GT: Nets @ Cavs-Friday 1-22 7:30 The Big Payback

[MrDollarBills]

This is not a championship roster.

[Papi_swav]

I couldn't watch but how the heck did we lose to the Cavs again ?

[Hello Brooklyn]

Here is who I think is to blame right now:

1. Sean Marks. This off season was a disaster as far as I'm concerned. We all saw the pressing need for defensive wings. Instead of keeping Bey who looks good so far, we trade for Shamet. This roster was already full of guards! Then after that we sign Tyler Johnson who isn't even playing.

We didn't use our MLE or make any serious effort to sign defensive wing players outside Jeff Green. Why did we sign so many guards? What was the point? This problem has been exacerbated with every game KD misses.

And ever since the Harden trade we have a GAPING hole at Center. Why are we 4 games in and we still have literally nobody? The only playable Center on our roster is Deandre Jordan. We really can't find anybody that is 7 ft with a pulse to play 15 minutes and grab rebounds?

Hiring Nash was also a disaster.

2. Steve Nash. We have looked clueless all season on defense. Meanwhile Thibs has come in and transformed the Knicks into the best defense in the league. Why is there never any defensive game plan for anyone?

3. Harden. Last 2 games he has looked terrible. We gutted our roster for you and you can't even put up your usual numbers? Why is he so passive when we need him? Why does he have so many defensive breakdowns?

With all that being said, these problems are easily fixable. We need to sign some tough defensive vets and a backup C pronto, these issues will continue.

Getting defensive rotations players is not a hard thing to do.

[DarkXaero]

I couldn't watch but how the heck did we lose to the Cavs again ?

Worse defense and rebounding somehow than the previous game, and Harden playing passive af again.

[Shark]

My thoughts on the game...

All the focus on the defense, it was bad, but like the first game not why we lost. 9 turnovers in the third quarter swung the game. turnovers + second chance points allowed is killing us. thats where the majority of the offense against us comes from... at least thats where the easy shots come from

Harden needs to check himself. Ill give him a pass for the first game with the big 3... no reason he should be deferring to TLC with no KD tonight and dribbling with no purpose 100 feet from the rim. He needed to rack up 15 FTA tonight. he rarely even considered going to the rim. when bums like cedi ossman are on you that needs to be a shot at the rim every time.

Nash has refused to adjust on both ends. we continually will trail on the pick and roll and it puts us in awful spots. he refuses to switch or blitz it. only time we looked competant vs the 1-5 pick and roll is when we went zone. Offensively he refuses to run the 1-5 pick and roll and instead wastes 10 seconds every time down with the quadrouble handoff up top. Rotations are whatever fans never agree with that, but he just is stubborn with basic basketball plays.

Bruce Brown is solid, but as i said yestarday, he isnt making a big impact to team defense. no non-big really can. 1 screen and he is switched off the play or trailing. Defense will get better when we cut turnovers and nash decides to play modern basketball on D. and we get a better big.

Reggie perry is a g-league scrub, i hope people finally realize that now.

2 games vs. miami coming up. we should smash them as long as KD plays. much better matchup for us then cleveland.

GB already rapping on Kyrie when he is the only guy who actually decided to show up and play with any kind of fire tonight.

on to the next one...

100% agree on Harden. As bad as our defense/rebounding issues are, I think that if Harden plays at the level that we expect for last two games, we take both of these games. He has played incredibly passive ball where he's barely attacking and constantly defers to other players, even role players. That's not the James Harden from Houston I know. My guess is it's a conditioning issue and he's working himself into shape, and also getting acclimated to new teammates.

I kinda get Harden being passive when he's out there with Kyrie. But when he's out there with our bench players? Especially when all Nash seems to want to run is Harden ISOs? No, sorry. He's got to recognize that he has to take over when that's the case. And I felt like he did that the first two games, but these past two games against the Cavs has been awful.

Speaking of Harden ISOs, why? Just why? How do you have Harden out there with guys that can move off the ball as well as Harris, Shamet, and TLC, to an extent, and all you run are ISOs with no off ball movement. Not only are you making it easier for opposing defenses to defend those guys, you're pretty much taking all the playmaking ability that Harden has out of picture.

[ecuhus1981]

Can't defend, can't rebound. This team is a long way from being remotely Finals bound. Marks needs to address this.

We need pieces, but you can not lay this primarily at the feet of Marks.

Nash has said all the right things. He says he spent all of training camp installing and working the defense. For us to pour so much time and resources into defense, and be THIS PUTRID, says the person at the wheel is not doing enough or is not good at his craft. It just proves that coaching and playing, even at an elite level, are truly two separate enterprises. He even has possibly the most decorated staff in league history, and we still look like the worst tactical team in the league.

I'll give him props for betting heavier on icing Giannis on the perimeter more than anyone ever has, it was a ballsy bet and it paid off. Beyond that, we're out-flanked in strategy on a nightly basis.

[Stone]

• What happen to the seven second offense? Tonight we struggled to get shots off with under 10 seconds left on the clock.

• We need more than 8 points from Joe, this is back to back off games.

• DeAndre seems like he is putting in more effort, but its not enough, he really should be a back up C.

• Shamet could not get it going again tonight on offense. He brought nothing on the other end either.

• TLC started off hot and then just lost his composure and started making bonehead mistakes.

• Reggie Perry is nowhere near ready.

• This is speculation on my end.....it looks like Kyrie is not himself, he seems to be going though the motions. And Harden has a way to go to get back into NBA shape.

• I wonder if Nash has it in him to be the bad guy? Is he getting through to these guys?

Congratulations on a great win and performance Big Jay, TP and the Cavs.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Can't defend, can't rebound. This team is a long way from being remotely Finals bound. Marks needs to address this.

We need pieces, but you can not lay this primarily at the feet of Marks.

Nash has said all the right things. He says he spent all of training camp installing and working the defense. For us to pour so much time and resources into defense, and be THIS PUTRID, says the person at the wheel is not doing enough or is not good at his craft. It just proves that coaching and playing, even at an elite level, are truly two separate enterprises. He even has possibly the most decorated staff in league history, and we still look like the worst tactical team in the league.

I'll give him props for betting heavier on icing Giannis on the perimeter more than anyone ever has, it was a ballsy bet and it paid off. Beyond that, we're out-flanked in strategy on a nightly basis.

I've been tough on Nash but there is literally no backup Center on this roster who can play minutes. How can Nash solve that issue?

We got KILLED on the boards today.

There are plenty of dumbass 7 FT free agents who can grab rebounds and contest shots at the time.

[MrDollarBills]

The Nets got outrebounded 29 to FIFTY.

[sashaturiaf]

I'd relax. We are still 3 players short of our final form.

The only guys on the roster who should be playing in the playoffs are

Big 3
Harris
Deandre
Green
Bruce
We are short at least one big and one legitimate wing. But we already knew that

Nobody else should see the floor when it matters

[ecuhus1981]

The Nets got outrebounded 29 to FIFTY.

Yup, nearly double. I understand that we're woefully bereft of size and they're probably the beefiest frontcourt in the league, but STILL! I give half of the responsibility to the players, but as I mentioned, they're working from a size deficit. Without a coach to light a fire and demand gang rebounding, we're bound to get killed on the boards.

We also gave up nearly twice as many FT's. That suggests a team without the determination to initiate contact. I'll put this more at the feet of the players, but Nash has to expect more from them, and yank players for not performing up to expectation.

[sashaturiaf]

The Nets got outrebounded 29 to FIFTY.

Don't worry Norvel Pelle is coming

But yeah let's get Whiteside. Someone like Zubac or his level would be perfect

[NetsJets]

Harden is a turnover machine. That stretch in the 3rd after the Cavs called a timeout when the Nets had a 3 point lead essentially lost us the game. There is no effort at times, guys are watching ball instead of going to go get it. We are too small on top of all that and our defense is horrible. If we were mitigating our poor defense with CONSISTENT scoring then fine but that’s not even the case. There has to be someone on the open market that can play backup center. Perry isn’t ready for prime time. Shamet needs to lose his spot in the rotation to Tyler Johnson, TLC sucks. I bet if Shamet and TLC were traded away by the Nets they’d have good games against us like Prince has been doing. Terrible performance overall outside of Kyrie.

[Openheimer]

Harden way to passive right now. He needs to pick it up big time. Not attacking the rim. It’s one thing to be unselfish but he is hurting the team with his timid attitude

Kyrie: biggest ball hog in the league. This guy dosent even look to pass. As soon as he gets it it’s a shot. Harris and Green were playing much better without him. He has destroyed their rhythm with his chucking festival out there. Nash needs to tell him he has other teammates out there to.

[Openheimer]

The Nets got outrebounded 29 to FIFTY.

Yup, nearly double. I understand that we're woefully bereft of size and they're probably the beefiest frontcourt in the league, but STILL! I give half of the responsibility to the players, but as I mentioned, they're working from a size deficit. Without a coach to light a fire and demand gang rebounding, we're bound to get killed on the boards.

We also gave up nearly twice as many FT's. That suggests a team without the determination to initiate contact. I'll put this more at the feet of the players, but Nash has to expect more from them, and yank players for not performing up to expectation.

No one puts a body on any one on the defensive glass. Just getting out hustled bad

[Gooner]

Can't defend, can't rebound. This team is a long way from being remotely Finals bound. Marks needs to address this.

We need pieces, but you can not lay this primarily at the feet of Marks.

Nash has said all the right things. He says he spent all of training camp installing and working the defense. For us to pour so much time and resources into defense, and be THIS PUTRID, says the person at the wheel is not doing enough or is not good at his craft. It just proves that coaching and playing, even at an elite level, are truly two separate enterprises. He even has possibly the most decorated staff in league history, and we still look like the worst tactical team in the league.

I'll give him props for betting heavier on icing Giannis on the perimeter more than anyone ever has, it was a ballsy bet and it paid off. Beyond that, we're out-flanked in strategy on a nightly basis.

You need a real coach, it's as simple as that. This Nash experiment is a waste of opportunity.

[therealbig3]

I can't blame Kyrie for the last 2 games when Harden has been invisible and is averaging like 20 ppg in the last 2 games, and doesn't even look to shoot.

Kyrie at least showed up and came to play, even though I think his fit with the rest of the big 3 is pretty bad right now. Harden looks like he hasn't even tried the last 2 games.

[Gamezero05]

I can't blame Kyrie for the last 2 games when Harden has been invisible and is averaging like 20 ppg in the last 2 games, and doesn't even look to shoot.

Kyrie at least showed up and came to play, even though I think his fit with the rest of the big 3 is pretty bad right now. Harden looks like he hasn't even tried the last 2 games.

I don’t think Harden and Kyrie play well together.

I’ve seen Harden play passive before, and it’s usually when he’s dealing with a nagging injury. He rarely misses games, and he doesn’t really admit publicly when he’s dealing with an issue, but a nagging injury is usually the cause when he gets into passive mode.

But because this is only his 4th game with a new team, maybe he’s just still getting acclimated to everything.

I wouldn’t worry about it.

[MrDollarBills]

Getting out rebounded like we did is inexcusable. Where are the adjustments???

[Khashbaatar]

Biggest adjustment will be Harden getting back into game shape

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