MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Nets have been scoring like a gusher, but defending like a sieve.
Yes, they have been on a roll lately. But if their playoff hopes are going to be more than a pipe dream, the Nets can’t count on outscoring everybody. They’re going to have to tighten up the other end of the court, and they’ll have to do it without their top two defenders.
“Our defense,” coach Kenny Atkinson said, when asked what the Nets’ biggest area of concern was. “I think our offense has been 13th in offensive efficiency — and I know that can change quickly — but the defense is lagging behind a little bit.
“We can make some strides, make some money in there. At the end of the day, you want more balance. You’re talking offensive and defensive efficiency, get those two at a higher level, and that’s how you get in the conversation for bigger things. Right now we’re a little unbalanced. [We need to] be more efficient on the defensive end.”
By bigger things, Atkinson clearly means the postseason. The Nets (18-21) were just a half-game behind Detroit for the final playoff spot in the East heading into Friday night’s game against the Grizzlies, who had dropped 10-of-13.
But the Nets weren’t deluding themselves about the need for defensive improvement.
“One hundred percent,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “We can’t expect to shoot like [Wednesday, in a 126-121 win over the Pelicans] every night. We had seven players in double figures, most of which shot at or above 50 percent. … If we did that every night, we’d be the Warriors.”
The Warriors they aren’t.
Granted, their offense has taken a quantum leap forward since a Dec. 6 players-only video session. Just 8-18 going in and ranked 16th in Offensive Rating, the Nets have gone 10-3 since and seen their “O” rating jump to fourth in the NBA.
But that defense? Just 22nd before that epiphany, it’s actually slid back a spot since. And with top defenders Caris LeVert (foot) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (adductor) both out — and no big trades in sight — improvements aren’t going to be personnel-based. They’ll have to come internally.
“We want to stick with our base defense, but I do think we have to find some creative ways to do some different things,” said Atkinson. “That could be zone. That could be bringing our bigs up a little more — we’re real conservative right now, we’re back all the time.
“We have to think out of the box a little until we get healthy again. It’s a game-to-game adjustment. But I’m not sure we can line up right now and do the same things over and over. … I’d say our biggest area of improvement is our activity. We need more deflections, more denies, just a little higher level of activity.”
They pulled out the zone to good effect in the back-to-back against Charlotte, but gave up baskets on both possessions in zone against New Orleans.
In terms of schemes, they’ve been solid in forcing teams out of higher-value shots into lower ones. They came into Friday allowing the second-most shots from mid-range (16.6) and tied for the fewest corner 3s (5.2). They’ll just have to raise their energy and communication.
“Defense is more of a team thing,’’ said Treveon Graham, whose return from hamstring woes should help.
“No one person can affect a defense as much as a whole team can. So I just figure communication on the defensive end, rebounding and offense is going to take care of itself.”
Added Dinwiddie: “It’s a collective mindset and being in sync with one another. Defense is a lot more than one-on-one. It’s not like offense, where you can just go get a basket. On defense, it’s much more a collective team concept. The guys that are out there have to be on the same page and function as a unit to really be a stout unit.”