Inside The Nets' Power Of 'Belief'
It's been a long time since the Brooklyn Nets (23-12) achieved a 10-game win streak. In fact, the franchise wasn't even located in the borough the last time a winning streak reached double digits. For a Nets team that tipped off the regular season with plenty of questions marks, almost everything is clicking on all cylinders; and that's due to the power of belief.
"It's belief, and that's a huge part of the NBA," said Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn after Wednesday's road victory against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. "[It] Is the confidence and belief, no matter what situation you can come out on the other side."
Brooklyn, who started the regular season 2-5 and parted ways with ex. head coach Steve Nash, have gone 11-1 in the month of December to rise to the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings. To dive deeper, the Nets have gone 21-7 since Vaughn served his first game as head coach on Nov. 1 (19-5 since the 'acting head coach' tag was removed).
Since the former lead assistant, who has been on the Nets' bench since 2016, took over the head chair for Brooklyn, the players have raved about his simplification on both ends of the floor. In the 28 games he's coached, Vaughn has held the players accountable. His leadership has resonated throughout the locker room and his messaging has cleanly translated to the hardwood at the highest of ability.
"When you follow the game plan and it works, you start believing more and more," Kevin Durant told reporters in Atlanta postgame. "I felt like we didn't have an identity to start the season, and then we started to figure it out these last few weeks, this last month or so.
"We walk into every game believing, 'All right, if we stick to this template, this structure that we have, we'll be fine regardless of what goes on in the game.' Just knowing what we want to do every time we step on the floor keeps our mind at ease. We'll have belief in whatever Jacque tells us."
For a Nets team that is riding one of the best win streaks in franchise history, as well as winning 14 of their last 15 contests, Vaughn's unique approach to games has certainly paid off: boxing out shootarounds and practices. While the players enjoy the extra rest and have supported Vaughn's trimmings of additional prep work, the head coach fully expects each player, whether in or out of the rotation, to be ready when their number is called.
"It really boils down to the individuals really understanding what our goal was when we sat on this together. When your number is called, that you are available, you're ready to play," Vaughn stated. "Your professional and we're going to treat you that way. I'm gonna talk to you as a professional, mature like.
"It's a little bit of that wrapped into the belief, the momentum, us covering for each other, and just believing that everybody is going to be used. This team, a great piece of who we are is the depth that we have. We've seen it, we've used it, we're going to continue to use it. It's evident in games like this [Wednesday's road win vs. Hawks]."
After taking care of business during a favorable regular season slate, Brooklyn have proved their worth, belonging in the conversation as strong Eastern Conference title contenders. Two of the Nets' most recent wins came against a Khris Middleton-less Milwaukee Bucks team at Barclays Center and a strong Cleveland Cavaliers on the road.
"Jacque [is] holding us accountable," Kyrie Irving said. "Him coming in as head coach and putting his own DNA on it, and us just following the game plan."
There is no secret when you browse Brooklyn's upcoming slate to start the New Year, it's a schedule packed with playoff or championship caliber teams hungry to throw the Nets' off the winning track. In the words of Durant, 'You want to have your best basketball ahead of you.'
"You want to have your best basketball ahead of you," Durant stated. "You don't want to be peaking at this point. We see some stuff that we can obviously get better at, see some stuff that worked, but it comes down to the individual and how bad you want it.
"We got a nice template, a nice structure, but each individual got to keep bringing it every day and follow the game plan. I feel like all of us can keep getting better individually and bring that to the group as a collective."
