Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn had a tall task heading into this game trying to beat an Indiana Pacers team without his entire starting lineup. Most people would chalk that up as a loss and just focus on giving the younger players teaching points as the game wears on.
However, Vaughn and the players had different plans for Saturday. Not only did Brooklyn come back from being 14 points, they also snatched 29 offensive rebounds to run away with the battle of the boards.
The Nets had trouble defending the Pacers until the second half when Vaughn employed a zone defense that frustrated and confused Indiana for almost a full quarter of game time and that allowed the Nets to get back in the game. Center Day’Ron Sharpe had a great game of scoring 20 points and collecting 12 rebounds while being in the right place at the right time and playing hard.
Vaughn even implied that Sharpe could be getting more playing time:
“I tell him (Sharpe), ‘you just want to be on the minds of the coaches’. When they think about who we’re going to put in, you wanna be in that sentence. He’s there. What he does, which helped him in this game, is offensive rebounds compared to the fouling. I think he was in a great position tonight and he’s learning how to be in the right place. Great growth from him”
Brooklyn’s next game is Monday at the Washington Wizards.
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