didn't
take advantage of having a smaller lineup, uh, and being
able score because they only put up eighty four points.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
And yeah, well no again fascinating.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
I was blown, you know, the chess match of these games,
and for the moment the first possession when you saw,
well Bridges is going to be guarding hard in this game,
Drian Finney Smith is going to guard Tucker. You know,
different guys you know, and you try to be so
uh coaches And in the mind, I'll say this, I
coached in college. A college basketball season doesn't have as
(40:30):
many decisions as it were made last night by the coaches.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yes, a season.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah, college coaches coach like their system and then they
play their system and they see how the game turns out.
NBA coaches possession by possession. It's unbelievable, even the subtle
movements of where knowing that the nets would double team,
how the spacing changes for the other players on the
(40:59):
Philadelphi seventy six their roster. So they didn't necessarily have
three guys on one end, one side and one in
the corner. No, they had a they had like a
two on each side. So the next rotation then became
incredibly long. That the minor details that go in uh to,
these games are sometimes hard to see and are really
(41:23):
are really.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Amazing the amount of them that go on.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Though. Yeah, college coaching is recruiting.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Its scheduling, recruiting and then coaching.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
That's why John was court side last night.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
That's why yeah side last night.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Now, the guys that are great to are great at everything.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Let's be honest. The guys that are really good at
are great at everything. The other ones are broadcasters.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Uh. You know, it's a weird thing that pointed out. Again,
people look at plus and minus and sometimes it's just harrory, Yeah, right,
that possible. Like Joe Harris is a plus nineteen and
thirteen minutes. No other player of the seven other players
that played in the game were in a plus side.
Curry was a minus one and he was a minus six.
That was the best. But it just shows you he's
(42:08):
in there for probably the time he was in there.
The that's just you know, obviously the numbers they outscored.
Was it anything that he did, I don't It could
have been who else is on the floor. That's why
you can't always put a lot of Sometimes it does
tell the story of them as it doesn't. It's a
hard No, I know it's hard, So so I point
that out, Capper, what I always, I always tremendously look
(42:33):
forward to the postseason because these games all matter and
we have a lot of stuff we can really sink
our teeth into. So I enjoyed doing these things after
these playoff games. And the other part of the playoffs
that's sort of bittersweet sometimes is that we do this
stuff for six months and we always it can wear
(42:54):
you out a little bit, but then we always want
to keep it going, yeah, right, and and then sometimes
it just can abruptly end. So we hope that when
it gets back to Brooklyn, we can just keep this
thing going for a little while. Capra, we'll talk to
you before Game three. It's Thursday night in Brooklyn. We'll
get on the air on wf AN it's seven twenty
with a pregame show, and then we'll come back and
(43:16):
maybe try and do this again, perhaps on Saturday, right
after Game three, and looking ahead to Game four on Sunday. So, Caper,
thanks for giving us your thoughts and interpreting this movie
that we saw in game two, all right, because I
know you're not a big interpretive You're like.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
I think you have the days wrong of the games.
Well what did you say? Did you say Saturday and
then Sunday?
Speaker 2 (43:40):
What do you say?
Speaker 1 (43:41):
No, Thursday, Thursday and after Thursday Thursday and then Saturday, and.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Then said now I didn't say that, though I'm correcting you.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Oh yes, yes, I said we'll do the pod on
We got to do the pot on Friday. I never
correct you, but I know that it's really unnerving. Yeah, well,
the game is Thursday on wf AN FM only by
the way, if you want to tune in, or the
Brooklyn nets app. I know somebody that was in London,
England last night cap listening to us on the Brooklyn
(44:11):
nets app.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, we got to get people all over that.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Yeah, Brooklyn nets app tuned in there, or we're be
on just one on one nine FM on Thursday and Saturday,
and then we'll try and put out a pot on Friday.
So talk to Thursday Caper in Brooklyn. See that. That's
the kappra. Tim Cabstraw My thanks to Steve Goldberg, Isaac Lee.
I'm Chris Carino NETS going at it again, Game three
(44:34):
coming up on Thursday night, trying to break out an
O two Hold this has been the voice of the nets.
I'm Chris Carino. Thank you so much for tuning
Chris Carrino with you. This is the voice of the
NETS podcast along with my sidekick. Is it okay to
call you my sidekick?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, that's the fact. I prefer that you prefer.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
That, all right? My sidekick of the last twenty one
NETS seasons right here on NETS Radio. It's Tim Kapstraw,
the Kapper as he's affectionately known as, or the Kappa,
as as Patty Mills will call you, or Dan Mehan
or the number of Australians that are on the staff.
Uh cabra. This is it. This is our podcast to
(00:41):
go over what we saw in game two and look
ahead a little bit to Game three. I thought, you know,
we talked about a lot of people will we'll say,
you know, basketball is art. You know we've heard that term, right,
and we know that it's not really because there's a
there's a score right, there's a scoreboard. How you know,
(01:01):
a point counts, basket counts a certain amount of points,
and that's what you get. But the game itself, it's
got an artistic quality to it and it kind of
paints a picture, right, it's a and some some games
are very straightforward, very realist, naturalist, And I thought Game
one was kind of like that, we saw what we
(01:24):
can interpret it. A lot of people interpreted it the
same way, and then it made it easy to say, R,
what adjustments you have to make the game to Game two,
I thought was a little more interpretive, you know, a
little more like a Christopher Nolan film. Kapper like you,
there's gonna be a lot of different ways of dissecting it.
(01:46):
You know. Game one was like a rom com. You know,
we kind of very kind of predictable and outcome happened,
and we know what we saw. Game two is a
little more open interpretation. And the reason I would say
this is I feel like in reading stories or even
tweets that we got last night, a lot of different
opinions on what we saw. So why don't you give
(02:10):
us a little a little interpretation, a little review. Okay too, how.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I see it or I thought about how I'm thinking
about it right now after trying to dissect it today,
let me give it a run right here. First of all,
let's throw out defense right now. I thought the defense
there was mistakes made, they didn't rebound at critical times.
They've had mistakes in their rotation, but the overall effort
(02:39):
and execution and forcing turnovers and all that. So I'm
going to throw defense out because you hold a team
to ninety six points, that's an elite team. Yeah, I
would take that night in and night out. You take
that the rest of the series. So what do you
got to do now? You got to correct offense, and
let's just all right, let's throw out the first half.
(03:01):
Let's just go right now to the second half and
go over what we saw and what, you know, what
could be done about it. And I thought this, I
thought this was as big a chess match basketball game
as I have witnessed in a long time. Talk about
adjustments to adjustments from game one to game two. I
(03:23):
think throughout the game there were massive adjustments going on
on both ends. But the two main ones were the
nets went very small, really small. And the seventy six
ers played zone defense, not exclusively, and that's important to know.
They played zone in you know, a couple of times,
(03:46):
two or three times in the first half, and then
they came out in the second half in zone defense
and a.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Little bit different. They played it like Miami.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
They put a tall guy up top to Bias Harris
at the tyrese maxis it had.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Speed and Laith up top, and they were.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Hiding their weaker defender, James Harden, in the corner. And honestly,
I thought that, you know, it was very effective. I
thought the I think basketball is art, it's also part
of that art. It's music and it's rhythm, and I
thought there was a rhythm missing in the game for
the Nets. I thought they missed the rhythm of how
(04:29):
to attack the zone at times. I thought there was
some rhythm and that that wasn't included in the way
guys were.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Able to shoot. The basketball was a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
It was a rhythm that was missing in making some passes,
and there was some rhythm and you know, executing offense
and that things were oftentimes later on in the shot
clock when they didn't have to be. And the other
part of that happened in that third quarter where they
only scored fourteen points. They saw zone defense for a
good portion of it, but not all of it.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
What happened was.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The Sixers went back to man to man and I
think the Nets.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Were confused then too.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
There was an awful lot of standing around patiently wondering what,
you know, what was the call. There wasn't much movement,
and you know there's there's you know, a number of
three point shots attempted. A number of them were pretty good,
we're pretty good looks. But then there are others where
the clock was winding down and you know, TNT does
(05:25):
you in the favor of you know, give you a
countdown within the within the circle of the fall line.
You know, they'll let you know that when you're down
below five seconds or whatever and it clicks down.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So I thought there was a rhythm.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I thought there was a balance that the Nets didn't
really have in their offense and their execution and then
their approach. And I think there's an approach that we
know the Nets want to shoot a lot of threes.
But I also think there's an adage. I don't know,
Like I always think I'm not a great you know,
my MBA mind isn't great because I was a college
(05:57):
guy for one hundred years ago compare to the NBA guys.
But when I see his zone defense, I kind of
my eyes light up. In the one phrase, I think, yeah,
with a one phrase, I didn't say to you last
night that I was mad. I didn't on the ride home.
You've got to play through a zone, not around it.
And I thought the Nets played around the zone. They
(06:20):
passed the ball time was going down, and then they
oftentimes just shot a three. They got a couple of
times mc cel bridges pulled up and did this, and
they didn't mix it up enough. They didn't have rhythm
in their attack against the zone.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
They had some shots that were pretty.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Good, though I won't deny that they didn't have windows
where there were shots. But then when the Sixers went
back to man to man.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I thought that's when the Nets look worse.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
They weren't really ready. I thought there was a disruption
in the rhythm. I thought there was an awful lot
of chess match things going on, and I thought the
Nets didn't react well to it. That was the third quarter,
fourth quarter. I think things carried over a lot like that.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Also. Well, what's interesting though, and just to go back
to that chess move by Doc Rivers to go zone
defense to start the second half and how it kind
of changed the game right and took the Nets out
of their rhythm offensively, because a lot of times, you know,
zone is used in the NBA basically just for that
like you don't see I mean, in extreme examples the
(07:19):
heat will play you know, a whole game in zone
or or years ago when you know, remember the Kenny
Atkinson Nets, they got a lot of uh success when
they would play you know, zone for a good chunk
of games.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They played it a lot. Though they did play it
a lot, but a.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Lot of times it's but they played a lot. But
I was saying, there's a lot of times it's used
just to sort of throw you off and just because
NBA teams will adjust to it and then you switch it.
It's different looks. It's to change the pace. It's like
a pitcher thrown, you know, taking a little something off
a fastball to just throw the hitter off balance. But
your point about playing through the zone. So Doc Rivers
in the in the start of the second half, they
(07:54):
go to a zone right off the bat right, and
I think the Nets they miss a three. You had
a Phinney Smith miss three. Sixers come down they don't
the Nets get a stop on the other end. Then
I want to say the Nets score. Dinwittie goes through
the zone, gets to the rim right and scores and
Doc Rivers time out like a minute into the second half.
(08:17):
He's like probably telling his team at that point, Hey,
we want to play zone, but that's not the way
we're gonna have to do it. And then from that
point on, maybe they're approach defense, you know, to playing
the zone and figuring out I don't know, but it's
interesting that you said that go through it because I'm
looking back at the game and I'm like, the first possession, Yeah,
(08:37):
the Nets score and make you know, you always talk
about you want to make the other team in the
second half is a coaches thing you always talk about, right,
make the other team call the first time out, right,
and the Nets made Doc Rivers called the first time out.
You know, they go up seven and they had just
gone zone and you're thinking, oh wow, they they made
(09:01):
a correction and it didn't work right away. But Doc
Riverge wasn't willing to just say oh it didn't work. No,
He's saying, no, no, no, no, we're competent that our adjustment
is going to work. But that's not the way you
have to do it. And I feel like from that
point on, the game changed, well.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
The game did change because after that timeout, the you know,
I said, I wasn't going to talk about defense, but
that's when the Nets had defensive problems also, it's all connected.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It's all connected. It was a twenty to five run.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
They went on after that for about the four almost five,
for about five minutes.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It began, of course with the TJ PJ.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Tucker offensive rebound back to Maxi for three. Then remember
there was a lazy pass against his own by mikel
Bridges that was stolen by Tobias Harris. That was a
five zero run. Then Jock Vaughan calls time out, right,
so then you know, so then the nets call a timeout.
Now you're coming back. Now the offense, you know, what
were you going to do offensively and where were you
(09:56):
going to get your shots? Mckel Bridges did come off
into the fallow line and make a shot in that area,
But it just felt like the flow, the pace see
zone slows you down too, right, I mean, it slows
down the pace of a game.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It slows it down.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
And then and then there were times, you know, Cam
Johnson did have an open look, Dorian Phinney Smith did
mcil bridge's, but there wasn't a great mix or rhythm
or attack going.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
In the way that the nets were playing.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
They were pausing, they were holding, they were playing around it.
I would have preferred them to play through it with
the dribble through it through the pass. Yes, I know
embiid is there, and let's not forget they're playing zone
mostly because the Nets are playing small ball and they
want to keep embiid on the floor. But they don't
want them chasing anybody, so that's why they're doing it.
(10:49):
So they're doing that for that purpose and it's achieving
the help to keep embiid right there. But also the
rhythm of how the Nets played I thought got totally disrupted.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And yeah, a lot of times it could be as
simple as you know, we talked about Game one where
the Sixers made a lot of threes. We could talk
about Game two the Nets miss a lot of threes.
But one of the things we talked about from in
the game one reaction in game two preview was you
wanted to see the Nets shoot more threes. You know,
don't be hesitant, you know, go out there with guns
(11:20):
blazing right when you get but it was like, when
the ball swings, don't be hesitant to shoot it, and
you're going to see a lot of you know, Net
score thirteen of forty two from three in the game
and I used this analogy last night on our postgame
show that I've I've talked about in football, because there's
a there's a stat in football that kind of gets
(11:40):
over you sometimes third down percentage, right, and people say, well,
it doesn't mean anything, because you know, sometimes you're facing
a third and two and sometimes you're facing a third
and thirteen, and how are you comparing the two? And
I've even seen guys that you know in broadcast that
will break it down, well, there were this and this
(12:01):
and this range. But here's the thing. Third down percentage
tells you a story because if you have a very high,
a good third down percentage where you're related to offensive defense,
it probably means that you are putting yourself in good
position on third down. Right, If you're converting a lot
(12:22):
of third downs, it's probably because you're in a lot
of third and shorts, all right. And the same thing
with three point percentage, it's a barometer, I think, for
how well you're playing offensively, because not every three is
the same. They're all the same distance, but they don't
come in the same manner. Some guys are better off
the dribbling with three. Some guys are better if it's
(12:44):
swung to them. Some guys are better when they catch
it and shoot immediately. Sometimes the pass comes in a
position where you catch it in a shooting position. There's
all sorts of factors to go in to whether you
make or miss a three pointer, and a lot of
times a three point percentage you can be getting shots that, yes,
you should make, but a lot of times it's really
(13:06):
telling you what kind of a rhythm your offense is in.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, that is very well said.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
It's it's that's kind of what I'm saying in that,
because if you look at the if you were to
break down to threes, you would say, you know, boy,
that's that's pretty open. That's pretty open. Uh, that one's
you know, like they weren't like bad. It's just the
feel thing of how the game exactly what you said
how would should flow. There wasn't early There wasn't an
(13:33):
early attack. The ball wasn't hitting the paint and then
sprayed out and you got we talk about that against man.
That's just as important against zone. And I thought it
got stale, it got stagnant, and again it got really
stale when the nets when that when the sixers and
I was thrown off by this. Looking watching the game again,
they went back man to man for a big portion
(13:56):
of that third quarter. And remember I was saying, Chris,
the nets are just stand ending out there. Why are
they just standing? I think they're wondering what defense they're
going against. And uh, I thought that that that hesitation,
uh you know, cause cause issues. You didn't have that
same attack mentality. And again that's why I go back
(14:16):
to rhythm. And the other thing is, I think there
has to be some judgment. I mean analytics is I
we totally believe in analytics and shooting. But if there
are times when when you know you don't have it,
you know you haven't got it going from the three
point line, that you need to mix it up too
as a player, just to kind of get get your
attack going uh the other way and get inside there.
(14:39):
And that's a feel thing, and uh you know that
that's also part of it all. And that carried over
even to the to the fourth court of the game.
You know, uh, you think about there were some critical
times and let's remember in the fourth quarter of this game,
it was a one point game at at I don't
know ten ten.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
You know, tend to go.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
And if you were, you know, and then here the
nets are, they're still getting some decent I'm not so again,
I'm not talking defense and rebounding right now, we know
that offensively, you know, what were the looks they were
gonna get. I just thought they stopped playing the game.
There wasn't there wasn't action going there wasn't screening going
on there when they saw the zones and know one's
(15:21):
shots would come back. I mean, Royce O'Neill had a
number of shots. Who wouldn't take Royce O'Neill shooting fourth
quarter threes.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Everybody loved them now in their best clutch player this
year exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
But the context matters. Context matters.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
We're also talking about a guy who was playing over
thirty minutes. Then this guy you ended up playing thirty
five minutes and he defended Joel Embiid. It's and that's
not to say I would still tell him to take them.
And it's really easy to say that after after the fact.
It's easy to say, oh boy, you know, maybe he
was tired, maybe this or that.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
But again, I just thought there was in the.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Great keep going to that word rhythm and feel, and
again a little bit more mixed in the game. And
I you know, when I say mix, I you know,
I want bridges involved a lot, you know what I mean.
I want them involved a lot. I want him touching
in that hype, in that mid post area a little bit.
And I'm curious to see what the Nets, you know,
how they attacked the zone, because I'm sure they'll probably
(16:22):
see it again throughout this series.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, there are a lot of things to dissect here.
It's funny because you when I look at the headlines
of the game, you know, I look at over the
stories and a lot of times you can say something
everybody could see the same thing and just interpret it differently.
But things like, uh, you know, from the Net standpoint,
you saw stuff about how the offense was awful. I
didn't think it was awful. No, you look at them there. Yeah,
(16:51):
I mean, obviously I can't argue with the final score.
But this also game was played in a very I mean,
you know, there weren't a ton of possessions like they
would be in a normal game. You know, you talk
about adjustments, you think about all the things that we
talked about after Game one that the Nets succeeded in doing. Yes, right,
you know they they you know, think about they only
(17:14):
give up forty four points in the first half of
the game. We talked about the defensive adjustments they had
to make, going small the attack, not letting Philadelphia dominate
on the offensive, glass, not turning the ball over the
shots were even after the nets said, giving up nineteen
more shot attempts in game one. That was the frustrating part.
I think is that a lot of the things we
(17:35):
said they had to correct they corrected. No, just didn't
do enough to go out and actually win the game.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yeah, no, I listen, and they threw a variety of
different angles of the double teaming. Also, it was almost
like they were coming from from the blind side often
on Joel Andbi they're rotating out. Did they make mistakes
and leave Maxie open at times? Yeah, that's gonna happen.
Did they make me?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
He made some very difficult shots, especially in the.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Second half there there, you know, he was teeing them
up from the corners too.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
He was at the beginning of the game. I thought
he just made he kept them. He actually kept the
seven game in the game by making some ridiculous contested shots.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
And you know what he does better and you know,
like when you think about beating a double team, you
think the ball swung you and you shooting threes. Every
time he touched it, it was you know, he's catching
the ball that oftentimes attacked the basket. And he really
kept them Nets who are out playing them except Max.
He was was the guy, uh in the certainly in
the first throughout the entire game, he was terrific. Uh.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
We we talked about, you know, even even what could
happen in the series if you get on him. You know,
if you could get up on him and you play
well against the six Ers. We saw the Nets go
up ten in the second quarter and the crowd started booing,
you know, and you could you could feel that pressure
in the building on the Sixer players, on Doc Rivers.
I mean, there's there's legit that that crowd, that fan
(18:58):
base puts pressure on its teams, and they were kind
of at the last straw with this group. You know,
they want to see this group. They feel like this
is a championship caliber team. And you know, you always
said if the Nets could get some momentum, that could
that pressure could get notched it, you know, ratcheted up
that heat, that goes on, the six Ers can get
turned up a little bit. So they had them, you know,
(19:20):
they had them. You talked about it that moment in
the game was another critical time, and you said it
on the air at the time. I think when the
Nets are up ten in the second quarter, you said,
this is a critical moment. How the Nets finish out
this first half, And not that they didn't, you know,
they just they let the Sixers get cut it to
five going at the half, and you really felt if
(19:43):
the Nets could have just kept their foot on the
gas there, they really could have made the Sixers play
catch up in the second half.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
And yeah, no, remember the last minute of the play
in the first half, kel Bridges had two free throws.
He missed them both, and then they came down and scored.
I can't I can't recall exactly who scored. I remember
Bridges missed a couple free throws. Yeah, I mean, this
is how these games go. I understand that, but I'm
trying because here's the big conflict I had all day
(20:13):
is that, Yeah, the Nets have to shoot enough threes
to beat a better team like the Sixers, so they
shoot forty three.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
But then there are.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Times when I didn't want him to shoot a three
or at least explore the interior more and see what
was there. So that is the balancing act I'm having
because you know, you know, you got to do that.
But then you got to feel the individual player must
feel what he's got going. Also, if you're one for five,
(20:44):
maybe you gotta you gotta get it into the paint
some you know, you gotta get it in there. You
gotta see what you got in at mid range area.
Remember it's his own. You can break it down. You
can go you know what you can do. You can
go where James Harden is in his own and look
to beat him off the dribble.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
You don't even have to get complicated, but I do
know that is effective.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
You know, Embiid is a big guy back there.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
And the one or two times that there was a
dribble pull up by mckel first of all, the one
he did he snaked the screen and he made a
fifteen footer. Embiid came out, but he's really good at
shooting over. I wish they had tried to do that
a little bit more. And then I do think if
the defense converges and then you're moving the ball. It
feels like the same kind of threes that you get
(21:30):
against a man and man. That's why I keep going
back to the rhythm of the game.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, and you know, just you know, you talk about
sometimes NBA games they become that you know, we know,
guys switch screen, so it's we can hunt. We get
a weak defender and a pick and roll, and then
you get the switch and then you hunt them that way.
Zone is kind of like switching is almost like zone,
(21:54):
so you know where guys are in the zone. Instead
of having a set of screen to get the matchup
you want, you can get just get the ball where
the guy, like you're saying the weak defender is.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, I thought you nailed it perfect in beginning.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
It's just that the passes and the timing against the
zone is just different. And that's why we see when
teams play it and play it that there's the turnovers
a lot in the beginning of it, and then they
don't get used to it. I just again, I keep
repeat it because I thought that playing zone affected them,
(22:28):
But I also feel like when they got out of
the zone.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
The Nets never got back into their offensive men rhythm.
It's like, that's what really hurts.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
It's like you back in the day, you're in the
club and you get a song that you like, and
you got it going right. You're feeling, you're dancing, you're feeling, you're.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
In it, You're in over I got the overbite.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, you got it going like. You feel like you're
looking good, you're feeling good. People are starting to dance
around you. And then the DJ changes the music to
a song. Now you can't you can't find the beat,
you can't find the you can't adjust. You're not a
good enough dancer. I don't know, no, no, And.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
You know because when I talk about rhythm, you know
pace has you know they were Rhythm and pace are
kind of connected, right, you want to get it up quick,
but you want to do things quick with authority inside out,
move it around and uh yeah, they changed they changed
the song on the nets last night.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
That was beautiful the specter of You know, you talk
a lot too about things. I mean, let's just talk
about Joel and Bead because you talked about open to interpretation, right,
I mean you could say, well, they trapped better, did
a better job, but and and and yes, Joel Embiid
(23:43):
was thirteen points under his scoring average, but he had
twenty points, nineteen rebounds, seven assists. He did, but they
forced him into eight turnovers. Yeah, so they did. I
mean that was a big part of the Nets being
able to hold the Sixers under one hundred points. Is
what they kind of did to Joel Embiid. And we
(24:03):
talked about looking at game one what they had to
do better in game two, and a lot of it
was the approach to Joel Ebid, but really doing that
much better.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, I thought they did.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I thought they did for big stretches, really for the game.
There was a stretch certainly the top periods of time
in the second half where he was able to do
different things and make good passes. He also also the
Nets went a couple of times where they played Claxton
straight up on him right remember the first time, Yeah,
he threw it out of bounds.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Second time he traveled.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Third, fourth time he went right through him and you know,
made a play.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
But that's the thing, you just got to keep them
off balance.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
You noticed a lot of the double teams came from
the blind side. He didn't see him coming in the
first half. But then the rotations, you know, are. You know,
you've got to really rotate out of it. It's a
huge challenge and beat is a big, tall quarterback. It
is a challenge. I thought the Nets their effort on defense.
That's why you said, well, they gave up the rebounds,
(25:06):
they didn't rebound.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I know that.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
But you can't.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
You can't do everything. It's hard.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It's hard, and if you do a solid job, then
you That's why I only wanted to point to the
offensive side of the bas you know, the offensive side
of the floor in the second half. Otherwise you can
just break down everything.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah, and talk about that when you're trying to attack
and you talk about you know, you want to take
it in to the paint. That specter of Joe el
Embiid is always there, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It is, and that is a factor. That is a
factor for all these guys. Also, he is a big,
huge presence if I were ever have I ever had
a him? And when I was coaching in college and
the seven to two in the middle there that's a problem.
But you still there's still had to be more exploring
of that, more attacking, more inside out more. Yeah, but
(25:54):
here's the again, play through the zone, not around the
zone via the pass or the drib inside out moving around.
I think that again you and you would have improved
some of the looks. Although again the looks were pretty good.
The looks were good, but I'm just saying that that
could have been maybe even better.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Well, think you, man, and some mid range shots aren't
out of the question.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
You just want to get especially for a guy like
Bridges and Cam Johnson shows the ability getting where they're
right there. Seth Curry when he's there the mid range,
you can't. It's okay when you certainly when you don't
have a game going from deep, don't be afraid to
get into that mid range here and mate, you might
not hit that number forty on threes. That's remember that's forty,
(26:38):
but that's a lot of threes for the amount of
shots that were taking in the game last night, because
you know what, it was a slower paced game.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
And think about though, it's more than that's more than
half their shots were threes. Forty two eighty field goals. Right.
The thing about the mid range you talked about, because
we talked about this after Game one too, how do
you get himbid? You're not gonna get him out of
the paint and Bee's not gonna to go guard the
three point line. But how do you get him just
a little further away from the basket because that will
(27:07):
help you rebound the offensive glass if you do miss,
that'll the mid range is the way to do that.
And I feel like that's something that's still and because
I think a lot of that shows up and Nick
Klaxton not having anything offensively. You know, when Embiid is
just playing right at the rim, you know, Colax is
not gonna get rebounds from me. He's not gonna get
second chance points. You're not gonna be able to dump
(27:29):
the ball off to him to finish around the rim. Like,
you've got to figure out a way and to get
Embiid not that he's coming out of the paint, but
just get him a little bit so you can play
behind him a little bit.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Well, I mean, the one thing they wanted to do,
they thought they would get him out because they went
really small. So I mean that was again, this was
a great chess match game. This is a great chess
match game because nets were small. Doc was like Doc
Rivers is like whoa, whoa, We'll try to guard him,
all right, let's go to our zone. Let's go to
our zone. And it turns out they've played you know,
(28:03):
I'll be honest with you, I wanted to research how
much zone they've played.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
They've had a.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Decent amount of success with it this year, you know,
and but I don't know it was I thought it
exactly how you you're you know, comparing it to the
music on the dance floor, was exactly what kind of
I felt happened in the game.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Let's talk about Cam Johnson in this game, because when
you talk about when things were going well, uh, in
the first half, it was Cam Johnson and he's uh,
he's making threes right, So that was a big part
of it early on. But then you talk about when
you got to feel take it to the basket. The
dunk on Joel embiid, I mean that was a fearless
(28:45):
attack right at the rim, and you know he was
able to you know, you've got to have that kind
of fearless attack if you're going to beat a team
and beat a player like Joel Embii.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yeah, No, that was impressive.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
I've been ever since he's gotten aggressive this year, you know,
I think it was probably a month ago, maybe his
first whatever several weeks it saying he had a nice
looking player. Boy's good looking guy, can make shots, you know,
good length all that when he started getting more aggressive
and going at the basket, then started making moves off
to dribble. I think his game has really expanded. I
(29:20):
thought he was really good. I would have liked to
see him, yes, out of the corners, and he was
saying I was in the corner all the time.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
I would have like to see him get the ball.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
He shot a couple and he you know, he made one,
but you know he missed a couple. I think he
actually just took two in the fourth quarter where he
made one and missed one. But I would that's the
when when they sometimes you again you find the weak
leak in the zone. You know, if you don't want
to get complicated, just go at him, get Cam Johnson,
going at James Harden, get into the teeth at the
(29:48):
defense and see what you can get and then be
able to play that way.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Some again, these are all just.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
You know different, you know, as nothing is like definite,
you know, like nothing is like every time.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I'm just talking about a feel of the game.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's why, you.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Know, coaches talk about the pace of the game a lot.
It's not every possession. Every possession doesn't look the same.
It's not the same. It's a game, it's a strategy,
it's a momentum changes a lot of things. But just
in general overall feel for the game, I think the
Nets got they got disrupted and their flow was not
in attack mode like they needed to be.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Well, sometimes I think people think when you talk pace
that you're talking about fast breaks.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, you know, no, I I know.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It's sometimes it's even well, I mean that is too.
I think the Nets could benefit by maybe getting the
ball up the floor a little But also it's just
getting into your offense a little quick exactly.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
There are too many dribbles before things happened yesterday and
I'm talking about you know, I sometimes the first thing
you can do is get the ball up quick and
try to get right, you know, get after it a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You know, again, they're playing around it, they're playing a plan.
Don'ta man move the ball, get it in.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
What are the other things we talked about from game
one to game two? You know, we mentioned mckel bridges
and you know he had to go on to the
first half of game one and then only had two
shot attempts in the second half and only finished the
game with one assist. And we talked about how the
next level for Mikel Bridges is to be able to
be the focal point of the offense and be the
(31:30):
guy you play through. And it's gonna really be contingent
on his ability to now find other guys when he
draws attention. And he had six assists last night and
only one turnover in the game. And I thought, excuse me,
he had three turnovers in the game, but he had
seven assists. He should be seven assists and three turnovers
in the game last night. And and you know, I
(31:52):
feel like that's another you know, in the in the
evolution of mcel Bridges, because he's a lot of attention
now and he got a lot of attention in game two.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Uh, And I thought, I thought, you know, that was
an evolution we saw from game one to game two. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
No, there's nothing you don't like about him.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
That's again, I thought he could have been a good
you know, even more creative as a second half one.
I thought most of those assists were first half. I
would like to see him get into the again a
little bit more into the teeth of the defense. Maybe
score in that mid range area, or again track attract
defenders and uh, you know, spray the ball around. You know,
I always hear that talked about against man man. That's
(32:31):
exactly what I wanted to see when when the Nets
played against his own. I, you know, walking around last night,
got a chance to see a few people, and I
saw the uh, you know see him all the time.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
But the great Steve Serby, you know, a column misted
over at the Year Post, and uh had a good
story today because he got he talked to Jay Wright
about michel Bridges and Uh, I just wanted this this
little uh excerpt that I wanted to relay along. He
was talking about Steve Serby asked Jay Wright, who is
mckel bridges coach in Villanova? And in the article Jay
(33:05):
was talking about how he said, you know, mckel bridges
is being asked to do things in this offense with
the Nets, and he's being successful at it that he
wasn't even asked to do. Forget about his time in Phoenix,
forget about his time in Villanova. He wasn't asked to
do this in high school, you know, to play to
(33:27):
carry the team offensively at this level. But what he
said about he's Steve Serby asked Jay Wright, what do
you want net fans to know about mckel bridges and
he said this, He said, just appreciate him as a winner.
He said, he wants to win worse than probably any
NETS fan wants them to win, regardless of how many
(33:47):
points he scores, regardless of what his role is. He
really looks at the game every time he plays a
game as I just want our team to win. It's simple.
But we know how rare that is these days. Or
Jay Wright was saying, and think about last night. You
know he's he does do a little bit of whatever
is needed of him, right and even last night, the
(34:10):
subtle defensive adjustment that helped him in the first half
was that he played James Harden. A look at the
game James Harden had. Yeah, no, he played not good.
Speaker 3 (34:19):
That was again the chess match beginning to end of
this game went on and on, and you're right, that
was a big part of it was you know, he
was he was defending James Harden.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
He's the primary defender on James Harden.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
And we we we have to before we conclude this
we have to get into Royce O'Neill. You know, I'm
the president of the Roys O'Neill fan club, and you know,
I know he missed a lot of threes last night. Yeah,
but the guy, I mean, he talked about just giving
yourself up for the sake of the team. He's either
(34:54):
guarding Harden and he's picking him up at half court,
or he's in that small ball ball lineup. He is
just battling Joel Embiid. He wasn't just standing around trying
to get in front of him. I mean he was
wrestling him. Yeah, So I cut Royce O'Neill a little
slack when he's two for nine from three, because I'm saying,
the guy's got to be worn out. You know. It's
(35:16):
one of the reasons why a lot of times you
don't want your best offensive player or your guy you're
playing through a lot offensively to have to guard the
other team's best player. And that's gonna be an adjustment, Right
Mickel Bridges becomes your focal point offensively, you can't have
him be the guy that sticks to the other team's
best player. He's gonna wear him out. I understand what
you're saying sometimes if you not don't have it going though,
don't shoot it. But at the same time, I can't
(35:39):
say enough about the effort of Royce O'Neill.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Last Yeah, and you know something, if you had asked
me before the game, Royce O'Neil is gonna be out there,
he's gonna be defending the heck kind of And Joel Ellenbi,
do you trust him in the fourth quarter, even if
he's played a lot of minutes to shoot threes, I
would say yes.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Right, yeah, and you know I'll make one in the
fourth quarter. You know, the ball got to them.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
And again these were I think Jacques Vaughan's going to
be happy with the shots. I just you know, maybe
I'm picking it apart in a way that isn't is it.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
I don't know. That's how I felt felt the game went.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
I thought the shots were good, and yet the game
being plot and fell like the game was being played
the right way.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
In the second half, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
I didn't think the attack was correct, the intent was right,
the pace with which they were getting into stuff and
moving the ball wasn't the same.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Even though the shots didn't look too bad, you.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Know, well, see now what adjustments are made from game
two to game three. I think it was very clear
cut what had to happen from game one to game
two if the Nets were going to have a chance,
and I think they gave themselves a chance. But then
Philadelphia in game we talked about making some adjustments that
help them get it back. And you know, we know
that the old adage it doesn't you know, a series
(37:05):
doesn't start until you win on the other team's home floor.
It's hard though, when you're down two, because you know
you're you're playing a team that's favored to begin with.
After game one, there may have been a little bit
creeping in with Nets fans that I don't know if
we can you know, I don't if we could beat
this team. Game two I think should have given you
a little bit more hope that you do have a
(37:28):
shot here, Like you know that you you figured out
you can play with them, but it was discouraging maybe
at times that you didn't take advantage of how well
you played on the defensive end. So as we look
to game three, what gives you hope? What sort of
are you looking for the chess match? What are the
chess moves that can happen in a game three.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Well, I think the nets to be more ready for
you know, the potential of seeing his own defense. They'll
be more ready when they don't see fit and when
they're you know, to get organized quicker, get up the
floor and into things quicker, you know, not not just
being spread out and pausing. They want to get into
the flow, get action, get movement, get screening. And uh
(38:10):
I think that I think that would be a big
emphasis for them, uh it regardless if it's his owner,
man a man. I think that that is going to
be a big part of what they want to do.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
And also see some success. You know, you saw some success.
You saw what it looks like in the first you
know half yeah of game two that you can maybe
bring in game three.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Well, you know, here's the thing, let's not forget you
saw what success looks like offensively in game one, as
far as you can shoot the ball from anywhere on
the floor and score enough points. I mean, it's sixty
five points in the first half of game one and
you didn't shoot that many threes, right, it was, Michael.
That's why Bridges has to be a factor, or guys
(38:51):
have to be a factor.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
On all three at all three levels, right.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
I think they were just uh playing around the perimeter
too much and too late in the club. You know,
here's the other side. I mean, Philadelphia has seen an
awful lot of what the Nets can do right now too, right,
I mean, but then band just sees that all the time,
and I think going small fooled them, right, They weren't
(39:15):
particularly ready for that. So you're gonna maybe see an
adjustment of you know, I don't know, they want to
keep them beat up in that high post area so
you can kind of get away with you know, uh,
you know, the Roy O'Neill or Dorian Fittey Smith guarding
him for and then but then you got to bring
the double team. You know, you got to bring the double.
(39:35):
Where's the double gonna come from?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
He?
Speaker 2 (39:38):
You know, he figured it out as the game went on.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
But certainly I thought the Nets kept them off balance,
and that's really all you can hope for.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Yeah, a lot of times, you know, you're you're using
a smaller lineup because you feel like it will benefit
you offensively. Yeah, And where it seemed to benefit the
Nets was on the defensive end because they really didn't
take advantage of having a smaller lineup, uh, and being
able score because they only put up eighty four points.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
And yeah, well no again fascinating.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
I was blown, you know, the chess match of these games,
and for the moment the first possession when you saw,
well Bridges is going to be guarding hard in this game,
Drian Finney Smith is going to guard Tucker. You know,
different guys you know, and you try to be so
uh coaches And in the mind, I'll say this, I
coached in college. A college basketball season doesn't have as
(40:30):
many decisions as it were made last night by the coaches.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yes, a season.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah, college coaches coach like their system and then they
play their system and they see how the game turns out.
NBA coaches possession by possession. It's unbelievable, even the subtle
movements of where knowing that the nets would double team,
how the spacing changes for the other players on the
(40:59):
Philadelphi seventy six their roster. So they didn't necessarily have
three guys on one end, one side and one in
the corner. No, they had a they had like a
two on each side. So the next rotation then became
incredibly long. That the minor details that go in uh to,
these games are sometimes hard to see and are really
(41:23):
are really.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Amazing the amount of them that go on.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Though. Yeah, college coaching is recruiting.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Its scheduling, recruiting and then coaching.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
That's why John was court side last night.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
That's why yeah side last night.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Now, the guys that are great to are great at everything.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Let's be honest. The guys that are really good at
are great at everything. The other ones are broadcasters.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Uh. You know, it's a weird thing that pointed out. Again,
people look at plus and minus and sometimes it's just harrory, Yeah, right,
that possible. Like Joe Harris is a plus nineteen and
thirteen minutes. No other player of the seven other players
that played in the game were in a plus side.
Curry was a minus one and he was a minus six.
That was the best. But it just shows you he's
(42:08):
in there for probably the time he was in there.
The that's just you know, obviously the numbers they outscored.
Was it anything that he did, I don't It could
have been who else is on the floor. That's why
you can't always put a lot of Sometimes it does
tell the story of them as it doesn't. It's a
hard No, I know it's hard, So so I point
that out, Capper, what I always, I always tremendously look
(42:33):
forward to the postseason because these games all matter and
we have a lot of stuff we can really sink
our teeth into. So I enjoyed doing these things after
these playoff games. And the other part of the playoffs
that's sort of bittersweet sometimes is that we do this
stuff for six months and we always it can wear
(42:54):
you out a little bit, but then we always want
to keep it going, yeah, right, and and then sometimes
it just can abruptly end. So we hope that when
it gets back to Brooklyn, we can just keep this
thing going for a little while. Capra, we'll talk to
you before Game three. It's Thursday night in Brooklyn. We'll
get on the air on wf AN it's seven twenty
with a pregame show, and then we'll come back and
(43:16):
maybe try and do this again, perhaps on Saturday, right
after Game three, and looking ahead to Game four on Sunday. So, Caper,
thanks for giving us your thoughts and interpreting this movie
that we saw in game two, all right, because I
know you're not a big interpretive You're like.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
I think you have the days wrong of the games.
Well what did you say? Did you say Saturday and
then Sunday?
Speaker 2 (43:40):
What do you say?
Speaker 1 (43:41):
No, Thursday, Thursday and after Thursday Thursday and then Saturday, and.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Then said now I didn't say that, though I'm correcting you.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Oh yes, yes, I said we'll do the pod on
We got to do the pot on Friday. I never
correct you, but I know that it's really unnerving. Yeah, well,
the game is Thursday on wf AN FM only by
the way, if you want to tune in, or the
Brooklyn nets app. I know somebody that was in London,
England last night cap listening to us on the Brooklyn
(44:11):
nets app.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, we got to get people all over that.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Yeah, Brooklyn nets app tuned in there, or we're be
on just one on one nine FM on Thursday and Saturday,
and then we'll try and put out a pot on Friday.
So talk to Thursday Caper in Brooklyn. See that. That's
the kappra. Tim Cabstraw My thanks to Steve Goldberg, Isaac Lee.
I'm Chris Carino NETS going at it again, Game three
(44:34):
coming up on Thursday night, trying to break out an
O two Hold this has been the voice of the nets.
I'm Chris Carino. Thank you so much for tuning
Host
Chris Carrino
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