Before the game against the Trail Blazers, the Nets had just won the Spurs at home with the death penalty of youngster Thomas. Since the first two games were played at home, this game is Irving's second game of return. However, although Irving was able to play, Harden, one of the big three, missed the game because of excessive left knee stretching, and Ade and Harris could not play. Their opponents, the Blazers, are also in a brutal state, with both guns absent due to injury.
Despite the lack of two absolute main players, the Blazers still showed great resilience in this game, playing hard in the first half with the Nets led by Duo, and only temporarily trailing 55:62 at the end of the half. In the second half of the game, the Blazers team suddenly exerted force in the third quarter, playing a small 19:9 climax and surpassing the score in one fell swoop. In the final quarter, although the Nets chased points continuously, the Blazers always stabilized the situation. As the Nets made consecutive mistakes at key moments, and the Blazers hit back-to-back three-pointers, the Nets eventually lost the game 108-114.
Judging from this game, the Nets' loss is a pity, after all, they have maintained the lead for a long time and had the hope of turning the tables in the last moments, but due to many reasons, the Nets eventually lost a good game and lost to the Blazers, who had a big gap in strength. First, Durant played 41 minutes in this game, scoring 29 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists on 7-of-7 of 19 shooting. Although Durant's performance is very good from the data point of view, the Nets' loss in this game has a lot to do with him.
In the decisive moment of this game, Durant was first blocked by Covington in a breakthrough throw, and after the latter then hit a three-pointer to extend the lead, Durant's breakthrough was again blocked. In short, Durant did not turn on death mode in the last moments of this campaign, but watched the team lose and he was powerless to return to the sky. Judging from this game, Durant is exhausted at key moments, which has a lot to do with his playing time in these two games. After playing 43 minutes in the last game, he played another 41 minutes in this game.
Irving, who played his second game of the season, played 40 minutes in this game, scoring 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists on 9-of-21 shooting, including 8-pointers and 3-of-8 three-pointers. Although in The absence of Harden, Irving had to step up and take on the role of the team's second-place scorer and help the team turn the tide at key moments, on the whole, Irving's hand was not too good, and he never scored a three-pointer after hitting three three-pointers in the first half of the game. In the crucial fourth quarter, although Irving played the whole quarter, he scored only 4 points on 2 of 5 shots in the whole quarter.
In the final moments of the game, Irving did not step up to save the team as he had done before. In fact, in the first half of the fourth quarter of this campaign, Irving still performed very well, helping the team to tighten the point gap by scoring his own points and assisting teammates to score. But in the process of a save in the 6 minutes, Irving accidentally sprained his ankle, and although it was not a big problem, he was still able to play, but Irving's form was obviously affected, and he did not score a point in the following time. In addition, the team still had the hope of turning the tables in the final attack, but Irving made a passing mistake after grabbing the rebound, which eventually buried the game.
After the loss of this game, the Nets' record has reached 25 wins and 14 losses, and the gap with the first Bulls in the East has gradually widened, while the gap between the third Indomitte Heat and them is gradually narrowing, which is not good news for the Nets, after all, these two teams are likely to become important competitors for them to rush out of the East this season, and whether they can have home advantage in the playoffs will be one of the important factors affecting the trend of winning and losing. Of course, in addition to the final record ranking, the current state of the Nets is very worrying for fans.
Since the Nets lost to the 76ers at home, they have only achieved a 2-5 record in seven games, and in the two games they won, one was Irving's comeback first game to reverse the Pacers, and the other was the previous game with the young thomas thomas's hard-won victory over the Spurs, and many of the games lost were fiasco. One of the main reasons is that when Durant is not in good shape, Harden and Irving cannot stand up to help the team win, and the biggest reason for Durant's bad state is that he is really tired this season.
According to statistics, so far this season, Durant has averaged 37.4 minutes per game, the highest since the 2014-2015 season. But unlike him at that time, the current Durant is already a player who has suffered a major injury such as a torn Achilles tendon. Although Durant has maintained a very good state after his comeback, many fans have even ridiculed his Achilles tendon tear as a misdiagnosis, but he is a player who has been seriously injured. In the last two games, Durant has played a total of 85 minutes, which will lay the groundwork for him to some extent.
The failure of Irving and Harden this season to provide him with enough support is an important reason why Durant has played so much time. On the one hand, Irving has not been able to play most of the time this season because of his reluctance to be vaccinated, and after his comeback, he can only participate in the team's away games, but in this game, Irving has not been able to stand up and save the team. On the other hand, Harden's form has been ups and downs this season, and he has played well when leading the team alone, but harden has returned to a slump again in recent games.
In addition, there are also very big problems with the dispatch of coach Nash, who has to maximize the playing time of the Big Three in almost every game to allow the team to win the game, which is a very big loss for the Big Three. Fortunately, the Nets are aware of this and have decided to let Durant take a break in the next game, and when Durant is absent, it is Irving and Harden's turn to be tested.