Presumably, no one would have thought that the two teams that shouted the slogan of winning the championship at the beginning of the season had stopped cooking. The Los Angeles Lakers, who have James, Davis and Westbrook, do not have tacit cooperation with each other, not to mention the so-called chemical reaction, the team's record once fell out of the top eight in the West, and even playing in the playoffs has become a difficult problem. The Brooklyn Nets in the east are also in a deep quagmire at this stage. So far, the Nets have suffered nine straight losses and have been bullied by the rest of the league.
Durant and Harden have been absent due to injury, and the only superstar who remains healthy, Kyrie Owen, has not been allowed to play away from home because he refused to be vaccinated. In fact, the Nets' big three championship has unconsciously become the laughing stock of the entire league. It was in this case that the Nets finally made the final reaction before the trade deadline of the season. They sent Harden to Philadelphia, where they got Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, as well as a 2022 first-round pick protected by Expo Road and a first-time protected 2027 first-round pick.
The Nets' original Big Three, who played only 16 games together in Brooklyn, declared bankruptcy, which is a bit of a pity. However, they eventually ushered in the more defensive champion Simmons. Back to reality, the Nets challenged the Washington Wizards on the road this time, and Irving once again became the main backbone of the team. At the beginning of the game, the two sides began a fierce score tug-of-war, constantly draining the time of the first quarter of the game. But Irving, Griffin and Substitute Sharp were able to step up to help ease the pressure on the scoring end, so much so that they scored 27-24 before entering the second quarter.
The Nets, who entered the second quarter of the showdown and achieved a noisy victory, did not get complacent about it, but continued to maintain a high desire to fight. Irving shot 5-of-7 in the second quarter and again delivered 11 points and 1 assist to lead the team to a 32-31 lead. At the end of the first half, the Nets led the Wizards by a crucial four-point lead at 59-55. Looking back at the first half of the competition, the Nets' court commander Kyrie Irving finally showed off and played himself.
After delivering an inefficient shooting percentage of 6-of-2 in the first quarter, he scored a crucial 11 points in the second quarter with an efficient output of 7-of-5 and rejected the crotch-pulling team. The data performance of 7 of 13 shots in the half, 17 points and 3 assists also proved his value to the team. On the Wizards' side, Bradley Beal suffered a season-reimbursed injury, and the team announced before the trade deadline that all teams on the team except Kuzma could be traded. No one would have thought that the players who were abandoned by the Lakers in the past could play a huge role in the Wizards.
Yes, as we saw in this game, Kuzma only got 4 shots in the half, but he had a comprehensive statistic contribution of 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, which was a great style of Jokic. Facing such Kuzma, the Nets, who currently have only a 4-point lead, obviously have the possibility of being turned over by the Wizards against the wind. Looking forward to a more exciting showdown in the second half...