Here are my three thoughts on the Nets’ 90-82 win over the Bucks Saturday night in Milwaukee:
1. It’s no secret the Nets have struggled with young, athletic teams, going back to last season. One way to combat that is to limit turnovers, which prevents the opponent from getting out into the open floor and exploiting those athletic advantages.
That was part of the formula that made the Knicks so successful last season, when they were one of the best teams at protecting the ball en route to winning 54 games. So it comes as no surprise that Jason Kidd has made that a focus for this Nets team as well.
Kidd reiterated after Saturday’s game that the Nets’ goal is to limit their turnovers to 13 or fewer in every game. Well, the Nets only had eight turnovers Saturday night, which turned into just six points for the Bucks. On the other hand, the Nets forced 13 Bucks turnovers that they managed to turn into 21 points. Winning that battle more often will go a long way toward getting the Nets back on track.
2. After back-to-back blowout losses, Kidd shook up his rotation a little bit. He moved Shaun Livingston back into the starting lineup in place of Tyshawn Taylor and inserted Reggie Evans back into the rotation – after he was a DNP in three of the last six games – for rookie Mason Plumlee.
Taylor looked a bit overwhelmed by the moment in Thursday’s blowout loss to the Knicks, and while he has had some moments since Deron Williams went down with his latest ankle injury, it made sense to switch back to Livingston as more of a stabilizing presence.
The move to go with Evans over Plumlee was a bit more surprising, given that Plumlee has played well since getting into the lineup, but Evans rewarded Kidd with 11 solid minutes, including making a pair of nice post moves – something that isn’t exactly in his repertoire – in the fourth quarter to help the Nets close the game out. Given how Plumlee has played, it would be surprising to see him sit for an extended period, but we’ll see what happens.
3. Once again, the Nets struggled from the 3-point range, one of the more baffling story lines this season – and that’s saying something.
With guys like Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Alan Anderson and Jason Terry, I expected the Nets to contend for being one of the top five 3-point shooting teams in the league. Instead, they’re shooting 34.1 percent, good for 19th in the league. Part of this is because Pierce hasn’t been himself and Williams has been hurt, but it would help the Nets quite a bit if they could start knocking down some more shots from deep.