A week ago, the Nets won away from home to the then First Miami Heat in the East, Drummond dribbled while dribbling faster than "Yay", Irving's home ban was lifted, and many people felt that the Nets were "better". A week later, things were clearly a little out of place from what they had expected at first.
In the four games after Irving completely lifted the home ban, the Nets won one and three losses, and Irving's shooting rate was a terrible 94-of-34 shooting, which was no longer the same as when he was in the previous part-time period: In the previous 21 away games, Irving averaged a career-high 27.7 points per game, shooting 49.1%, and last month he scored 50 points, 43 points and 60 points per game.
No one knows why he suddenly played so badly. Maybe it's because he doesn't fit in with the basket at home, maybe it's because he's not used to playing four games a week, maybe it's because of the ramadan that just arrived, maybe it's because he's continued to speak out on the sidelines lately... Who knows? There are so many things that can affect him.
When Irving returned to the stadium two days ago, he publicly stated that it was not fair that the city workers who had not been vaccinated still lost their jobs and that only he himself was exempted. So he's working with a union of local teachers and firefighters in New York to help people who have lost their jobs because they haven't been vaccinated: "I see a lot of people who have to be treated unfairly because they're not vaccinated, and only I get privileged and exempted is not the result I want." I'm so grateful to Mayor Adams for what he did for me and the Nets, to the players and staff at our club, to the people who left me messages on social networks to support me, but I think the most important thing right now is for each of us to get back to our jobs. ”
Everyone deserves their own job, but after actually returning to his job, Irving has not been good enough. In yesterday's game against the Atlanta Hawks, he shot 12-of-32 and criticized himself rarely after the game: "I can't excuse my poor performance on the offensive end, I didn't find the rhythm and feel of the game, which put KD under too much pressure." It was we who screwed up his scoring feast. ”
Previously, Irving's excellent performance on the road was the main reason for the Nets' obvious home-and-away offensive gap this season. The Nets' previous home record this season was 16-19, ranking 26th in the league in offensive efficiency (only the Knicks, Pistons, Thunder and Magic were less offensively efficient at home than the Nets), while the away record was 23-16, ranking first in the league in offensive efficiency. Throughout the league's history, their away offensive efficiency has also ranked in the top three.
With Irving's help, Durant has also performed significantly better on the road this season than at home, with Durant shooting 61.8% at home and a terrifying 66.2% on the road, and even 69.0% when he is on the floor with Irving. When he leads the team alone at home, he will always encounter more pinches and strict defenses. Many players have used the trick of walking on the edge of the rules when defending Durant, hoping to exhaust his physical strength by fighting as much as possible with a tough body - not just capela's stepping foot, the last Matthews collision, in the previous game against the Blazers, Blazers guard Chris Dunn pushed Durant away with his forearm while squeezing cover, when Durant shouted to the referee: "That's not basketball at all!" ”
More and more teams in the league have realized that there is no way to prevent Durant with basketball moves, and for this, the Eagles players yesterday should all be concerned.
Looking at Kevin Durant's Hall of Fame career, you'll also think that yesterday's game should have a lot of color in it. As the greatest scorer of his time, he scored as he pleased throughout the game, like a big crocodile swimming in a small fish pond. If you watched the game live, you would get up from the couch at least three times and chant "This is okay." In the third quarter, he stood up to the Eagles' strict defense and scored 19 points in a spurt, including dry pulling after a large back dribble, Dirk-style golden rooster independence, dashing pull rod after breakthrough and riding archery one step away from the three-point line. He scored a career-high 55 points on 19-of-28 shooting and a career-high eight three-pointers in a single game.
But you will only remember the result: it was an empty cut. The Eagles' score came too quickly and too easily. The whole game was like a game of hunting, with Durant hunting every defender the Eagles came to meet while his prey hunted the rest of the Nets at the same time. Trae Young, DeAndre Hunt and even Timoffe Loau-Kabarot and the 35-year-old Lou Wei were all sent to the free throw line again and again under the Nets' defense, and the Hawks made 49 free throws throughout the game, scoring 23 more points than the Nets alone.
Durant doesn't think it's a referee's problem to take too many penalties: "It's not about the referee, it's ourselves on the defensive end. We beat too badly, remembering to be aggressive, but leading to a loss of discipline. Young is smart and he can fill us early in every quarter, which makes it difficult for our defense to do. I'm angry about the loss. I had a hot game, with eight three-pointers, but we still had to do little things to win. ”
The "Bing with Ball" program continued this week
The live broadcast time is still 18:00 on Monday evening
Who should do those little things? Maybe we should take a look at the Nets' roster of players. Nash said Ben Simmons' lumbar disc herniation had not yet healed and that he was ready to do some basic training, but "not much energy yet", meaning he was still far from a comeback. Dragic was quarantined for COVID-19 symptoms, Bruce Brown was infected with the flu and couldn't beat it, and Seth Curry was sidelined with a left ankle injury. In addition to the two giants, the Nets made a total of 2 of 13 three-pointers. Irving and Durant scored 75 percent of the team's total, while the Nets' other role players not only couldn't score, but couldn't hold on. Mills, the most trusted outside fire point, has been struggling for 7-of-7 shooting, shooting just 30 percent in the last 10 games.
After the last loss to the Bucks, Nash took the lead in concluding: "I don't think we necessarily have enough time to set goals that are too ambitious. Of course we want to compete for the title, but first we have to figure out who we are. ”
With four games to go until the end of the season, the Nets haven't figured out who they are. The core of the matter is exactly the same as what he said a month ago that "we are a brand new team". The philosophical proposition that plagues Nash about "who am I" essentially points to the same conclusion as what the 40 starting lists he's changed this season point to: After a lot of injuries, trades and free agent leaks, the team still doesn't have enough chemistry and a good enough continuity.
In fact, before the start of last season's playoffs, the Nets looked like this. But there are two things very different from a year ago: First, last season, the Nets often "robbed the rich and the poor", defeating strong opponents but losing to weak teams, but this season's Nets have a record of 21 wins and 9 losses against opponents with a winning rate of less than 50%, and only 19 wins and 29 losses against opponents with a win rate of more than 50%; second, last season's Nets withstood the test of injury and ended the season with a second place in the East, and this season, after losing this game against the Eagles, the Nets ranked tenth in the East with a record of 40 wins and 38 losses, and have locked in the playoffs.
They've had a season that was too choppy and would have to win one or two extra games to get into this year's playoffs, a far cry from when they were recognized as the biggest favorites to win the season. Of course, if the Nets end up in the playoffs with a seventh or eighth seed, they may still be the most dangerous seventh and eighth seeds ever. No team in the East wants to meet Durant and Irving's healthy Nets in the first round, and no team can pat themselves on the chest and say they can win this team four times in a series — and vice versa.
It's hard to believe that this team that relies only on two superstars can achieve anything particularly well in the upcoming playoffs against teams that are top defensive (like the Celtics), have a thick lineup (like the Miami Heat), and have good chemistry (like the Bucks), and the presence of Durant and Irving still sets a very high ceiling for this team, but if you look at Nash, look at Irving's state, look at their role players and the content of the game, you may also admit, those beautiful visions, It's hard to cash in these days.
For our foreseeable future, the Nets will be in the same situation as they just played this game: Durant may still be invincible, but his teammates and coaches are likely to be wasting the 33-year-old superstar's little bit of his own peak. But considering that this round is saved by him, and these coaches and teammates are all picked by him, maybe we can only use memes to sigh.