Nets’ Jacque Vaughn says team ‘got some answers’ despite Hawks loss

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has been consistent in his messaging for Brooklyn, regardless of who’s on the roster. However, after the trades of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, he’s had to maintain his messaging while trying to figure out his rotation and how his team should operate given the new personnel.

In Sunday’s 129-127 heartbreaking loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Vaughn had to pull every stop in order to coach the Nets in their comeback from an 18-point deficit. Vaughn said earlier in the week that he was looking to shorten his rotation and it appears that he did that in this contest.

After playing Joe Harris (six minutes) and Seth Curry (seven minutes) in the first half, neither of the veterans saw the floor in the second half. In the second half, Vaughn limited his rotation to seven guys and that looked to be when Brooklyn had its best flow on both ends of the floor. He said after the game that the team got some answers and the rotation may be one of them:

“That was a little bit my message at the end of the game. I think we solved some problems or a little bit, we got a few answers tonight. We’ll continue to get more answers as we go forward. I thought we were more physical and aggressive in our defensive stance and how we put our hands on people. We were just more aggressive at the end of the day. And, that allowed us to get some stops and get out in transition and get some really good looks from the field. But, it all started with our defensive stance.”