On March 17, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Nets played at home against the Lone Ranger. Previously, the Nets had a record of 36 wins and 33 losses, ranking eighth in the East, and the Lone Ranger record was 42 wins and 26 losses, ranking fifth in the West. Yesterday the Nets just beat the Magic by 42 points on the road, and Irving bombed 60 points, but today Irving can't play at home, Durant leads the team alone, and Kidd's lone ranger takes an extreme approach: pack Durant! In the Lone Rangers, except for Durant, you nets can't score. The Nets maintained a weak on-court lead, playing until the fourth quarter, the Lone Ranger quickly caught up with the point difference under the leadership of Dinwiddie and Brunson, the two sides fell into a tug-of-war, and in the last 1 minute, Clarkston finally scored consecutive baskets, Doncic hit from mid-range, Durant hit a three-point shot in the last 10 seconds, and in the last moment, Dinwiddie pressed a three-point blast, and the Nets were killed! In the end, the Nets lost to the Lone Ranger 111-113 at home, ending a four-game winning streak, and the Lone Ranger ushered in a three-game winning streak.
Let's take a look at the data first, on the Lone Ranger side, Doncic has 37 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, Brunson has 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Dinwiddie has 22 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, and Powell has 12 points and 6 rebounds. On the Nets side, Durant had 23 points, 6 rebounds and 10 assists, Brown 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, Chuang Shen 14 points and 17 rebounds, Dragic 21 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Claxton 13 points and 5 rebounds, and Edwards 12 points.
To tell the truth, the reason why the Lone Ranger is so passive today is that the Nets' defense is really in place, from rebounding scrambles to forcing opponents to make mistakes and fouls, but the Lone Rangers lack a consistent scoring performance except for Doncic's one stable scoring point, but from the second half, the Nets also take the way of the Lone Ranger, you target our Durant, we target your Doncic, big deal, at this time Dinwiddie and Brunson began to erupt. And the Nets, today arranged Dragic and Mills to start, it can be said that the whole rhythm of the team is relatively smooth, but the Nets' three-point feel is not good, but even so, after the third quarter, Durant can also send 10 assists, plus Brown and Dragic two tandem points, the Nets in Durant's side, the scoring points are too much, today the Nets team 6 people double, it can be said that playing a perfect team basketball.
Thanks to the excellent play in the last game (14 points and 6 rebounds), Edwards is back in the rotation lineup today, and today the Nets have a very obvious flaw, that is, Zhuang Shen. Chuang Shen looked at the data very efficiently, only played 22 minutes, 7 of 8 with 14 points and 17 rebounds (8 frontcourts), but when he was on the court, he was hit by Doncic's list of misalignment points, Zhuang Shen's pace and turning speed were very slow, and he was really easy to be hit by Brunson and Doncic's point list. Naturally, Nash should give Clarkston more playing time, after all, Clarkston can participate in the change of defense. Of course, this is not to criticize Zhuang Shen, after all, he is indeed very efficient in grabbing rebounds today, but there is a data that is also very eye-catching: Zhuang Shen played 22 minutes and lost 11 points on the court. To be honest, a Clarkston is obviously not enough now, or hope that Ade will return as soon as possible, making up for the shortcomings of mid-range projection and basket defensive height, which can also alleviate some of Durant's defensive pressure.
In addition, there was such a scene in the game: Durant was pinched, the ball was given to Mills, and the empty position did not dare to shoot, and it seemed that Durant was a little angry. Of course, Mills feel good or bad is one thing, the opportunity comes out, if he does not shoot, then the opponent will only be more wanton to pinch Durant. In this regard, in fact, Dragic, Edwards, including Brown, these three people are doing very well, Durant passed the ball, they immediately shot or directly broke through the attack frame, relatively speaking, Mills has now lost some self-confidence. Personally, with Durant leading the team alone, Nash can fine-tune the lineup to get Edwards, who feels better, into the starting lineup, like James, and give Durant at least three goalscorers teammates, otherwise Durant is too much pressure now. The good thing, of course, is that Nash finally cut Durant's playing time to less than 40 minutes, which wasn't easy.
In the fourth quarter, the Nets, with a 14-point lead, were suddenly chased by their opponents: Dinwiddie's 2+1, Brunson's mid-range, Dinwiddie's counter-attack layup, Powell's basket 2+1, including Dinwiddie's three-pointer. And the key moment can only be expected durant to open the feel, Mills's three-point shot slightly slowed down the rhythm, at this time the Nets' shortcomings appeared, the lone ranger side of Dinwiddie, Doncic, Brunson can launch an attack, Nash should be replaced by Dragic as soon as possible to control the rhythm. In Irving's absence, can only hope that Curry Jr. will return as soon as possible, and now the Nets lack a player who can stably shoot three points from the outside, and need role players to shoot more resolutely, otherwise the Lone Ranger does not dare to wrap Durant so much. The data shows that the game has just been carried out in the beginning of the third quarter, and Durant has been sandwiched 23 times by the double bag, and it is conceivable that the whole game has at least more than 40 times! Durant really tried his best, but it was hard to stand alone.
Leaving aside the results, Durant's single-core team situation, physical exertion is a huge hidden danger, playing time is on the one hand, the opponent to give him the confrontation is the key. And then play the Blazers and Jazz, still at home, I personally feel that the Nets can put a game appropriately, give Durant a rest buffer time, such as playing Jazz, once really tired Durant, the Nets are not worth the loss!