CAMDEN, N.J. — For the Brooklyn Nets to have any chance in their first-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers, they have to launch a bunch of 3s and get out and run. Through the first two games of the series, they are shooting 36.6% from deep and their main shooters have been limited.
Outside of Cam Johnson, who’s shooting 9-for-17 from deep, the Nets have struggled. Mikal Bridges hasn’t really gotten going from beyond the arc. Seth Curry and Dorian Finney-Smith haven’t received many opportunities. And Joe Harris is 1-for-5 from deep thus far.
Before Game 2, Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said he wanted his team to get up 40 3-pointers. The Nets put up 42, but they only made 13. They were 5-for-20 in the second half.
“That’s fine,” said coach Doc Rivers. “As long as they’re guarded and we do a better job. You can’t stop a team from shooting 3s if they want to shoot them. They’re gonna shoot them. Sacramento wants to shoot 50 a night. They shoot 50 a night, but you want to make sure they’re not a good 50. They’re a rushed 50. They’re 50 off the dribble. So that’s what we have to do and continue to do.”
The Nets shot 8-for-22 from deep in the first half in Game 2. They were getting into the paint and kicking it out to shooters in the corners. Those are the 3s the Sixes do not want to allow.
“There’s certain 3s that we don’t want to give up,” Rivers added. “We gave up six more corner 3s. Those are the ones. We want to take away as many as those as possible, but other than that, defensively, we were pretty good. I think offensively, we were not very good and we have to be good offensively.”
After the Nets shot only 29 3s in Game 1, the Sixes were aware they planned on shooting more in Game 2. They were able to limit the number of good 3-pointers the Nets wanted in order to come away with a 2-0 series lead.
“We knew that they were gonna try to shoot more 3s because 3s can beat you,” added Tyrese Maxey. “We did an OK job of taking them away. We got to do a better job of taking them away. I think in the second half, we did a better job of taking them away. In the first half they got a lot of corner 3s and that was one of our emphasis coming into the series.”
As long as Philadelphia limits the good 3-pointers the Nets want to generate, they will be in good shape. Game 3 of this series is on Thursday from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
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