Brooklyn Nets: Is Andre Drummond’s dominance really cause for Joel Embiid concern?
By Mike Luciano
The Brooklyn Nets might’ve been taking on a Los Angeles Lakers team that was playing without LeBron James and Anthony Davis on Saturday, but that didn’t stop Andre Drummond from absolutely demolishing their front court in a dominant win.
With DeAndre Jordan out of the rotation after the Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge signings, the Nets looked overwhelmed against Drummond, who totaled 20 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.
While this game doesn’t mean a ton in the long run for the Nets, as Kevin Durant is coming off an injury, James Harden didn’t play, and Kyrie Irving was ejected far too early, that hasn’t stopped questions about Brooklyn’s ability to fend off Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers from reaching the national spotlight.
The Nets will certainly need to address some deficiencies in their defense before they take on Embiid, but one bad game doesn’t mean that the Nets need to be taken out of the title contenders tier in the East.
If *Andre Drummond* is having his way with the non-existent Nets front court defense, can someone please explain to me how they’re expected to beat Giannis in Round 2, Embiid in Round 3 & then AD in the Finals?
— nick wright (@getnickwright) April 11, 2021
I’d love to hear it.
How concerned should the Brooklyn Nets be about Andre Drummond’s dominance?
Embiid will assuredly cause the Nets problems. He’s an MVP candidate, he causes problems for everyone. Brooklyn’s interior defense might not be as good as Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets, but they aren’t as poor as they looked last night. Keep in mind that this team came into last night as one of the better defensive teams in the league since their loss against the Wizards.
The only concern Brooklyn should have is the fact that their win against Philadelphia came with Jarrett Allen defending Embiid in the pre-Harden trade timeframe. Jordan had some struggles against Embiid when Philly beat them in their second matchup, but he wasn’t as objectively awful as some opposing bigs have been in the superstar’s wake.
Brooklyn has limited Embiid to 26.0 points per game. Only the Toronto Raptors have held Embiid to a lower scoring average among teams that have played Philly multiple times.
Embiid’s physicality and mobility will cause an aging front court led by Aldridge to struggle to some degree, as defensive ace Nicolas Claxton is far too skinny to keep Embiid in check for an entire game. Even if Jordan makes a return to the rotation, the Nets will only be able to do so much. Luckily, they have three not-so-secret weapons on the offensive end to counteract that.
At the end of the day, Drummond is a double-double machine, and he took advantage of Aldridge in a game that had stars on both respective teams either out entirely or ejected in the middle of the game. Drawing conclusions about summertime basketball or a potential 76ers matchup in early April is a fruitless exercise.
