If the Nets are going to go anyplace within the postseason, one space clearly wants enhancing — and it was on full show Thursday of their loss to the Kings.
“We talked about it the opposite day,’’ head coach Jacque Vaughn stated. “I feel we have been twenty sixth [in the league in defensive boxouts]. We are able to’t be in that 20 vary.”
They’re really twenty seventh — permitting a whopping 11.5 offensive rebounds per sport — and Thursday was even worse, with Sacramento grabbing 13 offensive boards.
And whereas Vaughn and the Nets gave credit score to Kings star Domantas Sabonis, who had 21 rebounds, they have been much more vital of their very own effort.
“Each man has to crash,’’ Vaughn stated. “When you’re not touching any person, then you definately’re fallacious. When you’re not serving to your teammate, then you definately’re fallacious.”
The offensive rebound disparity had a obtrusive affect Thursday, as Sacramento outscored the Nets 16-0 on second-chance factors.
And the Nets’ subsequent opponent — the Nuggets, at Barclays Heart on Sunday — received’t be any simpler.
The Nets scored a slender win at Denver final Sunday however have been outrebounded, 49-28, together with 15-4 on the offensive finish.
As with Sacramento, they’ll should take care of one other dominant massive man in Nikola Jokic, who had 20 rebounds final Sunday.
Cam Johnson stated the Nets are nicely conscious of what they should do.
“The subsequent staff we’ve received has one other man that desires to get 20 rebounds,’’ Johnson stated. “We’ve received to crash [the boards] and put an actual emphasis on it.”
It’s one thing that wasn’t seen on Thursday — or, at occasions, in a loss at Oklahoma Metropolis on Tuesday.
“I feel all 5 guys must do a greater job of taking part,’’ Nic Claxton stated. “We’ve all received to verify we’re hitting any person. It may’t simply be two guys. It must be a five-man effort.”
The arrival of 7-foot-2 middle Moses Brown, signed to a 10-day contract on Friday, might assistance on that entrance, however that received’t be sufficient by itself.
And with only a slim lead over the Warmth for sixth place within the Jap Convention — all of the extra vital now due to the postseason’s play-in spherical — the Nets have little margin for error.
After Denver arrives on Sunday, the Nets have house video games towards the Cavaliers on Tuesday and Thursday as a part of an arduous a part of the schedule.
Ben Simmons stays out indefinitely with soreness in his again and neck.
Though Vaughn stated the staff remains to be working underneath the idea the 6-foot-11 Simmons could also be again, the fact is there are simply 12 video games remaining within the common season and Simmons hasn’t performed in additional than a month.
Simmons’ absence, coupled with the commerce of Kevin Durant on the deadline, has left the Nets undersized.
They’ve survived by taking part in “scrappy, gutty and soiled” as Johnson stated following the loss to the Thunder.
However they adopted that up with a less-than-stellar effort Thursday, after which Mikal Bridges stated the Kings “performed more durable than us.”
The Nets received’t survive if that is still the case, and so they have little time to alter issues earlier than their subsequent check.
