NBA

Nets defense gets picked apart with pick-and-rolls

The Knicks have beaten teams from 3-point range all season long. But it was the work of Tyson Chandler in and around the paint that, more than anything, led to the Nets suffering their third straight loss last night, as Chandler’s 16 points and 12 rebounds powered the Knicks to a 100-86 victory.

The Nets were simply powerless to stop Chandler on the pick-and-roll, especially in the second half. He wound up with several alley-oop dunks after dribble penetration sucked in his defender and left nothing but air between him and the rim.

“A lot of times they were running it, we were trying to give them some different coverages, and we had some breakdowns in communication,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said. “When we executed it properly, we were pretty good. But when we didn’t, they made us pay.”

Because of the many 3-point shooters the Knicks deploy around the arc with Chandler roaming the middle, it prevents teams from being able to stick to him near the basket. If any dribble penetration is able to draw Chandler’s defender just a couple steps away from the basket, there is plenty of room to toss the ball into his waiting hands for an easy dunk, something the Knicks seemed to do at will against the Nets in the second half.

“It makes the coverage a lot harder,” Gerald Wallace said of the Knicks’ 3-point shooting prowess. “Then when you have guys like Raymond [Felton] and Tyson, who play the pick-and-roll so well, too.

“They’re a hard team to cover, but we’ve covered them, we’ve played that basic coverage and we’ve beat them with that coverage. Mentally, we’ve got to be more strong with it.”

* The Nets were without Jerry Stackhouse for the fifth straight game last night, as the veteran swingman continues to nurse a sore right knee.

Stackhouse, who has become a vital rotation piece for the Nets since getting a chance early last month, injured the knee when he and Jason Kidd banged knees on Kidd’s game-winning 3-pointer against the Nets in last week’s Knicks win in Brooklyn.

Stackhouse said before last night’s game that he wasn’t sure when he’d be ready to go after banging the knee “pretty good” against Kidd’s outstretched leg. Johnson wouldn’t say whether or not he expected Stackhouse to play Sunday against the Sixers in Brooklyn.

“It depends on what happens with him Friday and Saturday [in practice],” Johnson said. “If he gets through practice, specifically Saturday, then he could be a possibility.”