![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/attempts-pass-away-brooklyn-nets-115697310.jpg\")
Jaylen Brown attempts to pass away from Drake Powell (4) during the second half of the Nets\u2019 loss to the Celtics on Nov. 18, 2025. AP<\/p>\nWhile the bar was set pretty low early on, the Nets have at least shown improvement on defense after opening the year with some of the worst stats in the league.<\/p>\n
As Ziaire Williams noted this week, \u201cNone of us are cool with being dead last in the league on defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was something the players were aware of and even though wins have been elusive, they are at least not getting run over by opponents lately.<\/p>\n
After allowing 125 or more points in seven of their first 10 games, they haven\u2019t allowed more than 119 in any of their last four as they head to Boston to face the Celtics for a second straight game.<\/p>\n
And the presence of Drake Powell has played a role in that improvement.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-6 rookie has earned more playing time because of his ability on defense, something he was known for coming out of North Carolina, as the Nets selected him 22nd overall.<\/p>\n
He barely got on the court in the team\u2019s first eight games, bothered by a sprained ankle, but he\u2019s averaged over 22 minutes a game over the last six.<\/p>\n
Jaylen Brown attempts to pass away from Drake Powell (4) during the second half of the Nets\u2019 loss to the Celtics on Nov. 18, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
In that time, he\u2019s shown the Nets what they expected on that side of the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very capable of being one of the best perimeter defenders in the league,\u2019\u2019 Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said after practice Thursday. \u201cHe\u2019s just a rookie right now, and he doesn\u2019t even know it, but I see the tools. He just has to keep embracing that part and believing that he can do it. And what he\u2019s doing right now is good, but it could be even better. If he has that belief, conviction and work ethic, the sky\u2019s the limit for him defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
More time on the court against top competition will only help Powell, according to Noah Clowney.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the length he\u2019s got, he could be our best on-ball defender by the end of the year,\u2019\u2019 Clowney said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just getting accustomed to facing the best players in the world that will be a challenge for this rookie-filled Nets team this season.<\/p>\n
As Fern\u00e1ndez pointed out, few, if any, have seen a schedule like the one the Nets have coming this week, with three games in four days, \u2014 all three in different locations (Boston on Friday, Toronto on Sunday and then home against the Knicks on Monday).<\/p>\n
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You have to travel to get to each game, and it\u2019s going to be three in four nights,\u2019\u2019 Fern\u00e1ndez said.\u201cSo how do you prepare your body [and yourself] mentally because it can be overwhelming?\u201d said Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n
That mental side can be as tough as the physical, according to the coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody talks about the rookie wall halfway through the season,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI think you have to even cut it to, \u2018How do you take back-to-back [games]? How do you take three- and fours? How do you take five- and- eights? It\u2019s important. It\u2019s very valuable for their growth.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the bar was set pretty low early on, the Nets have at least shown improvement on defense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-46931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}