The Brooklyn Nets’ defense has not been good this season at any point and as the losses pile up, it seems that the same issues happen time and again. After plenty of talk in the offseason about this team’s identity being defense, this season has shown the opposite over the first 33 games.
Brooklyn (15-18) lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday 124-108, marking the 17th time this season that the Nets have given up at least 121 points to their opponent. As with any other team in the NBA, the chances of winning are borderline-impossible when you allow the other team to score that much in a game.
Sunday was arguably Brooklyn’s worst defensive performance this season as they allowed the Thunder to shoot 54.2% from the field, 54.5% from three-point land, and go 16-of-20 from the free-throw line. While the Nets understandably had issues defending potential MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 24 points, Brooklyn allowed six Thunder players in total to score in double-figures, including rookie Cason Wallace who had 10 points off the bench.
What Brooklyn has been used to this season is trying to outscore the opponent if they couldn’t stop them and third-year guard Cam Thomas, who scored 20 points, is an important part of that task. Unfortunately for the Nets, he could not get much offensive help from his teammates and Brooklyn had no way to keep up with Oklahoma City.
With regards to the defensive end, Thomas said, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, that the Nets have to build more trust on that side of the floor if they want to improve their performance. Not a bad idea for a team that came into this game ranked 23rd in defensive rating and after this showing, that rank will either stay the same or get worse.
Cam Thomas on how much the #Nets need to work on trust to solve defensive woes: “A lot obviously. A lot. Everybody feels like if nobody has your back on a rotation then we’re not gonna help as much. That’s with anybody. So obviously that's a part of it."
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) January 1, 2024
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