Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from first win over Spurs since 2014
By Phil Watson
3. Defense shuts down NBA’s best 3-point shooting club
The San Antonio Spurs entered Monday’s game as the top 3-point shooting team in the NBA at 40.4 percent, even though the Spurs don’t take many, ranking 29th in the NBA at 25.1 attempts per game entering the game against the Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets answered the call defensively, holding San Antonio to its worst 3-point shooting night of the season at 4-for-24 (16.7 percent). The Spurs’ previous low mark came on Oct. 27 against the Los Angeles Lakers, when they were 3-for-16 (18.8 percent).
Brooklyn was solid in both their man and zone defensive looks of getting out to shooters and allowing few uncontested looks from long range.
The Nets weren’t bad inside the arc, either. San Antonio shot 36.5 percent overall (35-for-96), their third-worst shooting night of the season. The Spurs shot 33 percent in a Nov. 7 loss to the Miami Heat and 36.1 percent in a Jan. 9 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
About the only area where coach Kenny Atkinson and his staff might have some issues was on the defensive backboard, where the Spurs picked up 10 offensive rebounds, five by Jakob Poeltl and four from LaMarcus Aldridge, and turned those into 10 second-chance points.
It could have been worse, but Poeltl was 0-for-7 from the floor on the night.
San Antonio got more than half its scoring — 49 points — from the combination of Aldridge (26) and DeMar DeRozan (23), who combined to hit 21-of-35 (60 percent). The rest of the Spurs were a combined 14-for-61 (23 percent).
San Antonio’s 85 points was a season low, one point less than the 86 they had at Memphis last month.
Brooklyn entered play Monday ranked 21st in the NBA in scoring defense, allowing 112.8 points per game, and 17th in defensive rating, surrendering 109.9 points per 100 possessions.
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So the Nets’ defensive performance against the Spurs bodes very well for a team entering the final 20 games of the season with their first playoff berth in four years and the franchise’s first winning record in five seasons within its grasp.