The Nets have surprised all season behind an overachieving offense. But their woeful defense has been on the other end of the spectrum, and it is bottoming out.
The team is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ last in the NBA in field goal defense and effective field goal percentage, and bottom five in a host of other metrics. They all point to the same thing: Despite finally getting healthy, the Nets are still struggling on that end of the court, among the worst in the league and getting worse over the past week.
“All the big bodies were in [Friday] and we still did a terrible job of protecting the rim. So it’s just something we got to figure out. We’ve all got to be on the same page,” center Nic Claxton admitted. “I need to do a better job of protecting the rim. My blocks are down this year. But it’s on everyone, just being on the same page with our defense. Our defense isn’t good.”
That’s an understatement. It’s gone beyond not good all the way to not acceptable.
The Nets have allowed 48.9 percent shooting and an effective field goal percentage of 56.8, both worst in the league.
They are second-worst in defensive rebounds (29.7) and blocks (3.9), their rim protection an Achilles’ heel. Poor communication and trying to compensate for that has just given up open 3-point looks.
