Nets' starting five missing the points
Cameron Johnson #2 of the Nets reacts during the NBA game at Footprint Center on December 13, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Nets defeated the Suns 116-112. Credit: Getty Images
One of the glaring numbers from the Nets’ latest baffling loss Monday was five. Not just because they gave back a five-point lead to the Heat with under 90 seconds left in overtime
Five was the combined number of made field goals by Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie. Those three starters had the same number of made shots as Heat center Bam Adebayo, who had only 11 points but impacted the game with 20 rebounds.
Coach Jacque Vaughn earned questions for not challenging Dennis Smith Jr’s late foul on Jimmy Butler or calling timeout before the Nets’ final possession in overtime. But there’s a bigger issue: The Nets’ starting lineup still not generating enough offense.
It came up again in the third quarter when the Heat scored 12 answered points to kickstart a 23-7 run to take the lead after trailing by 16 points in the first half.
“I don’t know,” Cam Thomas said of the slow starts. “Wish I knew so we wouldn’t keep doing it. But I don’t know.”
Thomas’ 23 points, along with Smith’s defense, gave the Nets a lift but it wasn’t enough. Thomas' play will prompt more discussion on if he should return to the starting lineup because of his scoring punch.
But the problem is Johnson, Finney-Smith and Dinwiddie have struggled the past two weeks. In the last eight games since Finney-Smith rejoined the starting lineup, he's shooting only 26.6%. Dinwiddie is at 32.8%, a sign of growing issues as he's shooting 38.7% overall this season.
Johnson, who had been one of the team’s brighter spots the last month, is shooting 35.1% on three-pointers. He had six points Monday and was 0-for-8 on threes, ending the league’s second-longest active streak with a made three-pointer at 62 games.
The stagnant offense is partly why the Nets are 1-7 in this stretch. The Nets' starters — Johnson, Finney-Smith, Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton and Mikal Bridges — have an offensive rating of 103 points per 100 possessions over the last eight games. That ranks second-worst among the NBA’s 25 most-played lineups by minutes
In first quarters? That lineup’s offensive rating dips to 100.9.
While the unit has defended well, holding teams to 101.3 points per 100 possessions, it doesn’t account for how Johnson, Finney-Smith and Dinwiddie have struggled scoring the ball. Vaughn was in no rush to make changes — though Dinwiddie played only 20 minutes Monday night — but he stressed things need to get better.
“We’re just in a position right now where you have to perform, and that’s across the board,” Vaughn said. “So that’s a challenge to the entire group from the beginning of the game to the end to be locked in and to give everything you have on both ends of the floor.”
It’s a challenge that starts with the first unit. Thomas could certainly play more minutes. The Nets could raise Lonnie Walker IV’s minutes restriction after he followed his 20-point game in Paris by going scoreless in nine minutes Monday.
But it’s on the Nets’ first five to get going as the team leaves for a three-game road trip starting Wednesday in Portland.
Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
