Nets: Why is Brooklyn playing worse against bad teams?

The Nets have a nasty habit of playing down to subpar competition.

The debut of the star-studded Brooklyn Nets trio consisting of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden was spoiled by the Cleveland Cavaliers and a tremendous performance by Collin Sexton in the two overtime periods. Brooklyn’s loss continued a worrying trend for Steve Nash, as the Nets don’t have the same bite against teams that aren’t considered contenders.

Against teams who made the playoffs last season, the Nets are a perfect 6-0. Against teams like Sexton’s Cavs that missed the playoffs last year, the Nets are 3-7, with losses to the Hawks, Wizards, Thunder, and Grizzlies mixed into the equation.

Brooklyn has a few issues with regards to their style of play, and two of them are preventing them from dominating.

The lack of bench scoring and defense is dooming the Nets

Both with and without Harden, the Nets have shown that they are increasingly willing to just run a million pick-and-roll plays per game while letting Durant and Irving create something out of nothing. While a high-reward strategy, it’s certainly high risk, as their 17 turnovers per game in losses shows what can happen when hero ball becomes the backbone of their offensive philosophy.

Their inability to get stops against weaker teams, many of whom don’t have a true No. 1 go-to option that Brooklyn can focus all of their defensive attention on late in games, has also made it difficult to win. In fact, most of their wins against “good” teams have come down to the wire, with one member of their dynamic offensive trio usually saving the day with a clutch basket.

That style of play is entertaining and somewhat successful, but it’s certainly not sustainable.

It’s impossible to quantify things like effort, a desire to take over a game, and trust in teammates, but Brooklyn’s strategy of letting their stars take over hasn’t always helped them pick up wins against some of the more high-variance teams in the league. Brooklyn’s problems with playing down to competition will only be erased when they make a few signings to fill out their bench and put a greater emphasis on defense.

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