Tony Brown has had just one practice to make changes since taking over as the Nets interim coach, but he has some pretty clear ideas on changes he wants to make. And right at the top of that list is going from slowdown to speedball.
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov talked Monday about wanting to play a style that would be more attractive to fans, and Brown said the Russian billionaire felt the NBA was going more up-tempo and wants to see his team follow suit. On Wednesday against the Knicks, the Nets did just that to earn a 110-104 win.
“We scored 110 points in regulation. I don’t know the last time we did that,’’ Brown said. “I had a meeting with Shane [Larkin] and Donald [Sloan] before the game and talked to them about what they see, what they can call, and stop looking to me to call a lot of plays.’’
To answer that question, the Nets scored 111 at Miami on Dec. 28, but Wednesday’s pace was eye-opening. The Nets (11-28) had lost 10 straight home games, and five straight since losing point guard Jarrett Jack to a torn ACL. They snapped both skids.
“We changed our pace up a bit. We wanted to play to our strengths,’’ said Brook Lopez, who had a team-high 20 points. “We want to give our players options to get to their games in our system. In our scheme it’s a lot more loose out there.’’
Trailing 92-90 with five minutes left, the Nets used a 10-2 run to pull it out late. For a team that’s turned the fourth-quarter meltdown into a performance art form, it was a novel concept. Implementing their free-wheeling style, the Nets shot 52.3 percent from the field, its second-best effort of the season, and they also were a season-best 52.9 percent from 3-point land.
“Tony brought us in before the game and told us he didn’t want to call out many plays. He wanted us to play out of sets,’’ said Larkin, who had 17 points and five assists. “So its not like we’re coming down calling 23-Rip or this or that. We’re just coming down playing.
“If I make a pass, the team reads off what I do, if I dribble a big, he goes down and the other big comes out. It’s just all reads, whereas when coach [Lionel] Hollins was here it was more of a set play type of offense. He just loosened it up, letting us go out there and play for each other, try and make plays for each other. It worked so hopefully can keep it going.’’