TORONTOR RAPORTS
Nets’ historic stats highlight Kevin Ollie’s lackluster debut in a crushing defeat to the Raptors
In his first game as a coach, Kevin Ollie humiliated the Nets.
After the All-Star break, the Brooklyn Nets, led by interim head coach Kevin Ollie, were looking for something special. Ollie had focused on “energy-generating behaviors” in his first two practices after taking charge. The Toronto Raptors, who thrashed the Nets 121-93 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday, provided the bulk of the EGBs during his debut game.
Brooklyn turned the ball over 19 times and shot 33 of 80 (41%) from the field. Horrible transition defense compounded the Nets’ offensive problems, allowing a franchise-high 46 fastbreak points as Toronto hit 14 of 31 (45 percent) and 41 of 84 (49 percent) from beyond the arc.
“We just didn’t make shots,” Ollie said. “But their effort, their energy, loose balls, offensive rebounds, beat us in probably every area… When our shots don’t go in, we can’t stop playing defense… They were getting layups, we can’t have that happen. It was just a snowball effect.”
Ben Simmons, who didn’t try to attack the hoop, finished with two points and four assists on only one of his two shots. Ollie made the perplexing choice to start Simmons for all 21 of his minutes next to centers Nic Claxton or Day’Ron Sharpe. In the week before his dismissal, former head coach Jacque Vaughn had started Simmons and Claxton together, but as games went on, he regularly divided the two non-shooters.
Simmons and Claxton had combined for a -23.8 net rating in 70 minutes as of Thursday, according to pbpstats.com. The pair’s offensive rating of 100.0 was almost eight points lower than the league-worst offense (100.7) of the Memphis Grizzlies. Against Toronto, it was more of the same, with one or both players obstructing the paint throughout the halfcourt offense.
Claxton finished the game with six points and a minus-24 rating in 32 minutes, while Simmons finished the game with a minus-23. Dennis Smith Jr. (27.4 percent from three on 1.9 attempts per game) was chosen on Thursday to take Jalen Wilson’s spot in Brooklyn’s final rotation, joining Simmons, Claxton, and Sharpe as a non-shooter in an offensive lineup that is struggling.
The remaining Brooklyn bench members, Dennis Schroder and Cam Johnson, combined for 10 points on 2-of-14 shooting, did not fare much better. In fifteen minutes, Dorian Finney-Smith, who started ahead of Johnson, scored three points on three shot attempts.
After Vaughn was fired, Ollie was clearly going to have a difficult time turning the floundering Nets around. But the crushing defeat at the hands of a Raptors club that is 16 games below.500 serves as a reminder of how difficult that climb will be.
Brooklyn’s four-game road trip against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who lead the Western Conference, starts on Saturday, so things won’t get any easier.
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