Kevin Durant must be at house smiling.
The Nets had each cause to lose to a loaded Golden State Warriors group on Sunday night time. They needed to overcome a number of double-digit deficits. They needed to overcome Golden State deliberately fouling their worst free throw shooter. They, in fact, are nonetheless with out Durant, the muse of their whole offense who’s out with a sprained MCL.
And but they the Nets nonetheless got here away with a 120-116 victory, their second in a row after dropping 4 straight following Durant’s harm.
It was arguably Brooklyn’s finest win of the season.
After scoring a season-high 48 factors within the win towards the Utah Jazz, Kyrie Irving completed with 38 factors on 12-of-22 capturing from the sector and five-of-seven capturing from downtown. Irving additionally tallied 9 assists and 7 rebounds. For the primary time in his profession, he has posted three straight video games of 30 factors, 5 assists and 5 rebounds.
At some level, nonetheless, Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons are going to should hit free throws underneath stress.
The Golden State Warriors made clear they had been going to take advantage of certainly one of Brooklyn’s greatest weaknesses in Sunday’s showdown between two championship hopefuls. Two of the Nets’ key starters are terrible free throw shooters and certainly one of them grew to become a legal responsibility early towards the Warriors on Sunday.
The Warriors repeatedly despatched Claxton to the road as they constructed a second-quarter lead that ballooned as giant as 17. They continued to Hack-a-Clax when the Nets wiped the that lead away with a 19-5 run within the third quarter and returned to the method late within the fourth quarter till the two-minute mark, the place it turns into unlawful to deliberately foul a participant who doesn’t have the ball.
It’s a wise recreation plan — even when the Nets hate it.
Because for all his strides as a participant on each ends of the ground, Claxton’s regression as a free throw shooter has been notable. After breaking Shaquille O’Neale’s file of 10 straight missed free throws earlier than the primary make in Game 4 of final season’s playoff sweep towards Boston, Brooklyn’s beginning middle is capturing 11% worse from the foul line. He began Sunday night time one-of-six from the charity stripe earlier than hitting three in a row within the fourth quarter to complete 6-of-15 from the road.
And when the Nets reduce Golden State’s 13-point fourth-quarter lead down to only 5 with underneath 4 minutes left within the fourth quarter, the Warriors hacked Claxton once more. He missed each free throws. Head coach Jacque Vaughn determined to depart his beginning middle within the recreation yet another possession earlier than subbing Yuta Watanabe in till after the two-minute mark.
It’s crippling given Claxton’s significance each offensively and defensively, much more so with Durant out of the rotation. He is an elite shot blocker, perimeter defender and finisher on the rim — however opposing groups can deliberately foul him to ship him to the road, the place he struggles probably the most.
Last season, Claxton shot 58% from the road. This season, he’s capturing 47% — and that common declined on Sunday.
Simmons struggles simply as a lot from the road, although he solely averages 1.5 makes an attempt per recreation. He averaged 60% from the road in every of his first 4 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers however is simply capturing 43% from the road in Brooklyn this 12 months.
Simmons, nonetheless, was not the precedence for the Warriors to hack on Sunday.
Maybe the Nets can view this as a badge of honor — that the Warriors needed to resort to fouling their worst free throw shooter as a result of taking part in straight-up was an excellent recreation.
Claxton stated postgame the Warriors didn’t take the Nets critically as a result of Durant wasn’t on the ground. The Nets are proving they’re studying easy methods to win video games when their chief isn’t obtainable.
It’s all Durant ever needed final season. Maybe these Nets aren’t the identical as final 12 months’s in spite of everything.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com