In the NBA regular season, the Nets lost 104-118 at home to the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies had a five-game winning streak, with Morant having 36 points, six rebounds and eight assists, Bane 29 points, eight rebounds and two steals; the Nets suffered three straight losses after the loss, Durant had 26 points, 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks, and Harden had 19 points and 8 assists.
There is no doubt that the Brooklyn Nets had a nightmare night, originally thought they would rebound from the humiliating defeat against the Clippers, but the team waited for a humiliating defeat, in the third quarter, the Nets were played by the Grizzlies in a wave of 26-0 super offensive, during which the Nets did not make any positive and effective response, the home fans were also beaten by the opponent, more ironically, the fourth quarter game, The Nets, after sending a substitute, once forced the point difference to only 10 points, which also highlighted the Nets' main rotation players' attitude and serious abnormalities in the performance of the game.
Heading into 2022, the Nets have yet to taste victory, losing the first game when they are out of the main force and the opponent is missing almost all the important rotation players, and today their Barclays center is once again attacked by the opponent.
And after this game, the Nets' record against the top four teams in the East and West this season is a pitiful 0-7.... This can not help but ask: what is wrong with this Nets team, are they still a championship team?
Usually, as the core of the team, you undoubtedly need to be responsible for the team's loss, especially in such a fiasco, Durant's personal performance can also be described as extremely bad, the whole game Durant played 31 minutes, the last quarter did not appear, in this 31 minutes, the Nets lost 23 points, ranking last among all players, from the efficiency point of view, Durant is also difficult to blame, the whole game he shot only 8 of 24, far below his season shooting average of 52%.
Worse, this is not Durant's first recent aberration, facing the Clippers without Leonard, no George, no Batum, Durant only 24 shots 11 of the game, in fact, in his 3 games since his comeback on December 31, Durant only had the first game against the 76ers to play normally, 13 of 24 shots, of course, can only be said to be normal, not highlight.
Moreover, in Durant's 3 games back, the Nets are difficult to win, from the game point of view, Durant is obviously not fully into the rhythm of the game, the connection between him and the team is no longer as close as before, more often, he can only rely on his super singles ability to score, rarely can form a good pass with teammates.
As we all know, the 33-year-old Durant is still alive after experiencing a ruptured Achilles tendon, but he has been absent for 14 days because of the trigger of the health and safety agreement, which can't help but make people wonder whether Durant has been affected by the new crown pneumonia, resulting in his current physical state can not reach the normal level, to know that before Durant was absent because of the health and safety agreement, he cut 30+ in three consecutive games, including a triple-double with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, and a 51-point performance.
Before the game against the Grizzlies, Harden had scored 30+ in four consecutive games, setting a personal record for the season, but this night, he and the Nets were lost together, and Harden only had 19 points and 8 assists on 5-of-14 shooting in the whole game.
What kind of player Harden is obviously not too elaborate, but from the overall situation of this season, today's Harden and the Nets, or Durant seems to be unable to achieve the effect of 1+1 greater than 2, when Durant could not play because of health and safety agreements, Harden's play was extremely excellent, Christmas war against the Lakers, he cut a triple-double of 36 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, led the team to win, and then against the Clippers, Harden bombed a super double-double data of 39 points and 15 assists. After Durant's comeback, although Harden won 30+ triple-doubles against the 76ers and the Clippers, the Nets lost, and from Harden's data, it can be seen that the number of shots he shot in these two games was relatively reduced, which undoubtedly affected his personal rhythm to a certain extent, such as the previous game against almost all the speedboats, Harden was able to bomb 39 points, but against the residual Clippers, Harden was "only" 34 points, and the efficiency was also a serious decline.
During his time with the Rockets, Harden proved that as long as he let go of the game, he averaged 36 points per game, but after joining the Nets, Harden undoubtedly sacrificed a lot of opportunities to attack independently, and his number of blocking and dismantling launches was significantly reduced, because he needed to give Durant the ball, he was only the team's second offensive point, but this undoubtedly affected Harden's power on the offensive end, most of this season he has Durant around him, and his current average of points per game and projection of shooting rate are the lowest in recent years.
The combination of Harden and Durant is naturally impossible to be broken up, but now Durant can still play his favorite basketball, and Harden can't really be himself, in this case, the two will be difficult to achieve the effect of 1+1 greater than 2, so how to make both of them better do themselves will be the next problem that the Nets must solve.
Losing to the Grizzlies in a 3-game losing streak, Nets coach Steve Nash was once again pushed to the forefront, the player's organizational master has now become the representative of the "don't know the ball" in the eyes of fans, this time Nash in the absence of Aldridge, let Bembrey into the starting lineup, and Mills, Harden, Durant and center Clarkston, the three main rotations on the bench are Griffin, Bruce Brown and Johnson.
It can be clearly seen that such a set of lineups has obvious shortcomings, the overall shooting ability of the first outside line is extremely poor, the team only has three real outside projection points of Durant, Harden and Mills, plus the Mills 6 shots in this game have no feel, so it is easy for the Grizzlies to limit the Nets' offense, they only need to focus on Durant and Harden, the Nets' three-point shooting rate is less than 30%, and this is achieved when Javin Carter and Griffin both magically shot two three-pointers.
There is no space on the outside, and the lack of height on the inside line directly leads to the team's far loss to the opponent in the rebounding struggle (33-61), in the absence of Ader, the Nets only have a real high point for Clarkston, compared to the opponent has Adams, Jaren Jackson and others Undoubtedly there is a significant gap, the lack of internal strength has also caused the Nets to get into trouble many times this season.
There are obvious shortcomings in the lineup that naturally restrict the performance of the Nets, but Nash can not be alone, in terms of employment, the Nets' performance in the fourth quarter, undoubtedly completely hit Nash's face, after the game entered the garbage time, Nash can not expand the rotation, and after playing, the young Sharp, Thomas and others broke out the nets unprecedented vitality, once narrowed the point difference, in fact, in the previous Durant and other people because of the absence of health and safety agreements, the Nets' young players have a good play, Obviously they need more opportunities because they're younger and they can provide the energy that veterans like James Johnson and Griffin can't provide.
-------- Conclusion--------
The Nets' next game will be away to the Pacers, that will also be Irving's season debut, will Irving be the Nets' savior? At least on the offensive end, he can better balance the offensive proportions of Harden and Durant, and will also give the team a lot of help in breakthroughs. Irving is undoubtedly lucky, in the context of the team's three-game losing streak, Irving has an excellent comeback environment, he is expected to quickly use performance to shout something like "you need me too much", but even if Irving comes back, the overall strength of the Nets' internal line, Nash's employment and other issues will continue to exist, the league's most luxurious team, obviously not a favorite team for the championship for the time being.
Wen | Li Hui
Edit the | DBSQ