Hyde and seek

Nets want to see more of Crabbe’s aggressive side

The Nets have seen enough of Allen Crabbe.

But they’re hoping to see more of “AC.” A lot more.

The Nets brought Crabbe in to be an elite shooter, but he has struggled much of the first half of the season. That’s the timid and tentative player Spencer Dinwiddie calls “Allen.” But the ruthless scorer who poured in 62 points over the past two games? That’s the guy the Nets need. That’s AC.

“We finally saw AC [Wednesday in Detroit], and then we saw AC again [Saturday]. And we’re hoping that we continue to see AC and we don’t see Allen again,” Dinwiddie said.

Crabbe appreciates the motivation Dinwiddie is providing.

“He always jokes with me. When I don’t have the good games, he says I play like Allen, and when I’m aggressive and doing what I need to be doing he says I’m playing like AC. That’s just our little trash-talk to each other,” Crabbe said. “He’ll tell me [in the] back of the plane, ‘You just played like Allen.’ It’s good, though. I want people to tell me that I can give more and I can do more. That’s how it is.”

The Nets, who host the Clippers on Monday, have needed Crabbe to give more. They need a little less Jekyll and a lot more Hyde, a little less David Banner and a whole heap more Hulk. But the task of prying that out of the 25-year-old Crabbe is what they took on when they dealt for him and the three years and $56.3 million left on his contract.

“That’s what we have to do,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “That’s my job, it’s the coaching staff. I think we have to encourage it, show him film. It’s a different role for him. He’s a fit-in guy, he’s a team guy, he wants to make the right, perfect play all the time. We just need him to go out, be more of a risk-taker out there.”

After finishing second in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage last season (44.4 percent), he hadn’t shot well since joining the Nets — a modest 36.1 percent so far. But in his past two games, he’s poured in 62 points and made 14-of-32 from deep.

“That’s the Crabbe we expect to see,” DeMarre Carroll said. “We have to just keep trying to feed him, build his confidence.”

Crabbe said he knows the way he played the past two games is what’s ex- pected of him.

“Should’ve been playing like this from Day 1,” Crabbe said. “It’s just something new. … The last two games, not playing with a conscience, not thinking, just go out there and hoop.”

After a career-high 34 points in Detroit, Crabbe had 28 and a career-high tying eight 3s Saturday.

“From Minute 1 he was aggressive,” Atkinson said. “He took a few bad shots, but we need him to be that aggressive. His defense came along with that. He competed his tail off, which we’re really happy with. Maybe that Detroit game sparked him, because he was the same guy [Saturday]. Sometimes guys revert back to being passive, but he [didn’t].”

Crabbe admits that aggression level hasn’t come naturally to him. Well, it hasn’t come naturally to Allen. But he knows the Nets paid for — and committed to — AC.

“Honestly, I’d say that,” said Crabbe, who is paid more than All-Stars DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and Klay Thompson. “All the guys that get big numbers every night, those are guys that don’t have a conscience. That’s what I have to work towards.”