PAINT BY NUMBERS: The statistical key to Nets-Bulls matchups this season — including the opening two games of their first-round playoff series — has been points in the paint, and Joakim Noah’s crew got the better of Kris Humphries and Co. on Monday in Brooklyn. (Getty Images)
After the Nets engaged in a never-ending parade to the rim for one easy layup or dunk after another in their Game 1 win over the Bulls, it was expected Chicago would make it much tougher to score inside in Game 2.
The Nets failed to handle the Bulls’ increased presence inside, and that — as much as anything — led to a 90-82 loss that evened the best-of-seven first-round series a game apiece as it heads to Chicago tomorrow night for Game 3.
“We didn’t handle it as well as we need to,” interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said yesterday on a conference call. “Matching or exceeding their physicality is always one of the things we talk about, [and is] one of the keys when you play the Bulls.
“We did a better job of doing that in Game 1 than we did in Game 2.”
The numbers bear that out. The Nets went 26-for-35 on shots at the rim (74.3 percent) in Game 1 and finished with 56 points in the paint, compared to 36 for the Bulls. But Chicago flipped the script in Game 2, outscoring the Nets 42-30 in the paint while limiting the Nets to 14-for-30 shooting (46.7 percent) at the rim.
Those numbers also fall in line with the way all six games between the teams have played out this season. In the two Nets wins, they scored 56 points in the paint each time and shot a combined 54-for-78 (69.2 percent) at the rim, according to NBA.com’s stats tool. In the four Nets losses, they have averaged 34 points in the paint and shot a combined 61-for-129 (47.3 percent) at the rim.
That underscores the importance to the Nets in being aggressive and not allowing the Bulls — and their imposing frontline of Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson — to keep them from scoring inside.
“We have to make good decisions,” Carlesimo said. “When our guys feel they have an advantage, they’ve got to finish and they’ve got to finish strong, because it’s going to be physical. There’s not going to be clean looks, and there’s not going to be shots where there’s not bumps or there’s not physicality [inside].
“That line is never an easy line to walk. We want our guys to be aggressive and strong inside and not to look to get fouled, but to be strong taking it to the basket and make the refs make a call. Sometimes they’re doing that, and it looks like a forced shot or not a good shot, but you can’t always just say, ‘I’m wide open, I’m going to shoot it or not.’ We’ve got to engage them, we’ve got to contest them.”
The Nets, with above-average size at virtually every position, have billed themselves as a physical team all season. Now, going up against an equally, if not more, physical team, they need to match that aspect of the Bulls’ game to get at least the split in the next two games in Chicago they need to regain home-court advantage.
“I think if you characterize both of these teams, you’ve got big frontlines, you’ve got a lot of people who are physical inside, we’re both in the top five rebounding teams in the league,” Carlesimo said. “We’re both better half-court [teams] than full-court, so these games figure to be like that. This series figures to be a lot about the paint, and it can’t not be physical inside.
“It’s not about the fouls. … You have to adjust every game to how the referees are going to call it, but it’s not about fouling. It’s about protecting your space, it’s about boxing out, it’s about challenging guys when they come to the rim. … Matching or exceeding their physicality is just a day at work when we’re playing them.”