Evaluating 3-point defense can be foolhardy.
A few open shots that become bricks can paint a team’s defense as statistically sound; a few well-covered swishes can portray a defense as inadequate.
What might arguably be more telling about defenses through the first month of the NBA season, though, is the opponents’ number of attempted 3-pointers.
Which defense is perhaps unwittingly allowing opposing teams to bomb away from deep the most?
It’s the Nets’. No team’s defense allows more 3-point attempts than their 40.2 per game, which has become particularly glaring for Jacque Vaughn’s team recently.
The Nets, running out a defense with several lengthy, mobile wings, have surrendered at least 15 made 3s in their past four games, the last three losses.
“We just got to figure it out,” Mikal Bridges said after the Nets let the Hawks go 18-for-49 from deep en route to a 147-145, Atlanta OT victory on Wednesday. “We’re helping, but we just got to step up for the next guy. When we run our defense and try to stop the ball [from] getting into the paint, we just got to help each other out. But it’s tough. The defense we have, you can give up those shots over there, and it’s tough.”
The defense the Nets have has focused on protecting the paint.
Last season, the Nets were one of the worst rebounding teams in the league (and finished with the second-least number of bounds per game), which was in part an effect of their scheme.
An agile center like Nic Claxton is able to switch on pick-and-rolls, which the Nets did often — and thus the Nets’ biggest and best rebounder too often was away from the paint when a shot would go up.
This season, the Nets generally have been less aggressive on defending pick-and-rolls and have employed drop-coverage, without a switch.
Their rebounding has improved, but perhaps to the detriment of their opponents’ shot quality, there have been too many drive-and-kicks against a defense that might be over-helping.
“You got to take it with the scheme,” said Cam Johnson, who left the loss early because he cramped up. “You got to. Obviously, you don’t want to give up easy ones, open ones. We got to continue to play our principles, and as we get better with it, we’ll be able to take away some of those easy ones a lot more and make everything contested.”
It is not that the Nets have been the victims of marksmen from deep: They are holding opponents to 35 percent from 3, which is actually the seventh-best in the NBA.
But defenses that don’t focus on cutting down their opponents’ 3-point tries can get exposed through volume.
Vaughn acknowledged the increasing chucks from long range but focused more on who is shooting rather than the total number of shots.
He’s perfectly OK if a non-shooter winds up with the look from 3.
“I don’t think it’s a concern to the point where we need to change what we’re doing,” said Vaughn, who did appear to tweak the defense in the second half Wednesday, when the Nets switched on screens more often. “Maybe some of the shots contested-wise to get back out to shooters. But going into games, if we’re going to get beat off the bounce with 3s, that’s just going to be part of it.
“We got to keep people away from the rim. I know every person in this league can dunk and make a layup. Not everybody can shoot 3s in this league.”
In fairness, the problem has worsened as the Nets’ health has worsened.
Ben Simmons (left lower back nerve impingement), Defensive Player of the Year runner-up in 2021, has missed seven straight games, and the team defense has correspondingly dipped.
Even the short-term loss of Dennis Smith Jr. (lower-back sprain) proved costly Wednesday, when the Nets had issues slowing down Trae Young.
Regardless, a team that is built upon strong defenders — and ditched Joe Harris, Seth Curry and Patty Mills this offseason in part to improve defensively — has taken a step back, all the way down to 23rd in defensive rating.
“It’s a small sample size, long season,” Johnson said. “Everything is under review. We got coaches, players that are willing to adjust, adapt and figure out problems. We’ll be all right.”
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