On January 8, Beijing time, the Nets lost to the Bucks again 109-121.
In this game, Durant efficiently cut 29 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, reaching a milestone again in terms of scoring, surpassing Patrick Ewing (24815 points) and ranking 23rd on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
However, such a mileage sadness has ironically prevailed for the Nets this season.
In this game, the rest of the Nets were down overall, with Harden 16 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists; Cameron Thomas 14 points and 5 rebounds; Clarkston 14 points and 6 rebounds; and Bruce Brown 7 points.
From the game point of view, Clarkston seems to be full of vitality, strong defense, strong partitions, almost transformed into a stadium dragon, becoming the most difficult opponent of alphabet brothers. However, this cannot hide its worst positive-minus of -23.
Why? Nash put Aldridge on the bench, perhaps relying on Clarkston's vitality to resist the alphabet brother, but the opposite happened, the Nets lost this game by three points, the Bucks in the three-point aspect of the game is exactly 30 points more than the Nets, ask how to make up for this gap.
Was it the Bucks' three-point burst? Not really, the 35.6 percent three-point shooting percentage is a little worse than the Bucks' average three-point shooting percentage this season.
The problem is that the Nets' offense isn't going to the extreme. That's why the Nets couldn't do without Irving.
Clarkston is indeed full of energy, but on the outside he lacks enough defensive prowess. Similarly, Harden is not depressed in the shooting percentage, but in his defensive attitude and habits on the outside. The plus-minus for both men is one -23 and one -20, which is why the Bucks made 45 of their 96 shots in the game were three-pointers.
That's the fundamental problem with the Nets. Poor defense, sluggish tactical countermeasures are at odds with Durant's personal performance.
Many people are criticizing Durant, and perhaps he really lacks leadership temperament, but such an efficient scoring ability will not always have a negative effect on the team.
Durant's play could not drag the strangely ill Nets.
Harden always wanted to get back to the Rockets' style of play, and the problem was that Nash did D'Antoni.
The problem is still in the Nets themselves, can not play the ultimate offense, and can not win the game, which is also the fundamental of the Nets bullying soft and afraid of hard attributes. Because a strong team won't allow you to play extreme offense at all, unless there are three super giants on the court. Therefore, at present, Irving is really indispensable.