Dennis Schroder’s 3-point shooting Thursday night will likely be an outlier, but much of his performance should now serve as a blueprint for the Nets.
He had his best game as a Net in the team’s 124-97 win over the Hawks at Barclays Center, giving the Nets at least one night of trouble for the offense under interim coach Kevin Ollie. It made it possible to reverse the situation.
Schroder was acquired by the Nets along with Thaddeus Young from the Raptors in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, and played in his eighth game with the Nets, posting 23 points and eight rebounds (both career highs since coming to Brooklyn). He recorded 9 points and 7 assists. He went 5-of-15 from the field and 7-of-7 from 3-point range.
Schröder, 30, started on the bench in Oley’s first two games, but this is his second consecutive start.
“[He’s] You come in early, you leave late, you work in the gym and you just keep digging and planting seeds,” O’Ree said after Schroeder’s breakout performance.
“That’s what you have to do. Sometimes you don’t know when it’s going to bloom, but you have to plant the seeds. I think he’s doing that with the extra filming.”
Schroder’s shooting was a welcome development, but it’s hard to expect it to be sustainable in his 11th NBA season.
But Schroder’s passing and ball security is certainly possible and will need to be if the Nets want to sneak into the final play-in spot.
Both are areas where the Nets have struggled under O’Ree, reaching their lowest point in the team’s 108-81 loss to the Magic, when the Nets committed a season-high 20 turnovers and tied a season-low for the team. He recorded a total of 18 assists.
On Thursday night, the Nets committed just nine turnovers and dished out 30 assists. Schroder’s assists helped the team score 20 points, but he only committed two turnovers.
When healthy, Ben Simmons will shoulder many of these responsibilities alongside Schröder as the primary ball handler, but his continued absence makes him unreliable to say the least.
“We always want to take quality shots. From good shots to great shots, we always say that,” Schroder said after the game. “We had some of those tonight. So when you move the ball and it’s not attached, it’s really hard to guard. We just have to keep playing fast.”
By playing fast on offense and moving the ball quickly, the Nets created plenty of open lines of sight from behind the arc, something that has been largely lacking in recent games.
This was evident in Thursday’s matchup, as the Nets were a blistering 22-of-46 (47.8 percent) from 3-point range, while the Hawks were just 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) from long range. It made a big difference.
Previously, the ball would often stagnate when Mikal Bridges tried to take his own shot with a double team.
But O’Ree praised Bridges’ willingness to give up the ball quickly after two points on Thursday night, allowing Schröder to be more of a facilitator and find open shooters.
That’s exactly what O’Ree wanted offensively, and the Nets got it.
Perhaps his message finally got through.
“Everyone did a great job,” Schroeder said. “Just moving the ball, making shots, being confident and trusting each other. … Coach [is] He does a great job just giving people confidence. he understands the game. … Then your teammates will make it easier for you. ”
Thursday’s win puts the Nets three games behind the Hawks for the No. 10 seed in the East and the final play-in spot, and the teams will meet again in Brooklyn on Saturday’s matinee.
The Hawks will definitely make adjustments and will likely focus on how Schroder has adjusted the offense.
Schroder’s next task is to make Thursday games the Nets’ new normal. This is not an exception.
“We have talent, but at the end of the day, we have to leverage our connections for talent as well,” Olly said. “We don’t want a dip in energy. Energy dips happen when you lose a lead, when you’re stuck without the basketball, when the ball isn’t moving. We’ve got to share the cake. ”
