This offseason, the Nets maintained the super big three combination of "Durant + Harden + Irving", and even introduced Mills, Aldridge and others; if you look at the lineup alone, the Nets are indeed much stronger than last season.
Therefore, the outside world also has greater expectations for the Nets in the new season - believing that relying on the advantages of the super big three + the assistance of powerful players, they will definitely be able to play a dominant force. However, since the new season, although the Nets have barely maintained the top record in the East with Durant's "extraordinary" play, their actual performance on the field has not been satisfactory.
Irving's absence, Harden's decline, becoming the Nets can not play the dominance of the "back of the pot"?
Long before the start of the new season, it was determined that Irving would be missing games indefinitely. It's just that almost everyone at the time was relatively optimistic about the Nets - thinking that even if there were only two giants of Durant + Harden, the Nets could play a dominant role.
After all, Durant and Harden are two superstars who have won the MVP + multiple scoring kings, and with their absolute strength, even without Irving, it is enough to help the Nets play a dominant performance. But since the new season, the Nets have not played the expected dominance.
Because Harden can't play the past "scoring king" state due to injury troubles + the impact of new regulations; Irving is absent from the game because of the refusal of vaccines, Harden's decline + Irving's absence is also the main reason why the outside world believes that the Nets cannot play a dominant role in the new season.
Harden's form is back, Durant is still strong, but the Nets have experienced a wave of 3 consecutive losses?
As the season progresses, Harden has played a good performance recently. He scored 36 and 39 points against the Lakers Clippers, leading the team to a two-game winning streak. But then Durant' comeback + Harden, whose state has rebounded significantly, has lost to Philadelphia, clippers and Grizzlies, and experienced a wave of 3 consecutive losses.
Sitting on the two giants, but experiencing three consecutive defeats , Nash's lack of coaching ability has been repeatedly mentioned. After all, from the perspective of the game process, whether the Nets are a dozen points behind or a dozen points ahead of the catch-up, he will not have much adjustment, not even a timeout during the period; instead, Durant and Harden are allowed to play, naively want to rely on the superstar advantage to win the game.
Especially against the Grizzlies, when Durant and Harden were in relatively poor form, Nash was still reluctant to make changes and still insisted on an 8-man rotation. In the end, the Nets collapsed at the hands of the Grizzlies, ushering in a three-game losing streak.
After this wave of 3 consecutive losses, Nash's lack of coaching ability was finally exposed, so there were many voices in the outside world that made Nash hurry to "get out of class", because he could not win the championship at all at the Nets. There are even some people who think that with the Nets' subsequent 4 consecutive defeats and 5 consecutive defeats, Nash is really not far from "leaving class"...
Irving returns: Successfully helped the Nets complete a 17-point comeback to avoid extending the losing streak
At the same time that the Nets were caught in a 3-game losing streak and Nash was "criticized", Irving made a comeback in the recent Nets vs Pacers game, which is also the first time the Nets' Big Three have been combined in the new season.
But even with the Big Three, the Nets were still held all the way by the Pacers, trailing the Pacers by 13 points at halftime; even after entering the third quarter, Nash still couldn't find an effective way to win, which directly led to the Nets at one point trailing the Pacers by 71-98 at the end of the third quarter.
If it is replaced by the Nets in the previous few games, perhaps with Durant + Harden, coupled with the fatigue of the eight-man rotation, the Nets are likely to have returned to the sky. However, after Irving's return, although his performance in the first three quarters was not very good, he shot 4 of 7 in the fourth quarter, shooting 10 points, 1 board and 1 break with 57.1% shooting, and really shared the offensive responsibility of Durant and Harden very well.
In the end, led by Durant with 39 points, 8 boards and 7 assists, Harden 18 points, 5 boards and 6 assists, and Irving 22 points, 3 boards and 4 assists, the Nets completed a 17-point reversal, beating the Pacers 129-121 in the final quarter to stop the decline of a three-game losing streak.
Judging from the game with the Pacers alone, due to Irving's return, the cooperation and tacit understanding between the big three, it is indeed not in the best condition. But even so, they can still rely on the offensive firepower of the Big Three to easily complete a 17-point reversal...
Nash escaped another disaster? When the Big Three are combined, the Nets have the capital to do whatever they want
If the strong Durant + Harden, who is in a state of recovery, led the team to 3 consecutive defeats to let Nash suffer a "coaching crisis", then Irving's return is to save Nash's coaching career in the Nets in time.
After all, if Irving did not come back, with the double giant lineup to lose consecutively, Nash, who could not find a way to win, really had a high probability of being forced to "leave the class".
And now, after Irving's return, even if Nash's coaching ability is insufficient, he can stabilize the coaching position. After all, with the blessing of the three superstars, even if Nash's personal coaching ability is poor, he will not fall into the point of losing consecutively again.
After all, from the perspective of the three giants of the playoffs last season, there is no defect between the three giants of the Nets that are currently incompatible with the Three Giants of the Lakers - Westbrook and James play with the ball, Westbrook lack of projection ability, and make thick eyebrows and James unable to use their best offensive methods, resulting in the three giants always difficult to play a chemical reaction.
But the Nets Big Three do not have the problem of playing repulsively - Harden's ability to hold the ball in tandem combs the team's offense in an orderly manner; Durant's super scoring stability determines the basic set of the Nets' offensive end.
Irving's super personal offensive ability is a good way to make up for the offensive gap when Harden and Durant are not in good shape, and even to a certain extent, infinitely increase the net's upper limit.
That is to say, when the Nets' big three are combined, they can complement each other on the offensive end. In particular, Irving's comeback gives Durant the strength to defend and Harden to connect the team, rather than running weak on the offensive end. And such a super big three combination, as long as it is not injured, this year's playoffs rush out of the East is almost a foregone conclusion.
And when the team no longer loses consecutively and can stabilize the record, Nash will rely on a stable record to sit firmly on the Nets as when he "used Harden and Durant" last season to ensure the record. But in fact, as long as Nash does not "leave the class", once he encounters a "matching" opponent in the playoffs, the side that loses will only be the Nets...