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Kevin Durant doesn’t see much structurally wrong with the Nets’ defense despite the team giving up 120 or more points in three straight games. But he did point to one major issue: cutting down on fouls.
“I don’t think we were that bad,” Durant said following Monday’s practice. “I know we lost but I look at that from, like I said, making stupid fouls. That just makes the game look even slower when you’re putting them at the free-throw line. They’re getting points every time down, but we actually are stopping them when the ball is live.”
The Nets have lost three of their past four, and in those three losses, they have given up 23, 34 and 49 free throws. The latter, a loss in Atlanta in a game that saw the Nets fall to 10th in the Eastern Conference, was particularly galling.
The Hawks shot just 41.9 percent from the field on Saturday, and Brooklyn’s opposing field-goal percentage has been fine on a game-by-game basis recently.
But that doesn’t matter if the Nets are letting teams shoot nearly 50 free throws.
“It’s just the execution and the finishing,” Durant said. “Like, you guard somebody straight up and it’s just in your mind, the urge when you see the ball is to reach, you know what I’m saying? And the ref sees the trigger, no matter if you touch the ball or not, they’re gonna call a foul if you reach in.
“So I think initially, our point-of-attack defense is solid and then we may end up, like I said, fouling. We can definitely be better and certain plays we can correct, but overall, I think we got good intentions out there.”
On a per-possession basis, the Nets are 20th in the league in defense this season. But given the inconsistency with their lineup, it’s hard to know if that really means much.
“It’s the NBA. We’re not gonna completely stop a whole team,” Durant said. “We look at Milwaukee [last Thursday], they shot, what, 44 percent from the field? That’s pretty solid for a team that’s got one of the best players in the world on it. Then we play a team [Atlanta on Saturday] and the other day, they shot, what, 42, 43 percent from the field? They’re making 42 percent of their shots, that’s pretty solid on the defensive side of the ball.”
Cutting down on fouls, in theory, should be an easy thing to do. But the Nets have struggled in that area all season, ranking 25th in opposing free-throw attempts.
“Just being in the right spots,” Bruce Brown said. “Not reaching. Really just be smart on defense. There’s been some terrible fouls and we’re fouling some of their best free-throw shooters.”
Brown is good to go for Tuesday’s game against Houston after battling an illness.
Goran Dragic is still in Atlanta after testing positive for COVID-19.
Nash said that Seth Curry, who has been in and out of the lineup with an ankle injury, didn’t do much in practice on Monday. The team is weighing whether or not to sit him for the rest of the regular season in preparation for the play-in game.
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