This morning, the Nets, plagued by the coronavirus pandemic, beat the Philadelphia 76ers 114-105 at home to continue to top the Eastern Conference with a record of 21 wins and 8 losses.
Because Harden, Ade and others can not play, the Nets continue to use an unconventional lineup in this game, Griffin, Thomas, Duke and others have gained a lot of game time, of course, the final decision of the game has to be Durant, after a short period of playing iron in the opening stage, Durant still successfully opened the death mode, the whole game 24 shots 13, three-pointers 3 shots 2, won 34 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists of the quasi-triple-double data, including the last quarter to score 13 points, harvest the game.
This season, in the context of Irving's inability to play for personal reasons and Harden's delay in finding his best form, the Nets' dependence on Durant has greatly increased, although he ranks first in the league with 29.7 points per game, which is the hottest candidate for MVP, but averaging 36.9 points per game really makes people sweat for his body, after all, he is 33 years old, after all, he has suffered a major injury to Achilles tendon rupture.
Just before today's game, coach Nash also felt sorry for Durant in an interview, saying: "Durant's performance this season has been fantastic, it's incredible, his playing time is a very important issue, I don't know if we can continue to rely on him like we are now, I don't feel right. ”
At the same time, he added: "It is not safe to rely on him like this all the time, and it is not a long-term solution." Apparently, Nash also has concerns about Durant's health, and as the manager, he can't be unaware of the hidden dangers that durant will bury in his body by using durant in this way.
But some words are good if they are not said, saying them will bring bloody rain, Nash said this, immediately by the majority of fans and netizens unanimously reprimanded, have questioned Nash duplicity, obviously enjoyed, but also to deny. And everyone almost unanimously said that it is Nash's coaching level is too low, will always rely on Durant to stand up to solve the problem.
Netizens' doubts about Nash are not unreasonable, and his employment strategy has always been hugely controversial, relying too much on superstars and main lineups, lack of trust in young people, and the ability to adjust on the spot.
Obviously, as a rookie who only stepped into the coaching position last season, Nash still has a clear gap in technical and tactical level and employment strategy, which is considered to be the biggest shortcoming of the team.
Perhaps, the impact from the epidemic is a good thing for Nash, at least it gives him the opportunity to change his strategy, to use and trust young people and some marginal players, to find value in them, and perhaps in the future, his rotation lineup will be expanded, Durant's rest time can be increased, in order to really get rid of durant's high dependence.
As he said of young players in an interview today: "I just told them not to worry too much, to play freely, to play good basketball." I believe them very much. "Hopefully he'll do what he says."