After registering a game-high 16 rebounds in the Nets’ 96-88 defeat of the Toronto Raptors on Monday, starting center Nic Claxton has now recorded a career-best 34 double-digit rebounding games this season.
Claxton has appeared in 62 games for Brooklyn this season. Last season he had 33 double-digit rebounding games in 76 appearances.
“[The Raptors] went small, and just to take advantage of that, Nic really attacked the backboards and got us some extra possessions,” interim head coach Kevin Ollie said. “So it was huge because we had the 20 turnovers, so that just combated the 20 turnovers.”
Despite the Nets‘ struggles in 2023-24, the 24-year-old has averaged 12.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists this season while shooting 63.2% from the field. While it has been an up and down season for everyone across Brooklyn’s roster, he still feels like he has met his individual goals.
The soon-to-be unrestricted free agent leads Brooklyn in rebounds and blocks (2.0) this season.
“It’s been tough with new coaches, new players, new system, but I’m just doing the best that I can,” Claxton said. “There’s always areas in my game where I can improve, whether it’s offensive rebounding, whether it’s protecting the rim. So, there’s always ways to improve, but I’m definitely doing my thing.”
The Nets have won just two of their last 10 games, with the season-worst six game losing streak stuffed in between, but Claxton believes the only way forward as a franchise is to focus more on the games left in front of them, rather than the struggles behind them.
Brooklyn is 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings with just 10 games left entering Wednesday’s road matchup against the Washington Wizards.
“You have to stay in the present, one game at a time,” Claxton said. “We can’t worry about all the games we’ve lost so far this season. We can’t focus on all the games we need to win. We just have to take it one game at a time.”
Claxton has an ideal matchup tonight against a Washington team that allows the most points and the most rebounds against opposing centers in the league. The Wizards also rank first in pace and 29th in defensive rating, meaning Claxton’s rim-running prowess should be on full display with little defensive resistance.
The center has averaged 11.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks across three games against the Wizards this season. The Nets will be without Cam Johnson, Dennis Smith Jr., Keita Bates-Diop and possibly Cam Thomas on Wednesday.
