'O', THAT HURTS
Missed shots keep Nets in rut
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — When Lionel Hollins was asked if he was surprised, more than two months into his first season with the Nets, that his team’s offense was lagging far behind its defense, his frustration was evident in his voice as he answered.
“Yes,” Hollins said. “That was the one thing … I thought that it was a good shooting team, and it could be a good offensive team, and we just had to shore up the defense.
“But guys haven’t made shots, and we’ve had injuries to people we’ve counted on to score, so … yes.
When you consider that answer came before the Nets lost to the lowly 76ers at home Friday night, you can only imagine where his frustration level was afterward.
The surprising thing would be if Hollins wasn’t frustrated about his team’s offensive woes at this point. In all of the confounding things about this Nets season— and at this point, those are piling up as fast as the losses— why this team is struggling so mightily to score is the runaway number one topic of discussion.
When Hollins, a coach with a sterling defensive record from his time in Memphis, was hired by the Nets to replace Jason Kidd this summer, the move made sense. The Nets seemed long on offense and short on defense — which was backed up by their rankings, 14th in offensive and 19th in defensive efficiency last season, per NBA.com — and if Hollins could help the defense Nets match the offense, the Nets felt they could at least match, if not exceed, their win total from last season.
Though Hollins has more than done what he needed — the Nets rank 11th in the NBA in defensive efficiency this season entering Saturday night — the Nets simply can’t score.
Whether you look at the advanced metrics — they rank 24th in offensive efficiency — or standard ones — they rank 19th in field goal percentage and 24th in 3point percentage — they all tell the same story: The Nets aren’t getting the job done offensively. And, because of it, they rode a fourgame losing streak into Saturday night’s game against the Pistons.
And, by the eye test, a lot of it seems to come down to the Nets simply missing wide open shots. Sure, there are other problems — the team’s lack of athleticism has left it prone to their offense going cold, like it did late in Friday’s loss to Philadelphia, and injuries to Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, in particular, have kept both of them from gaining a consistent rhythm this season — but the Nets seem to get plenty of open looks and, when they lose, they miss a lot of them.
For anyone who thinks it’s because the Nets still are trying to get adjusted to the offense Hollins wants them to run, he quickly put that idea to rest.
“What concepts? Pick and roll. Simple. Stand over there, stand over there, run pick and roll, come up behind, get the open shot and make it. It’s as simple as that.
“It’s not like we have some complicated offense that nobody has ever seen before. It’s about making shots. That’s what professionals do.”
It’s not what the Nets have been doing nearly enough of this season. And, with a schedule featuring 13 of the next 16 games against playoff teams following Saturday’s game in Detroit, if they don’t start doing so quickly their season could quickly go off the rails.