Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn mentioned Joel Embiid’s measurement and power may pressure him to go deeper into his rotation — which suggests there could also be an surprising face or two taking the court docket in Brooklyn’s upcoming first-round playoff sequence towards the Philadelphia 76ers.
Welcome to the second installment of Nets Playoff Intel, and the duty at hand for Vaughn and his teaching employees is to piece collectively the five-man lineups that give Brooklyn the perfect shot to win.
It’s a job simpler mentioned than achieved. Twelve Nets gamers are veterans with playoff expertise — after which there’s a wild card: second-year guard Cam Thomas, who has 4 40-point video games within the second half of the season however has been on the tail finish of Vaughn’s rotation.
“It’s going to be interesting. This is such a team where Embiid proposes such a challenge for us,” Vaughn mentioned when requested if he’d preserve his rotation restricted to eight or 9 gamers coming into the playoffs. “The best thing about this group is you try to keep them locked in and ready for when their number is called. Usually, you do trim your rotation going into the playoffs. No secret about that, but we’ll be in a position where I think guys who haven’t played will have an impact in this series.”
If you wish to get a way of who’ll see heavy minutes in Game 1, look no additional than the handful of video games the Nets needed to win to solidify their playoff standing within the final leg of the common season.
The most essential of these video games have been Brooklyn’s March 31 124-107 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, adopted by the next one-point victory over the Utah Jazz on April 2.
Vaughn’s rotations appeared related in each of these video games: Four of the 5 starters — Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges and Spencer Dinwiddie — logged 32 or extra minutes, whereas minutes on the 4 have been cut up between Dorian Finney-Smith and backup ahead Royce O’Neale. In truth, O’Neale logged extra minutes off the bench within the victory over the Hawks, whereas Finney-Smith performed a bigger share of the minutes three nights later towards the Jazz.
Sharpshooter Joe Harris can be historically certainly one of Vaughn’s earlier substitutions, as is reserve guard Seth Curry. Those are the eight mainstays in Vaughn’s rotation.
It’s no secret, nonetheless, that Embiid’s capability to make use of his measurement and power to attract fouls may pressure Vaughn deeper into his rotation. That means we may see second-year huge man Day’Ron Sharpe draw an Embiid task for a couple of possessions at a time. Sharpe has earned Vaughn’s belief and performed vital backup middle minutes over the ultimate month-plus of the common season.
Vaughn inadvertently hinted that Sharpe may very well be a part of the rotation when requested concerning the wealth of playoff expertise on his deep veteran staff. It’s another excuse why these battle-tested gamers need to be locked-in, even when they’re not penciled into the rotation on a given evening.
“I discussed this with the group the other day, and I used the example: I said, ‘Patty Mills, you’ve won this whole thing. You’re going to have to help Day’Ron Sharpe out in a game, his preparation. If he’s going to play in this series, you’ve got to help him out’,” Vaughn mentioned. “We’ve got guys that played in series finals. Help a teammate out; whether that is how they organize their ticket requests to little things like that, and how they mentally and physically get themselves ready — whether that’s social media or no social media. So being able to help each other out; definitely ask this group to do that with each other.”
The Nets are deep elsewhere on the roster. Vaughn has leaned on Yuta Watanabe at instances all through the common season, and Watanabe appeared in 4 playoff video games for the Toronto Raptors final season, albeit in small minutes. Mills has been on the surface of the rotation, however he gained an NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs within the 2013-14 season and led Team Australia’s mens nationwide basketball staff to a bronze medal within the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
“That experience goes a long way,” O’Neale mentioned. “Patty, he’s the ultimate champion, and that’s what we all want to be.”
Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith went to the Western Conference Finals with Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks final season, and O’Neale was a part of a Utah Jazz staff that was a perennial playoff contender constructed round Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.
Not to say Bridges and Johnson went to the NBA Finals with the Phoenix Suns and misplaced, 4-2, to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Bridges mentioned the largest factor he realized from the Suns’ failed championship run was to talk his thoughts.
“Feel something, talk about it: You don’t want to be two months later sitting at home watching or saying like ‘We should have done this, should have done that,’” he mentioned. “If you feel a certain way talk to the coaches, talk to the guys and go from there. I think just holding back — it’s not the time to hold back. If you a feel a certain type of way about something, it’s gut check time now.”
And then, after all, there are two wild playing cards: Vaughn has trusted Edmond Sumner in vital minutes this season — and Sumner has delivered — and Thomas’ particular person scoring talents can’t be ignored.
Thomas scored 46 factors in 43 minutes in Brooklyn’s season finale towards Philadelphia in a sport each groups rested their core gamers. The Nets misplaced that sport, 134-105, an embodiment of why Vaughn has opted to go along with Curry as his first guard off the bench extra typically than Thomas.
“I wish the score was 134 Brooklyn Nets, 105 Philadelphia. I think that part helps. The goal is you win as a team. So 46 points is great, but we end up losing by 30. So you’ve got to attach those together,” Vaughn mentioned after the finale. “How do you marry the 29 shots to being a productive teammate where you might not get that amount of shots in a typical game? That’s the question. So can you harness and take that ability and be able to do it in the shorter amount of time? In a more efficient time? And in a setting that it benefits the entire team? That’s the challenge.”
The Nets don’t have a lot of a selection however to lean on their depth. The Sixers have the robust edge within the expertise class. All indications level to Embiid profitable his first Most Valuable Player award this season, and he’s merely the pinnacle of the snake: The Sixers have gained video games with the offense operating by way of James Harden, Tyrese Maxey or Tobias Harris this season.
The Nets are hanging their hat, nonetheless, on the truth that they have been capable of safe a assured playoff seed with out a superstar-caliber participant, whereas 4 different groups with A-list stars had battle to the end within the East’s play-in event.
“Our biggest thing is just playing for each other, playing for one another,” mentioned Bridges. “We have all the confidence in the world in everybody out there. Whatever five is out there and we got to play together and play hard and play for the whole 48.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com