Adam takes a look at the key matchups that will determine the first round playoff series with the 76ers.
Although the Nets have several players with defensive versatility, the post-trade era has seen multiple 40-point defensive quarters and familiar rebounding issues.
In spite of the longest odds in the playoff bracket, Brooklyn will look to hit their stride next Saturday night.
@Brooklyn Nets
7 Comments
Embiid is pretty much going to have his way no matter what you do. We can however, make life difficult for Harden and Maxey. We have the defensive guys to do that. Philly can hit 3s pretty well…we can’t let them get too many good looks. And as you mentioned Adam, we need to make shots. Our shooting percentages have to be decent for us to be competitive.
In order to beat Philly, I think the Nets must make Embiid uncomfortable and force him to become a play maker. In addition, we must play our best perimeter defense to limit the three point percentage of guys like Harden, Maxey, and Tucker.
The thing with Curry is his +/- from what I see is with the starters and Cam's +/- is usually with bench players, I could be wrong though. If Curry isn't hitting he will be stinking up the court and if Jacque stays stubborn and tries to trust Curry then we lose by 20+. Cherry-picking here but Curry also has sloppy fouls that lead to easy and-ones, see mostly from Joe Harris, Cam Thomas, but Seth Curry especially does this.
Only way nets win is if the nets just let embiid get his #'s and be a total monster while shutting down the perimeter and hitting every 3 they take.
That sounds like a dream scenario for Nick Claxton and when he wakes up and see that 7 ft 2 close to 300 pound monster that can do everything on both ends it’s over.
I think so. Let's go CLAX!
While I also dont trust Curry because of his D' but if you deduct his initial appearance in playoffs w/ Portland(still had a 40.4 3P%), his Career Playoff shooting splits is 57.7 FG% – 50.4 3P% – .815 FT% & 16.4pts/game. Curry has a .927 FT% this yr.