For the second time in three nights, the Brooklyn Nets lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, marking a rather inauspicious start to the team’s new “Big Three” era after trading for James Harden to partner with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
The new trio will get another chance to record its first win together Saturday night when the Nets host the Miami Heat at 8:00 p.m. ET on Sportsnet ONE.
Whenever new teammates get together, even superstars like the Nets have, it always takes a little bit of time to adjust and it feels like Brooklyn is going through this period right now.
And even though it was just two games, their last pair of contests with the Cavaliers can tell us a little about where the Nets are now and where they might be heading in the future.
Here are three aspects from their last two games that stood out.
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Minutes management
Durant didn’t play Friday night, presumably because of Brooklyn’s back-to-back and also because he played an obscene 50 minutes in Wednesday’s double-overtime game.
In that Wednesday affair, Brooklyn’s three superstars, and Jeff Green, all played at least 45 minutes, and Joe Harris played 42. The next closest player was DeAndre Jordan at 24 minutes.
On Friday, the workload was much better managed, mainly because it wasn’t a double-overtime game, but an issue of depth is still a hanging question mark for the Nets.
Obviously the team’s starting lineup can play, but what about its second unit? The team is relying heavily on names like Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Landry Shamet and Bruce Brown to help spur its stars and even though coach Steve Nash did a better job of distributing minutes Friday, that was more likely because he had to without Durant available.
This isn’t to say top-heavy teams can’t win, it’s just that you may end up burning those guys taking on such a heavy workload in the process of achieving victory.
Defence is a major concern
A glaring problem with the Nets over their last two games has been their defence.
On Wednesday, they surrendered 147 points to Cleveland on 51.4 per cent shooting and then gave up 125 Friday (all in regulation) on 51.7 per cent shooting.
That’s plain awful. Because they traded away their best defensive player in Jarrett Allen, as well as the long Caris LeVert, this is a team that’s going to seem sieve-like on defence more nights than not.
Just from a personnel standpoint, it feels like the Nets are going to regularly struggle to keep guys in front of them, meaning Nash and his coaching staff may need to get a little more creative with their defensive scheme to supplement.
Either that or just try to outscore teams — a risky strategy, but one they may have to resort to as it’s probably too late to start teaching new defensive principles.
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Harden looks like the third option
One of the concerns with the Nets was how the three stars would co-exist with each other. There’s only one ball after all, and they each need it to do what they do best.
So, in this regard, role certainty was always going to be paramount and there would have to be some sacrifice made somewhere with one of the three.
Oddly enough, it looks like it’s the three-time defending scoring champion Harden who’s been most willing to sacrifice some of his own buckets for the better of the team.
Over the last two games, Harden has attempted just 14 shots in each outing, but has been a dynamite distributor, dishing out 23 assists combined.
Though best known for his ability to score seemingly at will, Harden taking on more of a distributor role seems like a smart idea. He’s a great playmaker and his unique blend of size, strength and ball-handling ability allows him to make reads that other players — including a point guard like Irving — simply can’t.
If Harden really is willing to take a backseat as far as shot selection goes, Brooklyn figures to be in very good shape offensively.
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