The Brooklyn Nets have not won much lately and the main reason for that is how the Nets have performed on the defensive end of the floor. While Brooklyn has been trying to compensate for its poor defense by playing well on the offensive end, it appears that strategy is not working for them recently.
In Tuesday’s 112-85 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans, the Nets did not play well on either end of the floor in a game where the Pelicans jumped out to a 15-3 lead on the back of some spectacular three-point shooting. It seemed that Brooklyn was unable to get into the airspace of any of New Orleans’ shooters and they paid for that right away.
In the beginning of the season, Brooklyn was able to fight back whenever it faced a tough start against their opponent by resetting and getting back to what they do best. However, over the past few weeks, the Nets have not been able to respond to runs well and it seems that the team is lacking the fight that they had earlier this season.
Brooklyn guard Mikal Bridges, who scored just 13 points of 4-of-11 shooting from the field against the Pelicans, has been vocal throughout this season about the Nets needing to play better defense if they are going to beat the better teams in the NBA. After Tuesday’s loss, he told CJ Holmes of the New York Daily News that against the Pelicans, the poor defense had an effect on their offense and that they “laid down” on both ends after that.
Brooklyn will have another chance to make things right on Wednesday as they visit the Houston Rockets on the back end of a back-to-back.
Mikal Bridges: "I feel like our defense messed up our offense. We didn't get enough stops and then we laid down at both ends."
— C.J. Holmes (@CjHolmes22) January 3, 2024
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