Pat Riley used to say no rebounds, no rings. The Nets are finding out no rebounds, no wins.
They have successfully run foes off the 3-point line (allowing the fewest in the NBA) and lured them into low-value mid-range shots (most in the league). But what the Nets can’t seem to buy is a defensive rebound when they need one.
“They’re getting to the rim too much. Part of that’s offensive rebounding: When you’re getting offensive rebounds, you’re getting rim shots,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We’re defending drives well, close-out defense is good, our one-on-one iso defense is good; [but] our rebounds are a big part of that.
“The big two issues with our defense are defensive rebounding and we’re putting teams on the free-throw line too much. … We’re making teams miss: Great job, Nets. Now, can we not foul and finish with rebounds. I told the guys I haven’t been a good rebounding coach. I have to do a better job, to find a better way of helping our guys get the boards.”
The Nets’ defensive-rebound percentage is 28th in the NBA, directly leading to them being 29th in second-chance points allowed.
“The two big things are not letting the other team shoot twice as many free throws — that’s probably not a good recipe for success — and then finishing possessions, because then they also end up shooting 10 or 15 more actual field-goal attempts than us,” guard Spencer Dinwiddie said.
“If we don’t finish the possession with a rebound, it doesn’t matter how good our defense because it’s just the law of averages. You give a good team 10 to 15 more field-goal attempts and you give them twice as many free throws, even, as we saw, hot shooting can’t prevail against that.”
They saw that in Sunday’s heartbreaking loss to the Sixers, when they led by 13 with 5:38 left, and 125-124 with just 26.8 seconds to play. They forced a J.J. Redick miss, but gave up an offensive rebound and Jimmy Butler beat them with 2.3 seconds left.
“We looked at the numbers [Tuesday] and just where we are,” guard Joe Harris said. “We do a great job of preventing 3s and limiting teams to shooting a lower percentage. … But you’ve got to be able to finish off good defensive possessions with rebounding, and we’re towards the bottom in all the defensive-rebounding categories.”
“That’s definitely a point of emphasis for us, and we did some rebounding stuff [Tuesday]. But it’s something we all have to be cognizant of, making sure that we’re hitting our man, keeping your guy off the glass, and then gang rebounding, five guys coming back to the ball each time and not having guys leaking out. Everybody’s got to come back and secure the ball.”