Nash ‘proud’ of work on ‘D’

Despite opening the season Tuesday vs. Golden State in an empty Barclays Center, the Nets aren’t letting the COVID-19 pandemic, or weird year it has wrought, derail their NBA Finals aspirations. They still need championship focus, including learning to play title-worthy defense.

Those championship aspirations may rest on ingraining a more aggressive defense. They played a conservative style under Kenny Atkinson, but interim coach Jacque Vaughn deployed a more disruptive scheme in the Orlando bubble. Despite inconsistent results, Steve Nash feels it’s bettersuited to beat playoff-level foes and plans to keep that style with Vaughn as his de facto defensive coordinator.

“If you talk to the coaches, it’s like ‘ We want to put in the defense that wins playoffs.’ There are certain defenses that you can get through the regular season with, but when it comes down to the last couple of people, you want to be able to have a defensive scheme that stops them,” said Jarrett Allen. “So, that’s what we’re really trying to implement and the pace that we’re going at.”

Installing that has been Nash’s focus in camp, with practice time expected to be scarce once this condensed five-month season gets underway.

“I’ve been proud of the way they’ve competed defensively, lot of good things, but a long way to go, as you’d expect. What’ve we had, 10, 11 practices?” Nash asked rhetorically. “That’s something that’s going to be a journey defensively all season to continue to climb and be the best defensive team we can be.”

➤ Golden State’s Draymond Green is doubtful with a muscle strain in his right foot. His spat with Kevin Durant hastened the latter’s move to Brooklyn.