Analysis: Wizards find way to slow red-hot Harris

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ -- The 2-12 Washington Wizards did on the road Tuesday what the 11-7 Utah Jazz and 11-7 Phoenix Suns couldn't do at home over the weekend.

The Wizards beat the New Jersey Nets 108-88, slowing down the red-hot Devin Harris in the process.

Harris scored 81 points in the last two games of the Nets' 3-1 trip out West, earning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors, but was held to just 18 on Tuesday. His teammates couldn't pick up the slack and the Nets showed once again that as good as their offense can be, their defense needs a lot of work.

This was a one-point game at halftime, with Harris' 15 leading all scorers. He wasn't quite eviscerating the Wizards' defense like he did to Jazz and Suns, but he was getting to the basket with relative ease.

Things changed after the break. The Wizards had played man-to-man defense for most of the first half, showing zone on just a few possessions. But they went almost exclusively to zone to start the third, and the Nets' offense suffered.

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The zone focused on Harris, who couldn't find lanes to the basket. He needed help from his teammates and they couldn't provide it. Bobby Simmons missed three jumpers and turned the ball over once when he tried to drive. Yi Jianlian missed a wide open three when Harris drew his defender and kicked it out.

"We had some great looks," Harris said afterward. "It was just one of those nights when the shots didn't fall. They tried to take away our man-to-man stuff and they gave us some wide-open looks. Guys just weren't able to knock them down."

In their first nine possessions of the third quarter, the Nets got just one score, and that was when Washington played man-to-man on an inbounds play and Harris drove right around Dee Brown for a layup. Otherwise, the zone had stymied the Nets, who shot a dismal 4-for-20 in the period.

"The zone kind of threw us for a loop a little bit," Harris admitted. "We're not used to seeing it exclusively like that. We got good looks, but when we don't hit them, we start pressing a little bit and start doing things we're not used to doing."

On the other end of the floor, the Wizards were 13-for-23, including 5-for-7 from downtown, with Antawn Jamison and DeShawn Stevenson combining for 21 points in a 35-12 third quarter that decided the game.

Before the game, new Wizards coach Ed Tapscott talked of the challenge of stopping Harris.

"It's very difficult to stop guys one-on-one in this league," he said. "You need a very strong team approach."

The Nets have been using a new dribble-drive offensive scheme this year, and it's meant to put the defense in a one-on-one situation. New Jersey doesn't use it exclusively, but it is designed to take advantage of Harris' skills by spreading the floor, taking the big man out of the middle and putting Harris' defender on an island.

"It's tough to defend partly because of the offense," Tapscott said, "and it's tough to defend partly because of the personnel. It's a good match."

New Jersey's Devin Harris found it tough to get his footing Tuesday against Washington's zone defense. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

It's a good match that has helped the Nets to a 9-8 start this season -- maybe the biggest surprise in the NBA. The trade that sent Jason Kidd to Dallas was supposed to be the end of an era in New Jersey, but it may instead be the beginning of one. Last year's Nets had more talent, but never bought in to what coach Lawrence Frank was selling and underachieved, missing the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.

With Richard Jefferson also sent packing over the summer, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but with Harris looking like Most Improved material and then some, the Nets could greatly surpass expectations.

The problem is that Harris won't be scoring 40 points every night. As the Wizards did Tuesday, teams will take away his lanes to the basket, and in order to continue winning, the Nets will need to prove that they're more than a one-trick pony.

Vince Carter has played well all season, combining with Harris to create the highest scoring tandem in the league. But the rest of the team has been inconsistent at best offensively. That's also been the case at the other end of the floor.

Tonight's game, with the Wizards shooting 52 percent from the field and a scorching 13-for-24 from three-point range, was just the latest example of the Nets' porous defense. Good teams should be able to rely on their defense when the offense isn't there. The Nets can't do that.

When asked about his team's defense before the game, Frank was, well, frank.

"Are we going to be a lock-down defensive team? Probably not," he said. "Can we be a bend-but-not-break defensive team, at minimum? Without a doubt."

They're not there yet, though. And when your defense is bad and your supporting cast inconsistent, you have small margin of error.

The Nets showed that Tuesday.