Rookie standouts and veteran grit fuel Brooklyn's suffocating defense, turning promising performances into a franchise-defining identity.
Defense has been the name of the game for the Brooklyn Nets over the past few weeks, and the rest of the NBA is being put on notice.
The Nets might not be the pick of many to make a surprise leap in the Eastern Conference standings come postseason time, but their incredible defensive leap is certainly worth noting.
Brooklyn's smothering defensive personnel on the perimeter, including several rangy rookies such as Drake Powell and Nolan Traoré, has given plenty of opposing offenses an unforeseen struggle.
Coming off of a wonderful 15-game stretch of wonderful defensive work (110.0 defensive rating, No. 4 rank in that span), New York Daily News' C.J. Holmes took the chance to uncover the team's thought process on that end of the floor throughout this sizable stretch of games.
"Just stick to the same principles we had, starting with our ball pressure, being in shifts, closing out to guys, closing out to shooters, multiple efforts," Brooklyn's Ziaire Williams told Holmes on Tuesday evening.
Along with the formerly mentioned Powell and Traoré, Williams and others have assisted with performing perfect stunts, traps and anything of the sort to either dislodge the ball from would-be attackers' hands or to create confusion.
Brooklyn and their skilled cast of defensive characters employed these strategies throughout their dominant 127-115 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday evening, when the team registered seven steals and five blocks on the night.
Speaking to their success against Denver's hopeful first-time All-Star point guard Jamal Murray, Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez raved about the group's ball pressure.
"I think I liked the aggressiveness, and it was from the first possession," Fernandez said to Holmes.
"Day’Ron (Sharpe) on the blitz and putting pressure," Fernandez continued. "Obviously, we knew that Jamal (Murray) is a super player. I think our guys did a good job wearing him out and making him work."
Speaking of Brooklyn's rapidly improving center Day'Ron Sharpe, his three steals against the Nuggets were some of the more impressive of the night. Sharpe made a habit of jumping passing lanes to intercept the ball, showing off the nimble side of his burly 6-foot-10, 265-pound frame and creating plenty of exciting fast break opportunities for his team.
If the Nets' defense continues to produce at this kind of level for the rest of the season, there's no doubt that the rest of the NBA will be taking their stellar stoppers into account prior to every incoming matchup with the rebuilding organization.