Nets' Ball Pressure Forced Tyrese Maxey Into Worst Shooting Performance of the Season

The Brooklyn Nets had a tall task ahead of them if they were to escape the City of Brotherly Love with a win, and that was to take Tyrese Maxey, who is averaging over 30 points per contest, out of his game.

The Nets did just that, holding the shifty, 6-foot-2 guard to 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting in their 114-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.

Brooklyn has a lot of size at each of its positions, which was especially useful at the guard spots. The Nets had Terance Mann take on the primary assignment of defending Maxey, but Egor Demin and Nolan Traore also had some good looking stops on the Kentucky product.

“I think our ball pressure was good. We always have bodies in front, and we all know how special a player he is and how disruptive he is,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “He can drive you crazy throughout a game because he's that good. Today, he probably didn't have the impact, but still, he creates so much attention. Every time he was running to get the ball, or had the ball in his hands, we were aware. So happy for the guys, I think they did a great job. Not just against him, but the whole game defensively was a good game.”

The Nets made Maxey work off the ball and prevented him from getting any space off of screen actions. Maxey was clearly flustered at times throughout the contest and appeared to have lost confidence, especially when Demin forced him to take an extra step back on an ill-advised 3-point attempt.

"He just wasn't in a good flow tonight," Nic Claxton said after a long pause and a quick chuckle. "I think he was a little frustrated. Some things may have been getting in his way a little bit out there, so I think it might've flustered him a little bit."

The Nets' defense has really stepped up in December after getting off to an extremely poor start on that side of the floor on the season, boasting the league's best defensive rating (102.8).

Maxey had some success beating his defenders off the dribble during the game, but the Nets' defense made the right switches and got in his way on drives to the rim.

Brooklyn may experiment with some the same defensive schemes in upcoming matchups against Anthony Edwards, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant.