Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has been one of the leaders for the “new-look” Nets after the NBA trade deadline. While he is the team’s best creator and facilitator, he has been making a better effort on playing defense because he knows that Brooklyn is currently best as a defense-first team.
In Sunday’s 122-120 win over the Denver Nuggets, Dinwiddie had 15 points and 16 assists as he was able to slice up Denver’s defense whenever he was able to get by his man and get into the paint. However, for the Nets to be able to finish off this game and steal the win against the superior team, Dinwiddie had to contribute on the defensive end and he did that by also picking up a steal and a block.
Brooklyn’s defense has not become the lockdown force that it was projected to be yet, but it is the kind of defense that can get stops when needed to either make a run or complete a comeback. The Nets’ defense showed up in the third quarter when it held Denver to just 26% from the field. Dinwiddie spoke after the game about how Brooklyn’s identity is defense:
“Given the fact that defense is our identity, and that’s something JV (Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn) has talked about since day one. And, we understand with the background and group of guys that we have, and especially with the unit that we typically kind of put out there when we go small with you know, Royce (O’Neale), Doe (Dorian Finney-Smith), Mikal (Bridges) as premier defenders obviously, and kind of wreaking havoc that we just got to you know, fall back on our principles and you know, get one more stop.”
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