The Brooklyn Nets' "James Harden era" ended in a humiliating defeat. In the Nets' loss to the Sacramento Kings, Harden was listless and scored just four points. It was his last game for the Nets, and the Nets continued to lose back-to-back, and trade rumours about Harden were flying around. So, when the Nets beat the Kings to end an 11-game losing streak, the next phase of Brooklyn basketball began.
On Feb. 15, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond made their Nets debuts. They showed up at the right time. The Nets were losing streak, and the reshuffled "Nets Big Three" were all absent, but Curry Jr. and Drummond combined to cut 34 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists, and the Nets finally beat the Kings 109-85.
Curry Jr. shot 10-of-18 from the field, contributing 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, especially in the third quarter, Curry Jr. scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the quarter. At the same time, he also got a taste of how special this team is.
"I don't need to look at our performance tonight to know what style we're going to play." "We have so many 'weapons' on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends that it will be very interesting for us to play together," Curry Jr. said. I haven't moved around the field like this in a while, and I can even play at this pace in half-time positional combat. When everyone on the team is back to health, the Nets will be a strong team. ”
"I've got to change my favorite team from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Brooklyn Nets so I can get a message." Stephen Curry jokingly admitted two days ago that the Nets have become his phone's favorite team as younger brother Seth Curry became part of James Harden's deal with Ben Simmons.
With the Warriors' game against the Clippers starting late, curry had time to watch his brother's debut at the Barclays Center. Wearing the Number 31 jersey at the 76ers, Curry Jr. once again wore the No. 30 shirt after coming to the Nets, and after shooting two two-pointers, Curry Jr. made his first three-pointer to the Nets with more than 6 minutes left in the first quarter.
It's a super-long three-pointer, curry family heritage.
Naturally, Curry was excited and immediately cheered for his brother on social media. "The 30th is back".
The media once asked Curry what he thought of the Nets and the 76ers trade, and Curry admitted that Seth was surprised because his brother enjoyed his time in Philadelphia.
"It's obviously a big deal. I know he's kind of back-caught in the middle when the 76ers make a deal like this. He loves it there, loves playing there, and they work well together. But it's clear that as a team you have to do that. It's a win-win for him. It's worth looking forward to seeing that he's still on a contender team and will play an influential role in the Nets' playoff race. ”
In order to quickly integrate Curry Jr. into the Nets, Nets coach Steve Nash also made a lot of efforts.
"We devised tactics that he [Curry Jr.]," Nash said, "and we just let him be himself and didn't have to worry about anything else." So we want him to play in a familiar way, uninhibited, we believe in him, we don't have to ask him to be as aggressive as people expect for a while, but he played very well today. ”
How good is Curry Jr.'s shot? Needless to say, he and his brother are among the top ten shooters in NBA history so far in terms of three-point shooting percentage. In the first game, Curry Jr. showed other weapons in addition to shooting. His breakthrough layups and his passes are already a bit of a brother. In the third quarter, Curry and Patty Mills each assisted Drummond with a brilliant pass.
Throughout the game, the Nets shot 43 from 25 assists and shot 51.2 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from three-point range. Down the field, the Nets have not been behind.
"We definitely share the ball more." Bruce Brown said.
Speaking about the team change, Brown said: "The atmosphere in the dressing room is good right now, I don't know what that is, but everything has changed and after the trade deadline, we all love each other, which is fantastic. ”
The Nets added another shooter around the three star players Durant, Irving and Ben Simmons, opening up space for the superstar organizers. Don't forget, the Nets also have a career three-point shooting percentage (43.9 percent) in the league's history — Joe Harris.
Once the Nets have collected all the lost pieces, we have reason to believe they can get back to the top of the East. If they can get back to their pre-injury state, the Nets will still be a beast in the East.
Drummond felt the same way. The newly recruited center told reporters: "We are a great team. We're going to wait for the buddies who can't play right now to get back to health, and once everybody comes back, we'll be really good. ”
The Nets still have a long way to go, and the 11-game losing streak has already plummeted their rankings. The Nets are currently eighth in the East, 2.5 wins behind sixth-placed Boston Celtics. If the Nets are all healthy tomorrow, it will be easy to fill this gap, but no one knows when this team will become a full body. Harden is also because he can't stand such a situation, and the team seems to have no hope of winning the championship before choosing to jump ship halfway.
During this time, it will be tough for the Nets to sustain the victory in the absence of all three of their best players.
Next, Curry Jr. may need to deal with pressures that he has never had in his previous career.