MIAMI — The Nets’ porous defense has been costing them games. Now it sounds like it could cost them playing time.
For Brooklyn, trying to stop their foes lately has been like trying to stop a flood with tissue paper. Over the past five games their scoring defense has been second-worst in the NBA (117.2) and field goal defense third-worst (49.5 percent).
That bottomed out Saturday, giving up 51.1 percent shooting to Minnesota and 37 points to Karl-Anthony Towns. Some of the Nets may have surrendered starting jobs or rotation spots in the process.
“They dominated us, really. We couldn’t stop them. Physically they overwhelmed us. We’ve got to do better,’’ said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, who sounds set to make some changes. “We’ve got to find guys who want to defend and guard. It’s too hard in this league if you’re not defending.’’
Monday they’ll face a Heat team that has won seven straight, and is at a talent deficit most nights. Jeremy Lin — weeks away from returning — will have missed three-quarters of their 48 games, with his replacement Spencer Dinwiddie plucked from the D-League. So was Sean Kilpatrick, who lost his starting off-guard spot to Joe Harris, another D-Leaguer out with a sprained ankle.
In short, their margin for error is excruciatingly thin — which is about how tough their defensive resistance has been lately.
“You’ve got to overcome it by competing harder,’’ Atkinson said. “That’s the only way you can do it.”
But do the Nets have the personnel to do it?
Trevor Booker and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are among the few proven defenders, and Hollis-Jefferson was forced from Saturday’s game with a sprained ankle. Others like Kilpatrick and Bojan Bogdanovic have struggled defensively. So when Atkinson talks about changes, his options are limited.
“We’ll look at it. It’s something we’ve got to look at it. We’ve got to find the guys that want to defend, and distribute the minutes proportionately, appropriately,’’ Atkinson said. “That’s where we are. We’ve had a streak here where we’re not defending. That’s not acceptable. That’s not the type of program we’re trying to run.”
Atlanta’s is the type of program Atkinson is trying to mimic. He was the lead assistant on a Hawks team that won 60 games two years ago, and led the league in field goal defense last season. That’s his vision for the Nets, but right now, it’s a very distant, hazy vision.
“He said he was going to find guys that were going to play defense and that are going to help us win; and that’s something we do need,’’ Kilpatrick said. “The more we continue to keep building on that, the better we’ll be. At the end of the day we have to come in and do our job and make sure we’re doing any and every thing coach tells us to do.”
The frontcourt of Bogdanovic, Booker and Brook Lopez appears set, while Atkinson has gone with Dinwiddie and Randy Foye in the backcourt lately. But the Nets are second in the league in bench scoring (44 points per game), and the physical Isaiah Whitehead has come on strong lately. Changes could be in the offing.
“He did address it pretty quickly. It’s obviously something we have to deal with as players. I don’t know if lineup changes would do that, but we need guys out there from the jump who are going to be ready to play, and ready to compete,’’ Lopez said.
“After the game he stressed defense. That was the only thing he brought up, defense,’’ Booker said. “I guess he wants to see us competing more.”