Oct 19, 2022; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant (7) and guard Kyrie Irving (11) react during the second quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
NBA: New Orleans Pelicans at Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets lose their season opener in the Barclays Center to the New Orleans Pelicans 108-130.
The Pelicans offense came out as strong as they looked on paper before the season started. Scoring pouring from the Pels’ starters where they combined for 26 of the team’s 32 first quarter points. As weak as the Nets’ defense was to start the game, their offense somehow looked worse. 9 turnovers and just 14 points in the first 12 minutes of the season for the Brooklyn Nets. For reference, the Nets’ had only scored 14 or less points in a quarter 3 times all of last season.
The main source of offense came by way of Kevin Durant. Nothing wrong with that. You come to expect one of the greatest offensive talents in the league to consistently be the primary source of scoring for his team. The issue comes when he is the only source of scoring, which was the case for the Nets in the first half. As for the other ⅔’s of the Nets’ big three: Kyrie scored 15 while whiffing all six out his shots from beyond the arc as well as 6 first half points by Ben Simmons, featuring a crowd-erupting 0-for-2 trip to the line.
It’s really a mystery as to what’s happening to Simmons on offense. Never quite the first-option scoring threat for whatever team he’s on, he at least was some scoring threat. Offensively, Simmons has devolved into a designated screener. Most screeners tend to be a roll or pick-and pop threat, but Simmons looked like neither of those. Sticking to screening exclusively around the perimeter without any intention of scoring, Simmons looked like a shell of his former self that was one of the biggest downhill scoring threats in the league back in Philly.
Defensively, Simmons didn’t look much better. He came in second in Defensive Player of the Year in his last healthy season, but in an entirely different role. In Philadelphia, Simmons was a ball-hawk that would create easy offense with his elite on ball defense and ability to cut off passing lanes with his length. In one sample game in Brooklyn, Simmons is often playing as the pseudo-center on defense — something Nets fans expected would come at some point, but was much better in theory than execution. Simmons ended his night early when he fouled out with 9 minutes left in the third quarter.
“I got to tone it down,” said Simmons after the game. “I feel like I’m being too physical. Maybe I’m just excited, it’s my first game”
Zion Williamson was 5-for-8 in the half-court when being guarded by Simmons, all attempts coming from inside the paint. Every time Zion had space with Simmons as his defender, he had a glow in his eyes where he put his shoulder down to attack the rim with force, and without help, score at will. From the looks of it, no one can really stop Zion one-on-one, but this is just a preview of what’s to come when Simmons is the main defensive assignment on stronger scorers than him.
Size wasn’t only an issue when it came to stopping the Pelicans from making shots, more so, what the Pelicans did when they missed. New Orleans seemed to have eaten everyone of their misses, absolutely crushing the Nets on the offensive boards. The Pelicans racked up 21 offensive rebounds; 43% of their misses cleaned up. This, of course, led to the Pelicans running away with an outpour of points coming off their own misses. The Pelicans outscored the Nets 36-4 in second chance points in last night’s game.
The Nets will continue to die by size against teams who fight for offensive boards and proficient post scorers; something the Pelicans had both of. Was it just a bad matchup for the Nets? Perhaps. But if the Nets continue to run the same defense across 81 more games, they’ll face a lot more bad matchups.
