Hustle-free Nets crushed by Pacers
Giants must decide if they want to give up what it will take to move up for a top QB
The way things were going about 18 or so minutes into Monday’s game inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, it would not have been too surprising if the Indiana Pacers hung 100 points on the Nets in the first half alone.
It was, again, that bad for Brooklyn in its 133-111 loss. Little hustle. Minimum communication. Uninspired defense. It did not matter if the Pacers’ attack came in the paint, in transition or from behind the arc. Indiana got just about whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted, and there was nothing the Nets could do about it.
Weird things can happen in the second game of a back-to-back set. Brooklyn had a game one night prior inside Barclays Center — a 116-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers — where they trailed 15-0 four minutes in and were ultimately outscored 31-11 in the first quarter.
They trailed by as many as 26 points on Sunday and never led. And LeBron James had one of his best games of the season, finishing with 40 points and nine 3-pointers.
It is not supposed to get worse than that. Teams are supposed to showcase pride after an embarrassing loss like that. Yet somehow the Nets were seemingly not ready to play again on Monday night and were run out of Gainbridge Fieldhouse accordingly.
After scoring the first four points of the game, courtesy of Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas, the Pacers responded with a 15-0 run before Dorian Finney-Smith finally stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer. Brooklyn allowed a 17-0 run to open Sunday’s game against the Lakers.
The Nets’ transition defense was laughable. They could not protect the paint or defend the 3-point line.
Indiana had 10 fastbreak points in the first quarter, six treys and they went 12-for-16 on two-point attempts. It all added up to a 43-27 deficit for Brooklyn after one quarter of play. Pacers All-Star Tyrese scored 14 of his game-high 27 points in his first nine minutes on the court.
And it did not get much better. The Nets were trailed 29 points at one point in the second quarter and were down by as many as 36 points in the third. Indiana, which shot 51.5% from the field and 41.9% from deep in its 43rd win of the season, eclipsed the 100-point plateau with 3:08 left in the third quarter.
And the Pacers kept pouring it on in the final frame. They finished with 70 points in the paint and 23 fastbreak points. They also forced 15 turnovers and they attempted 17 more shots than Brooklyn.
The Nets fell to 29-47 this season with their second loss in two days. They now trail the 10th-place Atlanta Hawks by six games for the final Play-In Tournament spot in the Eastern Conference. They have just six regular-season games left and will welcome this same Pacers team to Barclays Center on Wednesday.
Thomas finished with a teamhigh 22 points for Brooklyn and Trendon Watford added 21 points in 34 minutes. Jalen Smith, who was ejected in the third quarter after a scuffle with Dennis Schröder on the baseline, was Indiana’s second-leading scorer with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Cam Johnson (left big toe sprain – injury maintenance) and Dennis Smith Jr. (right hip soreness) did not play in Monday’s loss. Speaking to reporters ahead of the game, interim head coach Kevin Ollie said it was too early to tell if they will be available on Wednesday.
The time for a blockbuster trade at the top of the NFL Draft is getting closer. Whether the Giants plan to participate in one of those deals remains to be seen. The exciting part about Joe Schoen being the team’s GM, though, is that he is the type of thorough operator who will make those phone calls. He will entertain those scenarios.
He has the confidence to swing big if he believes it will land him the player he covets.
In this case, a trade up would mean a move to go get a quarterback. And Schoen said at the NFL Owners Meetings that from his vantage point, all of the top three teams are still open to having a conversation with prospective trade partners.
“Nobody is slamming the door,” Schoen said of the Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders and New England Patriots, respectively. “Everybody is going to listen. I think No. 1 through No. 3, those teams all traded quarterbacks, and there’s a narrative out there that they may take a quarterback. So we’ll see.”
Schoen fascinatingly tried to distance himself from the quarterback hype, it seemed, by pushing back against the noise and speculation about the Giants’ plans for the No. 6 overall pick.
“Some of the noise that’s out there, we don’t even – I don’t know where some of it comes from,” Schoen said. “It’s just all – a lot of it’s not true. Anything that’s out there. There are very few people that know what we’re thinking or what direction we’re going. Anything that is out there is likely not true.”
He insisted the Giants are “looking at every scenario,” including trading back.
“We can go either way,” he said. “We can go up. We can go back… There’s a lot of strategy involved… I think [Chargers coach] Jim Harbaugh said it today: If quarterbacks go Nos. 1 through 4, at 5 they’re getting the best non-quarterback position player in the draft, and we’re in a good position at 6.
“So, I think there’s going to be a good player there,” he added. “We’ll look at all options, whether it’s going up, back, staying. Ultimately, I think we’ll end up with a good player.”
Still, the Giants are behaving like a team that is keen on drafting a QB.
John Mara said “they tell me it’s the most talented [quarterback] group to come out in years.” The co-owner endorsed picking a QB at the top of the draft if Schoen and Brian Daboll wish.
And the Giants are expending significant resources on taking close looks at all of the top passers.
That included a private J.J. McCarthy workout that sources said went well at Michigan on Easter Sunday, a trip to Jayden Daniels’ LSU pro day, a meaningful Washington visit with Michael Penix Jr., and plans for a workout with
North Carolina’s
Drake Maye.
Teams do not go through this kind of process to create a smokescreen.
They do it because they have a need and interest at the sport’s most important position.
It is unfortunately possible that the Giants’ handful of wins late last season might have pushed them out of striking distance for the quarterbacks they prefer when it’s all said and done. Unless they’re eyeing Penix at No. 47 overall in the second round.
But that can’t prevent the Giants from doing their homework, ranking their preferences and poking around with other teams. Because as Schoen outlined, the college pro day circuit is only just now wrapping up.
So most teams aren’t completing their evaluations until these first few weeks of April on the draft’s doorstep. That means most GMs are still weighing their options and listening.
“If you are going to go up for that position in particular, you need to be around them,” Schoen said of the quarterbacks. “I think a lot of the teams are going through, especially in the top three, a process of getting around these kids… I think if anything is going to happen up there, that will start happening probably over the next couple of weeks. But I think closer to the draft, that’s probably when something will definitely happen, if those teams are going to move.”
And yet, it is difficult to envision the Bears, Commanders or Patriots moving down.
Chicago is a “slam dunk” to draft USC quarterback Caleb Williams at No. 1, one NFL coach believed on Monday, after trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s a shame for the Giants, considering how closely Schoen was on Williams’ scouting trail last fall.
Washington dealt young QB Sam Howell to Seattle and has a gaping hole on its depth chart alongside veteran signing Marcus Mariota with new GM Adam Peters, coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury poised to reset with their own guy.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said after trading Mac Jones and signing veteran Jacoby Brissett, “one way or another, I’d like to see us get a top-rate young quarterback” in this draft.
Maybe that means Schoen will be shut out of the top three. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t slide up to No. 4 with Arizona or flip to No. 5 with the Chargers, though, to protect his turf if his preferred passer is still on the board.
The Minnesota Vikings are viewed as a possible threat to charge ahead of the Giants’ pick from No. 11 overall after acquiring No. 23, as well, in a trade with the Houston Texans. The Denver Broncos at No. 12 and Las Vegas Raiders at No. 13 are also sniffing around QBs.
Schoen already traded away the No. 39 overall pick in this year’s second round for Panthers pass rusher Brian Burns. That eliminated a key possible trade chip in a move up for a QB, if he were planning on trading up to No. 3 with the Patriots, for example – like the Jets’ 2018 trade of three second-round picks to make the same move for Sam Darnold.
But in 2017, for example, the
Chicago Bears traded up one spot from No. 3 overall to No. 2 to take quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. They gave the San Francisco 49ers their No. 3 pick, a third and fourth-rounder in that same draft and a future third in 2018, as well.
That’s a price the Giants could stomach. It wouldn’t empty the vault like last year’s embarrassing Carolina Panthers move up from No. 9 to No. 1 with Chicago to take Alabama QB Bryce Young No. 1 overall:
The Panthers traded the No. 9 overall pick, the No. 61 pick in the second round, this year’s first-round pick, next year’s second-rounder and wide receiver D.J. Moore. They U later fired their coach and GM. ltimately, Schoen could take a wide receiver or an offensive lineman at No. 6. Or maybe he will trade back. After all, remember, he said very few people know what he’s thinking. And any information out there is “likely not true.”
But make no mistake: Schoen and the Giants have spent an enormous amount of time and resources on the top quarterbacks of this draft. And they are behaving like a team that intends to select one.
The question seems to be what lengths they will go – or even can go – to get their man.