{"id":521220,"date":"2026-01-06T23:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/521220\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T23:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:20:11","slug":"the-december-blueprint-behind-the-nets-defensive-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/521220\/","title":{"rendered":"The December blueprint behind the Nets\u2019 defensive surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a month, defense became Brooklyn\u2019s identity. Not the loud, chest-thumping kind, but the quiet sort that turned the Nets<\/a> from a punchline into a problem.<\/p>\n

December ended with Brooklyn leading the NBA in opponent scoring, allowing just 104.6 points per game, nearly six points better than the next-lowest team in the Eastern Conference. It was a sharp reversal for a group that entered the month allowing 113.9 points per game and searching for traction.<\/p>\n

The question now is whether that version of the Nets can carry into January.<\/p>\n

So far, the early returns have been mixed, though it\u2019s still a small sample. Brooklyn (11-22) is 1-2 to start the new year, with losses to the Houston Rockets and the Washington Wizards and a win over the Denver Nuggets<\/a>. The Nets own a 123.3 defensive rating through three January games, which ranks 26th in the NBA, after surrendering 120 points to Houston, 119 to Washington and 115 to Denver.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn was missing multiple rotation players in both January losses, and Nikola Joki\u0107 didn\u2019t play in the win over Denver. Still, the contrast with December is hard to ignore.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Nets didn\u2019t just defend. They finished possessions. They controlled space. They forced mistakes. Brooklyn ranked third in the NBA and second in the East by holding opponents to 44.8% shooting, and third in the NBA and second in the East by limiting teams to 32.8% from 3-point range. They ranked sixth in the NBA by forcing 15.4 turnovers per game, and fifth in the league with a 72.1% defensive rebound rate. Opponents averaged just 12.5 second-chance points per game, the fewest in the East, and the Nets held teams to 107 points or fewer eight times, the most in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Those results weren\u2019t tied to one lineup or one player. They were tied to collective habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust 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,\u201d Ziaire Williams said.<\/p>\n

Those principles showed up again Sunday against Denver, even with the Nuggets missing their MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I liked the aggressiveness, and it was from the first possession,\u201d head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cDay\u2019Ron [Sharpe] on the blitz and putting pressure. Obviously, we knew that Jamal [Murray] is a super player\u2026 I think our guys did a good job wearing him out and making him work.\u201d<\/p>\n

That aggressiveness defined December. Under Fern\u00e1ndez, Brooklyn posted a +7.3-point margin of victory, after entering the month at -10.9. The Nets held opponents under control consistently, including a five-game stretch from Dec. 14\u201327 in which no opponent scored more than 107 points. Four Nets finished December ranked among the NBA\u2019s top 10 in individual defensive rating, including rookies Drake Powell (91.9) and Danny Wolf (97.1), alongside Sharpe (97.1).<\/p>\n

December also showed how offense fed defense. Under Fern\u00e1ndez, the Nets ranked third in the NBA with a 71.2% assist percentage, their best mark of the season. That ball movement helped reduce live-ball turnovers, allowing Brooklyn to get set defensively and limit transition chances for opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think defensive rebounding is one, transition is the other one, ball pressure is another one,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cOur offense can help our defense and finishing possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

That connection will be tested as Cam Thomas continues his reintegration. Most of Brooklyn\u2019s December defensive success came with Thomas off the floor, as he played just the final two games of the month. In his first eight games of the season, the Nets posted a 125.1 defensive rating, which ranked 30th in the NBA. That isn\u2019t an indictment, but it does set the standard. Fern\u00e1ndez has continued to expect more from Thomas defensively, and January will offer a proving ground.<\/p>\n

The blueprint exists. December showed it wasn\u2019t accidental.<\/p>\n

The Nets defended with structure, buy-in and discipline, even while playing rookies 74.5 minutes per game, the second-most in the NBA during the month. January will decide whether that month was a turning point, or simply a glimpse.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust do it again,\u201d Noah Clowney said. \u201cWe just played three, four teams in a row. A lot of them scored a lot of points, so, just lock in and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a month, defense became Brooklyn\u2019s identity. Not the loud, chest-thumping kind, but the quiet sort that turned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,248,6,671,4610],"class_list":{"0":"post-521220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-jordi-fernandez","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nets","15":"tag-ziaire-williams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115850721714017332","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}