Nets' Outside Shooting Not Making Enough of a Difference

The Brooklyn Nets have had a rough start to the season, and their most recent game provided a perfect example of why.

The Nets have only win three weeks into the NBA season, and that doesn’t appear likely to change in the near future. While a win over the injury-riddled Indiana Pacers kept Brooklyn from remaining the league’s only winless team, it might only be a matter of time before the Nets become the league’s only remaining one-win team.

As a team that came into the year ready to tank, Brooklyn knew exactly what it was getting itself into, and a 1-10 start isn’t exactly a failure by those standards. Still, the Nets have some intriguing role players and some young players looking to blossom into stars.

In Tuesday night’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Nets partially did their part in trying to get a win. Shooting 14-of-41 from deep, the Nets outperformed Toronto from beyond the arc considerably, with the Raptors putting up a 9-of-35 mark from 3-point range.

That game marked the fifth time this season that Brooklyn managed to hit more threes than its opponent. Although the Nets lack in most areas, the 3-point shot can be the ultimate equalizer, and Brooklyn’s inability to win games when nailing threes is a perfect example of how bad this team might end up.

While a five-make difference isn’t all that absurd, the Nets’ shot-making from deep was a factor in keeping the game as close as it was. Falling by only 10 against the Raptors, it’s clear that Jordi Fernandez’s team understands how important the outside shot can be. 

On the other hand, this isn’t the first time Brooklyn’s outside shooting hasn’t translated to making up ground on the scoreboard. Perhaps the best example of that came in Brooklyn’s NBA Cup loss to the Detroit Pistons, where it nailed 11 more threes than it gave up and still lost by 18 in a game that wasn’t competitive after halftime.

For the Nets to win some more games, they will likely need to continue finding these large margins on the 3-point shot. Even if the percentages aren’t great, the Nets should keep firing to give themselves a chance, especially against teams they are clearly outmanned.

In any case, it appears that Brooklyn’s outside shooting probably won’t matter too much because of how many other areas the Nets are lacking in, but they have to keep throwing up shots from deep.