Nets rewind: Why does Hollins refuse to go big vs. small foes?

Here's three thoughts on the Nets' 103-100 victory over the Kings in Sacramento Wednesday night:

1. The Nets fell into a familiar pattern of fading away as the game wore on, exacerbated by another disturbing trend: allowing a team featuring a smaller lineup to gash their defense.

When teams go small against the Nets, it exposes the team's biggest weakness – its lack of athleticism – a problem made even worse by the absence of Deron Williams during his ongoing recovery from fractured rib cartilage. It reared its head again when the Kings went with Rudy Gay at power forward and DeMarcus Cousins at center. The Nets simply didn't have the athleticism on the perimeter to handle this, and it allowed the Kings to storm back into the game.

Nets coach Lionel Hollins doesn't appear willing to consider going big and making teams match up with him. He's repeatedly gone small in these spots, moving Joe Johnson to power forward. When asked if he thought about going big Wednesday, he responded, "No."

2. Some may have questioned whether Hollins should have gone to Mason Plumlee more in this game, but this to me was a perfect example of how the Plumlee-Lopez center tandem should work.

Plumlee got into some early foul trouble, and Lopez came into the game and dominated, finishing with 22 points, six rebounds and six blocked shots in 38 minutes. When that happens, Lopez should stay in the game and play a big role – just as when Plumlee gets going, as he often has this season, he should remain in the game.

Because of the awkwardness of Plumlee and Lopez playing together, there's always going to be one of them left out in the cold in terms of playing time. On this night, Hollins struck the right balance.

3. The Nets continued to struggle knocking down 3-pointers, finishing 5-for-20 to remain the single worst 3-point shooting team in the league (26.5 percent) since the start of January.

If they can't get this particular problem solved – namely if they can't get guys like Mirza Teletovic and Bojan Bogdanovic consistently knocking down shots from behind the arc – then their offense simply won't get going.