The Brooklyn Nets are loaded with playoff experience and elite scorers as they approach the NBA playoffs, but there is a crucial piece in a 22-year-old with zero playoff minutes, 47 career NBA games, and not a bit of worry about what he does on the offensive end.
“This is my second year in the league, and I’m in the rotation,” said Nic Claxton. “So I definitely don’t take any of this for granted. I’ve had a lot of other people on the coaching staff talking to me and telling me, ‘Don’t take any of this for granted.’ I’m in that situation right now where I’m blessed, I’m excited and I’m ready to get things started.”
The Nets have seen plenty of changes at center over the course of the season, but Nets head coach Steve Nash said the playoff plan starts with the way things looked at the end of the regular season, and over the final week that meant Claxton coming off the bench and roughly splitting minutes with starter Blake Griffin.
“He’s really a rookie,” said Nash. “Him going into postseason with high expectations it’s not easy but at the same time if he plays hard and uses his length and athleticism we can allow him to make some mistakes. Our team should be good enough to allow him to make some inexperienced plays and still have an impact on the game because of his profile. A guy that plays that hard and is that long and athletic he can do a lot of things and help our team in a lot of ways and I think we can suffer some mistakes out of him due to inexperience because of his skill set.”
Claxton made an impact from the time he made his season debut on Feb. 23 with the Nets looking for help at center. The 6-foot-11, 215-pound big man jumped right in the rotation and gave the Nets a rim-running outlet on the offensive end while charging up the defense with his ability to challenge shots in the paint and switch out onto guards to foil pick-and-rolls.
While the Nets finished the season 22nd in defensive rating (113.1), they allowed just 102.1 points per 100 possessions while Claxton was on the court and 114.6 when he was off.
“Honestly, we don’t need any scoring,” said Claxton. “We have some of the best scorers, really great shooters. Where I fill in is just on the defensive end and just being that sparkplug off the bench, bringing that intensity, and then offensively, just taking what the defense gives me, being a live threat and going out there and having fun. That’s when I play my best basketball.”
After health and safety protocols sidelined Claxton for two weeks into early May, he worked his way back into form over Brooklyn’s final seven games, particularly the five-game winning streak to close the season.
Now it’s time for an entirely different experience, and Brooklyn’s veterans are preparing him for the different feel of playoff basketball.
“I actually told him today, just physicality,” said Griffin. “He is a great defender. Super talented already. And a good player already. Just having not played in these situations, that was my message to him. We were going through something and I was like, ‘Every single possession is going to be a little more physical, especially down the stretch. And the deeper you go, the more physical.’ That’s just my message to him, but he’s already in a good position.”That physicality might be most important in protecting the defensive glass. The Celtics present a challenge with their offensive rebounding. They ranked fourth in the NBA with 10.6 offensive rebounds per game — though just 23rd in offensive rebound percentage (25.9) — and were ninth in second chance points (13.3). In three games against the Nets, the Celtics averaged 15.3 offensive rebounds.
Robert Williams is sixth in rebound percentage (18.4) and fourth in offensive rebound percentage (13.5) while Tristan Thompson is eighth in offensive rebound percentage (12.4).
“It’s the sort of thing you have to do by committee,” said Griffin. “You can’t have anybody leaking out. Everybody has to come back in. It’s not just having a mismatch down low. If there’s a great offensive rebounding team, everybody has to come back in. A lot of times guys will tip them out or things like that. Part of it is a mindset. Part of it is just effort and wanting it a little bit more. Sounds kind of corny, but that’s what it comes down to when it comes to rebounding. If there is only one big down low, two guys might have to go box him out and somebody else might have to get the rebound. Or whoever is boxing out has to take him completely off and somebody else has to go and get it. It’s not always just about boxing out and going to get it yourself.”