CLEVELAND — There’s only so much schemes and systems can do to overcome personnel, and the Nets just didn’t have the latter.
Brooklyn didn’t have the right bodies to defend the kind of stars they’d face in the playoffs and against the elite championship contenders.
Until now.
They’re out to prove that the return of Ben Simmons and maturation of Nic Claxton — giving them three starters with 7-foot wingspans — make them better suited to handle star bigs such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid, and stud wings like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Cleveland poses a different sort of test on Monday, but Brooklyn is confident a more versatile lineup is better able to handle a variety of threats.
“Yeah, I think we answered a lot of those questions,” Jacque Vaughn said. “Being able to have multiple bodies like we talked about around Giannis, seven turnovers for him.”
The Cavaliers have the best scoring margin in the entire NBA, and smaller guards such as Donovan Mitchell (28.9 points) and Darius Garland (7.8 assists). But compared to the outmatched roster that proved both too short and too shorthanded in last season’s first-round sweep at the hands of Boston, this group has more accomplished defenders to support Kevin Durant — and more versatile ones.
“Absolutely,” said Kyrie Irving. “I mean, I can’t necessarily guard everybody on the court and on the perimeter. So when KD can guard Jrue [Holiday], I can guard Jevon Carter, Royce [O’Neale] can guard Giannis or Ben can guard Giannis, I think our lineup is so interchangeable that it is a positive for us. It’s a strength of ours. And then you have two of the top guys guarding [isolations] in Nic and KD.
“I mean, it makes a huge difference out there and leading league in guarding [isolation]. So anytime people are going out and we know that we have a great chance to make them miss, and when you can make professionals miss at that high level, then you know pretty much we’re getting out on offense and putting together some quality possessions.”
The Cavs (22-12) are a different sort of team, with Claxton going up against his Nets predecessor in All-Star center Jarrett Allen but then smaller guards attacking off the dribble. Mitchell and Garland are just 6-1, meaning Irving won’t be at a matchup disadvantage.
But the bigger wings like Tatum and Brown have proven problematic, and Brooklyn will have to deal with longer stars down the road in the playoffs. Adding the 7-foot wingspan of Simmons and 3-and-D skills of O’Neale to Durant and a rapidly improving Claxton should make them better suited to do so.
“Definitely maturation from him,” Vaughn said of Claxton. “Give him a lot of love for doing it on both ends of the floor for us, and luxury for us to have him and KD in at the same time for length, and then they can play fast also. So he’s grown as a young man as a player.”
Simmons has held opponents to 44.2 percent shooting, the stingiest of the Nets. Claxton was next-best among the Brooklyn regulars.
Claxton had eight rebounds and three steals against Milwaukee, while Simmons added 11 boards. And more important, after Antetokounmpo had repeatedly wrecked their game plans in the past — including a 43-point eruption in the third game of the season on Oct. 26 — the Nets duo combined to hold him to a more manageable 26 points with seven turnovers on Friday.
“[Antetokounmpo] is gonna attack, he’s gonna try and get to the rim. Overall as a team, we did a great job containing him and kind of showing him a lot of bodies. And then for me just being physical. I’m able to get down there and hit with you, so I’m willing to do that,” Simmons said.
Durant was impressed with Simmons’ “incredible” defense on Antetokounmpo on Friday night.
“[Simmons] stayed with it all game and was able to make life tough, and we did a solid job of showing them a crowd to make Giannis kick it out and turn the ball over,” Durant said. “Seven turnovers, Ben was the catalyst for that.”