Nic Claxton’s defense on Trae Young helps lead Nets past Hawks, 113-105

ATLANTA — It’s time to take the training wheels off Nic Claxton’s bike. He is far too big to still be riding a tricycle.

The third-year big man was the difference-maker in the Nets’ 113-105 win over the Hawks on Friday. He was the driving force in helping neutralize All-Star scorer Trae Young and helped anchor the Nets’ defense in the fourth quarter, where they outscored Atlanta 24-14, to pull away for the victory.

Claxton is the Nets’ best defender at the center spot. He takes pride in switching onto dynamic guards and believes none of them can score on him. It was hard to argue his case after the job he did guarding Young both on and off the ball.

“Well, he’s such a versatile defender. He’s guarding [Hawks center Clint Capela] one minute, he’s guarding Trae Young the next,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said. “So we can go to our switching defense and just mix it up and keep bodies in front of the ball, and when he’s able to guard like that it makes it very difficult for the other team.”

Claxton was a cloak draped all over Young, who found it difficult to blow by him off the dribble and even more difficult to shake free when trying to create a passing lane for a teammate. His performance was the embodiment of all the reasons why Nash should insert him back into the rotation, permanently: If not as a starter then undeniably as the first big man off the bench.

“He understands what this role is on this veteran team,” Kevin Durant said. “He was out a couple months, so for him to come in and be a situational type of guy right now, he understands that. He did that somewhat last year and somewhat his rookie year, so he’s starting to understand the flow of the game and tonight he was incredible.

“Those two dunks, those really ignited our team, got our bench going and gave us some energy. We needed that.”

In recent games, the first big off the bench role has gone to Paul Millsap, the veteran forward who has earned a title as a Swiss-army knife due to his ability to impact the game in a number of ways. Millsap, however, is going on 36 years old and is no longer the same player who was a perennial All-Star in Atlanta and Utah. Blake Griffin has also been relegated to a bench role after his inability to hit open shots earlier in the season.

Enter Claxton, who gives the Nets a completely different profile on both ends of the floor than LaMarcus Aldridge, who is a scoring machine and rim protector that doesn’t have nearly the same impact when switching in pick-and-rolls. In fact, the Nets traditionally opt not to switch and instead to drop Aldridge back as a rim protector.

Claxton can guard anyone on the floor and is a jump-out-the-gym athlete who recorded a ferocious putback dunk upon entering the game. He has had more than enough practice defending superstar scorers having played against three future Hall of Famers in practice and training camp each of the past two seasons.

“By now people kind of know [guarding one through five] what I do,” Claxton said. “Teams may not know but everybody in the organization, people that watch us closely they know that’s what I do. And I have a lot of practice guarding guys like that. Herky jerky smaller guards, guarding Kyrie [Irving]. I feel like that definitely helped me prepare for moments like that and I definitely take a lot of pride in that.”

The issue, however, is that Claxton didn’t enter the game until the second half. Nash opted to play Millsap, who missed all four of his shots and badly airballed an open corner three before he was pulled from the game. Meanwhile, the Nets outscored the Hawks by nine points in Claxton’s minutes on the floor.

It’s his biggest case for more minutes since he returned from a bout with an undisclosed illness that cost him 17 games at the beginning of the season.

The best way for Claxton to improve his conditioning isn’t on the treadmill or in practice but in real-world situations, like chasing Young off the ball and hounding him on it.

Nash has repeatedly referred to Claxton as a developmental player, pointing to the fact that he has yet to play 82 total games now midway through his third NBA season. That much is true, Claxton has a long way to go before he realizes his potential as a rim-runner and protector, but it’s clear he can make an immediate impact on this Nets team if he gets the opportunity.

“I think in the first half [Aldridge] was scoring the ball for us and doing a good job offensively but we had to change something in that second half,” Nash said. “We thought bringing Nic on for his activity and length at both ends of the floor, but in particular when he switches on guards he’s excellent. So putting him and Kevin in a switching defense where they can cover multiple positions was a nice change-up for us and something we’ve gone to obviously many times this year, but that’s where Nic is a special player is he can guard multiple positions.”

The Hawks tested the Nets on Friday night. Young shot just 10-of-27 from the field thanks to a joint effort by Claxton, Bruce Brown and the other defenders on Brooklyn’s roster, but what makes the Hawks such a tough team to deal with is the number of options they have on offense.

While Young didn’t have a red-hot night, Kevin Huerter torched the Nets for five threes, Danilo Gallinari scored 13 off the bench, and John Collins and Clint Capela combined for 34 points and 22 rebounds. Yet the Nets had an impressive offensive performance themselves: six players scored in double figures, led by 31 from Durant and 20 from James Harden.

While the offense still has ground to make up, the Nets defense is for real, and Claxton’s presence on the floor takes the defense to another level.

It’s time for Nash to take Claxton’s training wheels off. He is a difference-maker, even if he’s still a developmental player.