Brooklyn Nets Interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo Associated Press

Former coach Avery Johnson Associated Press

The Nets under P.J. Carlesimo may have unexpectedly become one of the NBA's best teams. But their path to success has been very conventional: Brooklyn dominates the glass and the amount of time spent at the charity stripe.

Since they promoted Carlesimo on Dec. 27, the Nets are 12-4, the second-best record in the league through Saturday and far better than the 14-14 record they had compiled under former coach Avery Johnson. Brooklyn's 50-point advantage over opponents during that period can be traced entirely to taking a league-best 130 more free throws than opponents, according to Meanwhile, they've hauled down 61 more rebounds, too—the fifth best differential in the NBA after being only plus-22 (14th) through their first 28 games.

These changes appear far from random and instead can be attributed to significant changes in how Carlesimo deploys players and diagrams his offense. For example, the Nets' best rebounder, Reggie Evans, is starting and playing about five more minutes a game for Carlesimo. And since the coaching change, Brooklyn has attempted just 62 more threes than opponents (seventh-most), down from 147 under Johnson (second-most behind the plus-219 for the Knicks). Carlesimo's Nets have instead focused more on working the ball into the paint, where the points are easier and whistles more frequent. Center Brook Lopez has been the primary beneficiary, seeing his scoring climb from 17.5 points per game to just over 20 for Carlesimo. And that's almost entirely due to seeing his free throws per game increase to 6.3 from 4.1.

While Carlesimo seems to have built a solid foundation for continued success, there's been some good fortune at work, too. Consider Brooklyn shot just 73.1% from the line under Johnson (22nd) versus opponents' 75.3% (17th). For Carlesimo, the Nets' free-throw shooting has improved to a ninth-best 77.8%, while opponents have converted a league-worst 69.4%.

—Michael Salfino

A Tale of Two Coaches

The Nets have gone 12-4 since promoting P.J. Carlesimo to head coach, largely because Carlesimo has focused more on getting rebounds and taking fewer threes.

Stat Carlesimo Johnson
Win % .750 ..500

Net Points

+50 +4

Net Total Rebounds

+61 +22

Net Free Throws Attempted

+130 +96

Net Free-Throw %

+0.83 -0.02

Net Three-Pointers Attempted

+62 +147