On December 31, Beijing time, the Nets, which welcomed Durant and Aldridge, both returned and lost to the 76ers 102-110.
I have to say that the Nets' loss was really unexpected. Because this time, in terms of the state of the players, it should be the best of the season.
Harden back at the top, Mills who attacked sharply, Claxton with a fierce style, plus two of this season's mid-range shooting kings, Durant and Aldridge, fans really can't think of a reason for the Nets to lose.
However, the reality of the Nets is that they have lost. So where do you lose? Perhaps the Nets' soft and hard attributes are also among them.
The comeback of the core players affects the rhythm of other players
First of all, the performance of the two giants is very good, and the team's failure has nothing to do with the state of the core of the team. Durant shot 13-of-24 from the field and scored 33 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Harden is even better, with 33 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, which is fully back to the peak data of the Rockets.
In the past three games, Harden has scored 30+ points and 10+ assists in a single game, the first player in The Nets' history to score 30+10 in three consecutive games.
The problem, though, is that the team is a five-man combination of attack and defense, and some connections between the normal output of the two cores and other players are also very important. It is the chemistry and run-in degree of the team.
Durant's return didn't improve the team's attacking power, and instead, the team shot just 25.9 percent from three-point range. Among them, Harden's 5-of-1 and Mills's 8-of-1 are very conspicuous.
In this game, Mills lost the crosshairs. He shot 2-of-10 and 1-of-8 from three-point range. It's really sorry for his 8th place in the league for his three-point shooting percentage.
Durant's return robbed Mills of the right to shoot and disrupted the rhythm. However, this is not a big problem, and Mills should be able to quickly regain the feel and rhythm.
Too many mistakes on the team led to losses
Talking about the team's performance after the game, Nash said that the team's performance today was very lax, most of the mistakes were self-inflicted, and the team as a whole was not sharp enough.
Indeed, Durant's comeback with Aldridge has reduced the team's caution, after all, the yu wei that swept Los Angeles and the mid-shot of the god of death can easily make people think of light enemies. Corresponding laxities and mistakes followed.
The Nets made 17 turnovers in the game, including 4 by Durant and 6 by Harden. Opponents scored 15 points on a turnover, which is 7 points more than the Nets. The 76ers made just seven turnovers.
In a game where the score is glued, mistakes are fatal. Even the Nets slowly recovered from the initial surprise until the final score entanglement. It is also difficult to get rid of the damage caused by mistakes.
The team's defense remains weak
This season, the Nets have a win rate of 69.7 percent, up from 66.7 percent last season, while averaging 110.3 points per game is the lowest in four years. So, it looks like the team's defense has gotten better. But is that really the case?
This season, due to injuries and the epidemic, the overall strength of the league is worse than expected, and the gap between the rich and the poor of the teams is even wider. These factors add up to mask the Nets' defense. Even so, the Nets still have a reputation for bullying and fearing hard. Of course, these are related to Irving's absence, the attack power is insufficient, and the confidence to fight against strong teams will certainly not be enough.
That hasn't changed, the Nets win on offense, and defense remains a problem.
Especially on the inside, the strong teams on the inside are the nets' opponents.
In this game, Embiid turned the nets upside down on the defense, and the Nets could not do anything.
In an interview after the game, Nets coach Steve Nash was asked which centers could be compared to Joel Embiid: He is very unique.
But if it is really so unique, then invincible, as an interior player Embiid will not average only 46.8% shooting rate per game.
At the end of the day, it's the Nets' poor interior defense that makes Embiid look so strong.
This is a fundamental question that restricts how far the Nets can go this season. However, it now seems that Nash can not do anything about defensive problems, and the team can only rely on strong attacking power to make up for the defensive disadvantages.
epilogue
Fortunately, Irving is about to return, when the Nets will be fully formed, the offensive power will be on the next level, and the only way for other teams to stop the Nets is to target the inside and pray that the Big Three will be lost at the same time.
That doesn't mean the Nets are invincible, though. As mentioned above, the team's run-in, the attitude of the game, and the defensive game will affect the course of the game to varying degrees. What's more, the Nets are not a tough team. Unprepared and caught off guard, things happen from time to time. So, the Nets are still a long way from a championship.