The Nets got their first taste of a game without Ben Simmons on Saturday when they lost to the Celtics in Brooklyn and while his presence was missed throughout the game, it had its biggest impact on the pace of their offense.
After coming into Saturday having scored a league-high 23.4 fast-break points per game, the Nets were held to a season-low seven versus the Celtics, a result of Simmons not pushing the ball at point guard.
Simmons missed the game with what the team said was a prearranged night off to manage his back injury since the Nets were on the second game of a back-to-back for the first time this season.
Without him, they had their three-game winning streak snapped.
“Definitely a different style without him out there,’’ Spencer Dinwiddie said. “Obviously, we want to play with our arguably best player at all times. Again, we’re gonna go as far as him and Mikal [Bridges] take us, and now obviously with Cam [Thomas] playing so well to start the season, those three, for sure.”
Simmons joined the injured Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton on the bench and while they got 27 points from Thomas against the Celtics, they were unable to overcome a cold shooting night from Bridges, whose 19 points came on 7 of 20 shooting from the floor.
As a team, the Nets continued to please head coach Jacque Vaughn by taking a lot of 3-pointers, but they also shot a season-worst 43 percent from the floor and just 32.7 percent from 3.
The poor shooting and lackluster fast break could be attributed both to the second game of a back-to-back, as well as Simmons being out and Vaughn pointed to both as reasons.
“I think it’s a combination,’’ Vaughn said. “I don’t think it’s just one thing. Ben is extremely important — I’ll say that first — into how we want to play, the pace that he plays with, makes or misses. You play a high-level team like [the Celtics], who makes shots, then you’re not gonna be able to push at the pace that you want to.”
They will look for that to change against Milwaukee on Monday. Unlike Boston, which ranks fifth in the NBA by giving up just 11.4 fast-break points per game, the Bucks are last in the league in the category, at 20.2 points per game.
And with Simmons expected to be back in the lineup, the Nets should get back to running on Monday.
“Ben’s a big factor on our team, one of our starters, so obviously it hurts not having him out there, and [the fast-break total is] gonna drop,’’ Bridges said. “But that’s why you wish you had those guys when you don’t and you’ve just got to make it up on different things.’’
Vaughn was still encouraged by some of what the Nets were able to do against the undefeated Celtics.
“For us to still shoot 50 3s without Ben was interesting,’’ Vaughn said after the loss. “If we can combine that, when Ben is in, to shoot 50 and have pace and have fast-break points, that’s the Holy Grail for us, obviously. But [we] definitely miss Ben and his ability to push the basketball. It is elite and makes us a different team.”
— Additional reporting by Brian Lewis
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