


After coming back from Philadelphia trailing their first-round playoff series 2-0, Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said the team wants more from Spencer Dinwiddie.
Make that the Nets need more from Dinwiddie, if they are to have any hope of getting back into this series by winning Game 3 on Thursday at Barclays Center.
Advertisement
“I think overall, his ability to get downhill, we want more from him. He understands that,” Vaughn said. “He’s got to continue to push the pace for us. He’s huge for us, and he knows it. We love him, we depend on him. He’s going to have the basketball back in his hands when we get back home, and he’ll continue to play and lead us.”
Almost from the moment Dinwiddie arrived from the Mavericks in the February trade that sent Kyrie Irving to Dallas — his second stint in Brooklyn — the veteran point guard has seamlessly stepped into the role of both a leader in the locker room and a general on the floor.
Nobody questions his locker room presence, but Dinwiddie must improve his on-court performance, specifically by being more aggressive in attacking the teeth of the 76ers’ defense.
Even he acknowledged as much after the Nets’ offensively challenged, 96-84 Game 2 loss at Wells Fargo Center, when they shot just 37.5 percent overall and went 13-for-42 from 3-point range.
Advertisement
Want to catch a game? The Nets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
“I mean, I’m doing a lot of kicking it ahead right now, getting guys on the run and things like that. And obviously it’s a balance,” Dinwiddie said on YES Network. “I’ve probably got to figure out how to be a little bit more aggressive getting in the paint. So sometimes keeping it probably.
Advertisement
“But just got to look at film and figure it out. Overall though, obviously our emphasis has been on pace and kicking the ball ahead, so, you know, I think I’ve done probably Part 1 pretty well and need to do better on Part 2.”
Dinwiddie will go into Game 3 averaging 13.0 points and 6.5 assists through the first two losses of this series, down from impressive averages of 16.5 points and 9.1 assists since he rejoined the Nets.
“They went zone, slowed us down,” Dinwiddie said after his 13-point, 5-for-14 effort Monday. “Then, as a unit, we didn’t hit shots.”
That doesn’t fully encapsulate Dinwiddie’s sudden struggles, with subpar 38.5/25.0/50.0 shooting splits.
Advertisement
His regular-season 115 and 116 offensive and defensive ratings for the Nets (per Basketball Reference) have worsened to 93 and 122 through the first two games against the 76ers.
As good as Mikal Bridges has been, he’ll need more scoring support.
And the most likely source is Dinwiddie, the only player on the Nets who has averaged 20 points for a season (in 2019-20).
The Nets also will have to get out and run against a half-court-heavy 76ers team blessed with behemoth Joel Embiid and former Nets star James Harden — who’ll gladly grind them down to dust in the pick-and-roll.
Dinwiddie has kicked the ball ahead as asked — perhaps too much.
He’s going to have to straddle the fine line of kicking it up to the likes of Bridges, Cam Johnson and Royce O’Neale, and using his athleticism to keep it and attack himself, driving the ball hard.
The latter should probably be option No. 1.
Advertisement
“He can create pace for us,” Vaughn said. “Whether that’s kicking the ball ahead — which we did a decent job of doing [in Game 1] — but we can increase the pace a little bit by kicking the ball ahead and letting other dudes handle. Because Mikal, C.J., all those guys, Royce, can really get out and still make plays.
“So can we kick that ball ahead? We want him still to attack the paint. That should be the first choice, and then if the big man comes over then you’re thinking about dropping it off or throwing the lob. But he’s been great for us all year. Looking forward to seeing how he plays.”