Brooklyn's Beat

When players play poorly in the NBA, you hear the same common refrains from their fanbases. He needs to play harder. He has no heart. He does not want it. He has to take it to him! And many more.

From an emotional perspective, those reactions are, in a way, human nature. As a fan, you really, really want to see your team succeed. The team got you into the sport. You buy the gear. You like the sport in general, sure, but nothing quite beats the thrill of your team, your heroes, getting it done. On the flip side? Nothing quite matches the rock bottom feeling of your team not getting it done.

Needless to say, this is the point that Brooklyn Nets’ fans are at with Deron Williams. But I think the opposite is happening. He’s trying too hard.

Garnett made some interesting comments about Deron. He said that Deron’s “biggest problem is Deron,” and that sometimes he has to “pull him aside and . . . say some real s**t to him.”

Then there was this insightful column from The Brooklyn Game, which basically indicates that Deron Williams’ production through three quarters (prior to game 5) has been, at least, ok, and then he’s totally tanked in fourth quarters (http://thebrooklyngame.com/deron-williams-toronto-raptors-fourth-quarter/).

The reason? He’s pressing.

It’s natural to say Deron isn’t competing, or simply doesn’t care about beating the Raptors, beating Kyle Lowry. He isn’t a very emotional player, outwardly, so you don’t see outbursts of emotion, good or bad. He gets surly with the media. His demeanor does not echo, outwardly, any particular passion for the sport.

But what’s really happening, is that Deron is pressing. How does a guy play solid ball in first halves, then disappear in seconds? He presses. He allows his nerves to take over. He starts thinking about how he demanded his organization bring him upgrades. How his owner has a reputation for not responding well to failure. How his teammates are counting on him, proclaimed him as an MVP candidate, call him the head of the snake, and look to him for success. How he knows he is being judged by his peers. How he looks at himself: how he worked on his craft an entire summer, for it all to come down to a few bounces of the ball, a few games deep into the spring. How this Nets team has massive expectations, and how those expectations stand across his shoulders. Suddenly, you’re not just picking up the basketball, doing your thing with it, and just playing. You’re thinking. You’re aiming your jumpers, your free throws. You’re not defending well, because you’re nervous. Your feet feel like lead, because you’re nervous. Your heartrate rises.

Deron’s game 5 was the game changer for me, in terms of demonstrating that the issue with his play right now is his inability to handle the pressure he is feeling to deliver. Deron looked like he wanted absolutely no part of this game, for three quarters. He played hot potato with the basketball. He looked to pass, without looking to make plays. He turned the ball over. He dribbled into crowds. He stifled the offense. He literally looked like he had no idea how to play point guard at the NBA level. It bordered on disturbing to watch.

Then what happened? The Nets went down 26 points, and Deron played an excellent fourth quarter. Any coincidence that, after a bunch of close games in which Deron struggled late, he suddenly played well in a fourth. The reason is plain. This wasn’t about pride, or “wanting it”: guys don’t come into a game not wanting to win, go down 26, and care. This was about a lack of pressure. Down 26, the game story is “the game is over, we’re playing out the string.” So Deron relaxed. Gone was the pressure of having to perform. He simply, played basketball. On instinct. As the game — and every game — is meant to be played. For all the talk of strategy, sports are games of instincts.  You train to become a pro athlete, you become extremely fundamentally sound, and when in the heat of battle, you just play instinctual ball.

I can relate to what Deron is feeling. From playing many, many, many tennis matches over the years, in big moments, I know what pressure is like to deal with. You never step on the court like “I don’t want this win, I don’t want to take it to this guy.” But you feel nerves. And sometimes, nerves play tricks on you in important moments. You start missing shots you normally make. Instead of going for the same shots that got you a lead, or got you to this point of your career, you start playing not to lose instead of playing to win: start just hitting in the court and hoping the opponent misses, instead of playing the way you know how to play. Your legs feel heavy. You feel slow. Your decisions are suddenly dumber than they were before.

That’s Deron Williams, right now, in this playoff series. He came out in game 5, he felt the pressure, and he totally folded under it. This isn’t a guy who wants to lose: no player goes through the tireless practice, the training, the grind of the 82 game season, because they want to lose. If he wanted to lose, you wouldn’t see the standout game 1 we saw. Or the spirited play in the fourth quarter of game 5. Or the very solid game 3 start. Or even the beginning of game 4, where he actually played with purpose, before his epic disappearance.

The bottom line is pressure is no excuse for Deron. All athletes face it. When you fail to meet expectations in sports, you face the music. The bottom line: Deron has psyched himself out, and has put way too much pressure on himself.

This is a man who wanted to be in Brooklyn, who raises his family in New York City, who instagrammed photoshops of the team’s roster when it was put together, played an instrumental role in the recruitment of Paul and KG, and has talked — ad nauseum — about needing to be more aggressive, needing to play better, wanting to play better, feeling limited by his ankles, his confidence — you name it, really.

But pressure is a part of sports, and that is something Deron needs to embrace.  After all, there’s 16 NBA teams right now: the 14 lottery teams, the Bulls, and the Bobcats: there isn’t a drop of pressure on them right now. Add the Rockets to the list if they lose game 5 tonight.

Pressure is a privilege. It’s something you earn because you have, at least, a decent team, you’re in the playoffs, and you have a chance to accomplish something.  The great athletes typically wear that pressure like a badge of honor. After all, I did not lose all of those close tennis matches. You find the ability to believe in yourself, you block everything out, and you get the job done.

It’s time for Deron to stop caving to the pressure, and start playing the loose, care free, instinctual basketball he played at times this season — and at times this series.  His game 5 fourth quarter shows the ankles are not the problem. KG is right: it’s all in his head.

D-Will: It’s Time to Chill

22. 22. 23. and 12.

Those numbers are the amount of points the Nets had across each quarter of game 4, a gut wrenching 87-79 loss for the Nets.

Recapping the game is pretty simple. The Nets got off to an atrocious start, finding themselves down 47-30 with 5:39 left in the second. The Nets valiantly fought their way back, but tired, and TOR fought back. This set up a one possession game late, and then, the Nets floundered. Up 79-78 with 4:58 left the Nets did not score a single point down the stretch, and lost 87-79. Here is my take on a bunch of what is concerning Nets Nation.

What is Happening With the Nets Offense?

In 2014, a huge part of the Brooklyn identity has become the 3 ball. Deron, Joe, Paul, Mirza, and Thornton (who has disappeared) are all extremely solid 3 point shooters. Anderson has his moments from 3 as well.

In the playoffs? The Nets have seemingly been unable to get on track. They are shooting 22-88 from 3 in the series: that’s an atrocious 25%. For perspective: Philadelphia was the league’s worst 3 point shooting team, at 30.3% for the season. So the Nets are essentially stinking the joint up from beyond the arc, and that has been hard for this team to overcome. Game 2: 7-24 from 3. Game 4: 4-20. That’s 33 combined missed threes, in 2 losses by a combined 13 points.  For a team heavily reliant on the longball, that won’t get it done.

Small sample size is a real thing in sports: a small sample is not indicative of most likely future results. And hopefully, the Nets reverse this small sample.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly what is happening with the Nets from beyond the arc. But they will need to reverse the trend soon. The Nets’ offense depends on it. They seemingly are getting many good looks from beyond the arc, taking shots they want to take, need to take, and have taken for months. The problem? Nothing’s going down.

Deron Williams: What on Earth?

I normally dislike blaming anything in sports on a single player. Basketball is a team sport. There are matchups everywhere, and teams attempt to exploit those in their favor. You play defense as a team. You score as a team. You lean on one another as a team.  And the idea that “the best player wins the series” is flawed. LeBron’s entire Cleveland tenure? Most series lost by Kobe? Durant’s playoff failures? The Pistons’ title? Most of Dirk’s playoff losses? The Spurs system beating many better individuals like Steph Curry last year? This is a team sport, and that must be said.

At the same time, Deron Williams is a huge piece of this Nets team. Let’s face it. The Nets initiated a rebuilding process when Jason Kidd aged, replaced an inept owner with one willing to do WHATEVER it took, and amassed a hoard of assets in the form of picks and flexibility to spearhead their rebuild: all of that is smart. They decided that if a “superstar” were available, it would be prudent to accelerate the rebuild by getting him, and doing what it takes to keep him. When the core around him was deficient in 2013, ownership did what it took to build it further. The problem: that player, in Deron, is not playing well enough to justify the fact that assets were purged to build a roster around his talents.

Deron had an awful game 4. He looked to attack early, and was very aggressive to begin the game. He looked to attack, was aggressive, made shots, and gave Kyle Lowry hell … for about a quarter. Check out tonight’s play by play, which will show you when he scored. Find the 4:41 mark in the second quarter. Draw a donut. Then, draw the number that represents his point total after that figure. Then, note the similarity.

DW: Disappeared Williams.

Is the loss tonight solely on Deron? No. Is he a huge part of it. You bet. As I have said all year, Deron makes this Nets team go. This is a team that does not have the type of 1 on 1 talent that can just take his defender, exploit him, and get whatever he wants, whenever he wants. That’s fine: the Spurs don’t play that way either. This team relies on attacking creases, man movement, ball sharing, and each player playing through the system and through one another to get each other quality shots. That system is inordinately better when Deron runs the controls, than when Livingston does: the on court off court data is persuasive.

The problem: When Deron is not in games, the ball sticks. The system turns into mush. The team becomes reliant on heroball, and this team is not good when it does that. And the way Deron played tonight? He may as well have not been on the floor.

Deron did not look to make plays down the stretch, or really, throughout the second half. He basically came down the floor, and looked to pass. He was hoping Joe would make plays. Hoping Paul would. Even hoping Kevin would. Be it confidence, nerve, drive, ability — we can’t tell what, because we’re not in his head or around the team daily — but the bottom line is the bottom line. Deron did not look to make plays — at all — throughout the second half of this game, and especially so in the 4th quarter.

The Nets’ offense lost its hum because of it, did not extend its small lead because of it, and the Nets lost game 4 in very large part because of it. The 4th quarter of this game was basically Deron hoping his teammates could iso their way to success. That’s not how the Nets play, and it predictably failed.

I am not saying Deron has to take 25-30 shots a night. It’s not about how many points he scores or how many assists he has. The beauty of the Nets longball system, when it’s thriving, is that it never matters who is scoring, or who is given box score credit for the assist. What matters is this: Deron attacks creases and makes plays which collapse and loosen the defense, and the Nets exploit that by finding open shooters. This opens up the post, and then you start seeing Joe attack an uncrowded paint, as opposed to posting up into a mountain. Deron does not have to be the guy scoring the points, or dishing the dimes. But he has to be the head of the snake — or voltron — or the straw stirring the drink — or whatever term the Nets choose to call it. What he can’t do is what he did tonight: play hot potato with the basketball in the hopes his teammates would bail him out.

The Real Sting: They Actually Guarded

What really stung tonight is, after a brutal first quarter, the Nets actually guarded tonight. Toronto had 87 points on 41% shooting, and after a ridiculous first quarter, they scored 16, 16, and 20 respectively over three quarters. If you told me before game 4 that the Nets would hold the Raptors to those figures tonight, I would have gladly taken it. So would anyone.

The Nets defended. They played hard — although they played quite awfully to begin the game. They were engaged.

They just did not make shots. But this statement from me, while true, is becoming tiring.

What Now

With the series tied at 2-2? Time to bounce back. Not to sound cliche, but this is now a best of three, first to two, and it’s time to win 2 games. Let’s be clear. The Nets blew home court. They played awful ball tonight, and couldn’t hit the side of a barn. It was unspeakably bad. Deron disappeared. And, when you’re in a best of 7, and as the road team you take home court, it is now your job to win both games on your floor, and take home court back. The Nets didn’t. They failed. They should be criticized for that, and nobody can sugarcoat that.

At the same time, the last time I checked, a first to four series at 2-2 is not over: it is tied at 2. Do the greatest athletes in sports come through when it counts? Yes. You know what they also do? They brush off bad moments, frustrating times, and rebound from them. Rafael Nadal, the world’s top tennis player. is renowned for this. Analysts always discuss his uncanny ability to take a body blow, lose his serve, suffer something absolutely brutal on court, choke a set — but it doesn’t bother him. Next point up. He comes back and continues to play. The great quarterbacks throw interceptions, blow leads. They don’t hang their head. They continue to play.

With 2 days off before game 5, it’s now time for the Nets to bounce back. Air Canada Centre will be rocking, the Raptors will believe they can win this series, and I’m sure they’ll be excited and ready to play. The Nets need to just put tonight out of their mind, and do what they need to do. Defend hard on one end, and move the ball and hit shots on the other.

Other Notes

-It may be time for Kidd to reinsert Marcus Thornton into his rotation. Thornton was awful to begin the series, and I understand that, but this is a team starving for some 3 point shooting — as I described above, their inability to hit their signature shot is killing them this series. Thornton is the one player not getting minutes with the ability to spontaneously combust from beyond the arc. The Nets are a team that can really use a spurt of 3 point shooting. The playoffs are about runs, and the Nets do not have the athleticism to make one with a flurry of frenetic play. They need to make them from the 3 point line. The Nets’ defense has, by and large, been solid over 4 games: it hasn’t been perfect but it’s been good enough to win. Holding a team to 87 points on 41% shooting is excellent, and you simply cannot do that at home and lose the game. The Nets need to start knocking down shots.

-I understand Kidd’s faith in his players, but he’s also shown at times this season (and now, with Thornton), that he’s not afraid to remove guys from his rotation, bring them off the bench, or adjust minutes. At this point, if there’s a guy to do that with, it is Dray. Blatche has been brutal defensively, and has consistently taken bad shots this series. He nearly played his way out of the rotation, and maybe Kidd should move past nearly.

-I hate to harp on KG, but he does need to play more. KG is +26 in the series. The Nets as a team: -4 — so -30 when KG is off the floor. The reason is simple. Smallball in today’s NBA is extremely effective because quality stretch 4’s create huge mismatches offensively. But to truly tie it together, you need a big that protects the paint (to maintain your defensive balance), and it surely does not hurt to have a big that can shoot as well. KG is a more consistent scorer than Blatche (if less thrilling), and is WAY better defensively. KG is also way better defensively than a raw Plumlee, and Plumlee, unlike KG, allows the defense to relax because he is not a range scorer or adept finisher (despite how exciting he can be). I still support bumping KG’s minutes.

-Let’s stop blaming Jason Kidd for everything. Players win and lose games in sports. Deron disappeared. Joe was not good tonight. Paul was in and out with his productivity. Livingston was brutal to watch. Blatche has been, to be honest, unspeakably awful. At some point, there needs to be accountability for the guys wearing jerseys.

-At this point, I really hope nobody — on either side of this series — stoops to the level of blaming the officials. Toronto and Brooklyn are 2-2 in a best of 7, and the better team will win. All the respective fanbases can do is hope its their team, and the refs will not and have not determined the outcome of the series. Refs make their share of bad calls. But any complaints that the refs are rigging this series — or any other series for that matter — ring hollow.

-If the Nets lose this series, it’s not because they did not have home court. Look at all the home playoff losses thus far. The better teams will win their series. The Nets stole home court, and blew it.

-More off base than that is the narrative that the Nets tanked to avoid Chicago. The Nets playoff matchup was a 50/50 proposition regardless of their final seeding: just check the late season standings. Rather than jumping on what people Tweet, review the facts.

For classic, “not into analytics” coaches, you always hear the same thing about foul trouble: “we needed him for the 4th quarter.” “We had to take him out, he had 2 fouls in the first quarter.” “He had 3 fouls at half.”

And as a fan, it’s natural to see where that perspective comes from. The logic goes, the 4th quarter is the most important quarter of the game. It’s “winning time.” And you can’t lose a key piece if he fouls out before “winning time”: you need him in the game. 

Except, here is the problem: all of the minutes matter. And by sitting a guy with “foul trouble” for too long, you wind up effectively fouling him out of the game. 

With 3:35 remaining in the third quarter, the Nets were up 4 points, 61-57. They had outscored Toronto by 10 in the third: 22-12, through that juncture of the game. In a series where, through two games, the Nets starters have been significantly better than their bench, their starters came to play once again, and were pounding the Raptors.

And then. Something happened. Paul Pierce committed his 4th foul, having played 19 minutes through that juncture of the game. 

Kidd’s response? He sat Pierce until the 5:43 mark of the game: a whopping 11:52 minutes of game action — nearly an entire quarter. And when Pierce checked in: the Nets were down 81-78.  

Translation: Pierce helped spearhead a 22-12 spurt in the third, because this Nets team is INFINITELY better with him at the 4, spacing the floor and providing the Nets with a huge mismatch at the four that they use to exploit teams like Toronto. Without him, the Nets were promptly outscored 24-17 over the near equivalent of one quarter. 

I understand the logic? He had foul trouble he needs to sit! But at what cost. Pierce has not fouled out of a single game this season: why couldn’t the Nets trust him not to foul out of this contest? And by sitting him for an 11:43 stretch, what the Nets did was effectively foul him out on their own (as described here in regards to Warriors-Clippers game 1: http://aloneinthecorner.com/post/83340969532/two-passes-from-victory). 

Pierce played 25 minutes in game 2, after playing 36 in game 1. The Nets were +7 in those 25 minutes: thereby -12 in 23 minutes without him. And to add to that discrepancy, that +7 is only larger if you take away late game fouling. +9-10 is a more accurate picture of his impact in playing half the game. 

You know what would have helped the Nets, infinitely? Playing Pierce closer to 36 minutes…something they could have done by putting Pierce in way earlier than the 5:43 mark of the fourth. (Perhaps, at the 8-9 minute mark). Or, perhaps, if Kidd wanted Pierce to get 4th quarter rest, he could have simply kept him in for 3:35 with his four fouls. That would have helped Brooklyn continue to build on its 22-12 surge. 

By doing what he did, Kidd worried so much about the chance that Pierce may foul out, thereby losing minutes on the floor, and simply fouled him out on his own, by preemptively taking those minutes away from Pierce with his 11:43 long rest. Combine the tv timeouts, game timeouts, and end of quarter timeout, and that is an incredibly long time to rest during a basketball game. 

Instincts tell us “well, we needed him at the end.” But if we played him more prior to the end, maybe we’re tied, or up, when Pierce checks in, instead of down 3.

Because for all the talk about the 4th quarter being winning time, every quarter matters. A game can be won in any quarter, not just the 4th. What if the Nets built an 8 point lead in the third, with Pierce’s floor spacing helping to buoy the Nets to close the quarter. That would have likely won Brooklyn the game. 

For all the talk about the Nets winning game 1 of their series with Toronto in the fourth quarter, the Nets were up 5 after 3.  That obviously helped them win the game. The game wasn’t close, but check the score of Clippers-Warriors game 2. They didn’t win it in the 4th. 

By cringing at the thought of foul trouble, Kidd made sure Pierce did not foul out — the cost of which would be that he would be on the bench, instead of producing on the court. He did it by taking him off the floor for so long, that he may as well have fouled out anyway. 

Other Notes: 

-I understand Kidd’s rest position with Kevin Garnett. Garnett was worn by the playoffs last year – he played well early, wore as they dragged along, and wasn’t the same guy as during the season. So as a result, his 30 minute per game load, which rose to 35 in the playoffs, was not realistic for us to expect. So I supported Kidd, as he played KG 20 minutes a game during the season: I got the bigger picture. 

But here’s the thing: why haven’t those minutes gone up now…at least a touch! The whole idea of keeping a guy’s minutes down is so when the playoffs come, he is fresh and ready to go. The playoffs are here! At this point, there is nothing to hold KG back from. Sure, maybe big minutes now could hurt later in the playoffs, but unlike the regular season where you expect the playoffs to arrive, there is no tomorrow in the playoffs if you do not win. 

And therein lies the rub. The Nets problems in Toronto were as follows: 1: they’re not making shots from deep, particularly the bench. 2: the Nets pick and roll defense could be better. 3: the Nets containment of Valanciunas must be better. 4: Blatche and Plumlee are struggling. Blatche is a mess defensively (expected) and Plumlee is struggling to stay on the court, and is not making a big impact (perhaps foreseeable). KG: He has played fine. If you look at the plus minus, (note: I am generally not a +/- guy because there’s noise in the data but sometimes it matches up with the advanced stats and eye test, it does here and with Paul above) the Nets are +17 in KG’s 40 minutes this series, and -15 in his 56 minutes on the bench. That’s significant. He’s simply much better than Dray and Mason, especially right now, and it shows in his play. He’s the team’s best rebounder (the one area they simply struggle in from going small) and best defender. He solves 3 of the 4 problems above — or at least offers the least hurtful solution. The 1 problem he does not solve of course is the 3 ball, but neither do Dray and Mason. 

I am understanding that at some level, KG will give you diminishing returns if he plays too many minutes. But playing him 25-30 minutes depending on the quality given behind him would be very helpful for the Nets. Seeing Paul and Kevin be so impactful when on the floor, then losing because we struggle mightily when they sit, makes seeing them sit this much sting. 

-There is a lot of discussion out there about the Nets losing a chance in game 2, and I certainly understand that losing is always disappointing, especially when you’re as close as a Pierce rimming out 3. But at the same time, it’s not as though the Nets laid down the way Golden State did in game 2, and said “hey we got our split, whatever.” They competed, and competed hard. Down the stretch, DeMar DeRozan makes two long 2’s over good contests — shots we want as a defense — and Paul takes an open corner 3 for the lead — a shot we want as an offense. All 7 of those points fell Toronto’s way. Sometimes, those are the breaks. 

And also, you must remember what your goal is in a 7 game series: of course, your goal is to win the series. But also, your goal is to hold serve at home, and get enough breaks of serve on the road to swipe the series. As the road team in a best of 7, it is your job to grab a split on the road. If you grab a split, you have done your job. While it stings to lose, the Nets have done their job, and their inability to essentially grab an insurance win on the road is not damaging…unless they fail to hold serve at home. 

The Raptors job was to win both games at home. Our job was to grab the split. We did the job, and now we take things to the Brooklyn Herringbone. Time to do the job, again. 

Is the pressure on? Sure. But that’s the case for all 16 playoff teams. There are only 14 teams facing 0 pressure right now. All of them are home, watching the playoffs. The teams with the most pressure: LeBron’s Heat, whose season will be called a failure if they don’t three peat, Durant’s Thunder, as a means of validating his MVP to some, Duncan’s Spurs, as they were so close last year and accept nothing less, and the Pacers, whom will be seen as a massive failure barring at a minimum a duplication of a year ago (and even then, may be seen as one).

Pressure is a privilege. Is it on us? Sure. But remember who it’s not on: it is a privilege. 

And not for nothing, the pressure is on the Raptors as well. Sure, we know that if we do not win 3 home games, we have to grab another win in Toronto. But don’t they know that if they do not grab a road game against a team that won 15 straight at home and whom they barely won a home game over, that their season is over. 

The pressure is on. But we also chose to move to Brooklyn and its associated magnifying glass, chose to add bigtime playoff performers which put a target on our back, and aren’t home watching with not a care on the world. 

Pressure is how we like it. That’s the Truth.