Last August, James Harden, who had just celebrated his 32nd birthday, was interviewed by reporters and when asked what fans should expect for the New Season Nets, he gave this answer:
"Healthy James Harden, horror, horror moment!"
Harden first mentioned "scary hours" after the Nets' debut on Jan. 17 last year, when Kyrie Irving missed the game for personal reasons, but Harden Durant teamed up to score 74 points to lead the team to take the magic. In an interview with reporters, Harden seemed extremely excited: "When the three of us play together, it will be a terrifying moment." ”
Harden's words are not exaggerated, because statistics show that when he is on the court with Durant and Irving at the same time, the Nets score more than 120 points per 100 rounds, and the three people play at the same time, the winning rate is as high as 81.3%. Sadly, the NBA's most offensively gifted trio of all time has only worked together in 16 games.
If the mayor of New York lifted the vaccine restriction in advance, if Durant had not suffered that medial collateral ligament strain, and if D'Antoni was still on the Nets coaching staff, Harden might not have left, and the Big Three would continue to work together. But for a variety of reasons, the Nets' horror moments have not really been staged, which is perhaps the most regrettable thing in the entire 2021-22 season....
Fierce and ambitious
From the moment Tsai Chongxin bought the Nets for $2.35 billion, the championship was his only goal. In the summer of 2019, the successive additions of Durant and Irving laid the foundation for this goal, and then traded harden, truly making the dream within reach.
The 2020-21 Nets, despite the Big Three's rotational injuries, still played the first offensive efficiency in history, showing the strong competitiveness of a championship-level team. In fact, if it were not for injuries, the Nets would have eliminated the future championship Bucks in the divisional semifinals, and even if Harden and Irving were injured one after another, and Durant single-handedly led the team, the Nets were only one step away from this goal.
So when he regained his health after a few months of rest, harden once again said that the Nets will usher in a moment of terror, which seems logical. What's more, compared with the team in last year's playoffs, the Nets have completed several important signings in the offseason, and the strength of the lineup has been further upgraded, not only the Nets themselves, but almost all mainstream media, including ESPN, have also listed them as the number one favorite for the 2021-22 NBA championship.
The Big Three are the cornerstone of the Nets' team, and Joe Harris's contract has been signed until 2024, on the basis of which the Nets have completed contract extensions with Blake Griffin and Bruce Brown respectively, so that the six main rotations in last year's playoffs have all been retained. In addition to this, they signed experienced goalscorer Patty Mills with 12 million in two years, and paul Millsap and James Johnson on the bottom salary.
Surprisingly, LaMarcus Aldridge, who joined the Nets through a buyout market last year but suddenly announced his retirement after only playing 5 games because of arrhythmia, also received medical permission to return to the game and finally returned to the Nets with a veteran base salary, making this team, which is already a champion favorite, more powerful.
After some hard work, the Nets of the new season will be able to discharge a luxurious lineup with Harden, Irving, Harris, Durant, Aldridge as the starting lineup, Mills, Brown, Griffin, Millsap, Anderson as the bench, and other such as James Johnson, DeAndre Bembry, and several rookies, do not need to be detailed.
Unlike the Lakers who traded west to form the big three, the Nets' lineup has been run-in and tested in actual combat, as long as it is healthy, there seems to be no reason not to become stronger, so it is unanimously optimistic about the outside world, which is reasonable.
In espn panel predictions for the new season championship, the Nets received 78.9 percent of the first vote, while the second-placed Lakers received only 15.8 percent of the vote before it was the turn of the defending champion Bucks. All indications are that the Nets will have their best chance to win the title.
Vaccine storm, the root cause of deep seeds
The entire 2019-20 season of the NBA has almost had a beginning and an end because of the new crown epidemic. After that, the league found a way to coexist with the virus, gradually loosening restrictions and returning the tournament to normal, but there are still some cities with strict epidemic prevention regulations, such as New York.
At the start of the 2021-22 season, New York was one of only two cities that required players to be vaccinated to play in home games, the other being San Francisco, while Irving and Warriors star Andrew Wiggins were among the few NBA players who had not yet been vaccinated. Wiggins eventually chose to compromise, but Irving decided to stick to it, which also laid the foundation for the Nets' bad luck throughout the season.
The Nets were very tough at first about Irving's stubbornness, and general manager Sean Max issued an official statement after consulting with Boss Cai, announcing that he would not be allowed to play until Irving was vaccinated, even if he could have gone on the road according to the regulations.
"Carey made it clear that he made his choice in the matter and the final decision was up to him. We respect his right to choose and the best decision for the team right now is the way we choose. Max said.
When the Nets made this decision, they obviously believed that under the leadership of Durant and Harden, the team could also guarantee results, and then waited for the change of New York's epidemic prevention policy as the season deepened. But to their surprise, Harden struggled with form and new rules at the start of the season, while the team's most important outside shooter Harris also suffered an ankle injury after 14 games and has been reimbursed for the season.
Under multiple blows, the Nets can not find the momentum of last season's sweep of thousands of troops, although in the weak team accumulated some wins, once ranked first in the East, but in the face of potential championship opponents, almost every game must be lost, which is a big disappointment. After Thanksgiving, a large wave of epidemics struck, and like many teams in the league, the Nets' platooning became stretched, so the Nets overturned their previous decision and agreed to let Irving play on the road.
"A few months ago, we made the decision that was best for the team because the most important thing at that time was stability. And over the past few days, our squad has been torn apart, so we were forced to make this decision together, the decision that is most favorable to the team at the current point. Max explained at a news conference.
Irving's return had an immediate effect, with the Nets beating the Bulls 138-112 in Chicago on Jan. 13 to beat the top four teams in the Eastern and Western Sections for the first time in the season. After the game, Harden talked about the impact Irving had, saying: "It looks like I have to give him a shot [vaccine]. ”
Harden's words were of course just a joke, but they also showed that he was very concerned about Irving's non-vaccination. So later, when Durant was accidentally injured, the Nets lost consecutive games again into a state trough, and Irving still could not play in the home game, all the depression and disappointment piled up, and finally let him have the idea of leaving.
By the time New York City's new mayor, Eric Adams, finally officially announced on March 25 that the ban on unvaccinated professional players was lifted from home games, Harden had become a member of the 76ers.
'I'm glad everything has settled down and there's dawn at the end of the tunnel and hopefully I can get back home and play at the Barclays Centre and now we can finally turn a new page and move on.""
This was Irving's first public speech after he returned to full-time status, and his intransigence was finally exchanged for a satisfactory result, but the fate of the Nets was changed forever.
Absent-minded and parting ways
Exactly when Harden began to think about leaving the Nets may never be known, but it is clear that when he decided to leave the Rockets, his preferred destination was Philadelphia. And the Nets, if not a transition, can only be regarded as a backup option.
Harden became the league MVP in the Rockets, got a super salary, the personal level has nothing else to seek, the reason for the idea of changing the environment, of course, there is only one goal, that is, the championship. So while the Big Three were running amok in the league, he was certainly satisfied, but once doubts about the Nets' prospects for winning the title inevitably led to other ideas.
When Harden left the Rockets, he admitted that the process of breaking up was "not decent enough", and this time leaving the Nets, although it was not as stormy as the last time, the process was not pleasant.
In fact, this season from the beginning, harden is not "friendly" enough, because of the adjustment of the rules, Harden's previous habit of playing has been challenged, in addition, most of the offseason is spent on recuperation, lack of systematic training, so that his figure is also a little out of shape. The combination of the two sides made him struggle with his performance at the beginning of the season.
Coupled with the departure of D'Antoni, Steve Nash adjusted his offensive tactics, starting from the previous large number of Harden holding the ball to the demolition, and began to tilt towards Durant, which more or less made Harden feel unhappy. Open-air stand sports journalist Jack Fisher even reported that "Harden prefers the signature head-to-head, and the Nets coaches have noticed that if Durant is given a tactical arrangement during the timeout, Harden will roll his eyes." ”
Harden was originally eligible to renew his contract with the Nets early last summer, but he did not do so, and he constantly expressed to the Nets that he was willing to stay in the team for a long time, but behind the scenes, he also joined the 76ers through agent consultation.
Durant and Harden were originally good brothers, but Irving's accident triggered a series of chain reactions that made everyone on the team feel bad, and during this time, a secret rift began between Harden and Durant. Later, Durant said in an interview: "When I learned that James was unhappy, it was too late, and the situation was irreparable. ”
Durant suffered a knee injury against the Pelicans on Jan. 16, and a few days later against the Spurs, Harden scored a triple-double with 37 points to lead the team to a victory, but then played the Timberwolves, who scored only 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Playing the Lakers on January 27, Harden once again cut a 30+ triple-double, but the Nets still lost, after that game, Harden said that his hamstring was uncomfortable, missing the next game with the Nuggets and Warriors, which began to make everyone, including Durant, doubt his loyalty.
In the gossip, Harden returned to play two more games, including four points and six turnovers on 2-of-11 shooting against the Kings, which became his last game for the Nets.
According to espnant reporter Woj later, Harden should have officially told Max via video call at this point that he wanted to be traded to the 76ers, and the response he got was that the Nets would only complete the deal in the team's favor. Harden understood this, and the two sides finally reached a tacit agreement that Harden would not play before the deadline and that he would return to his home in Houston to await the outcome of the negotiations.
What happened after that, everyone knows, and going back to sum up the reasons why Harden chose to leave, Durant's words hit the nail on the head: "You can look at the whole thing from his point of view: 'Kyrie doesn't fight, I'm injured again, and he's never won a championship.'" ’”
A comeback is still unknown
Harden's departure is undoubtedly a major loss to the Nets, but under the premise that the other party has decided, the transaction with the 76ers is a timely stop loss. And if ben Simmons hadn't pushed back and forth because of his lumbar spine injury, and might have even faced the risk of season reimbursement, the nets' overall strength might have been upgraded because of the deal.
And even without Simmons, with Irving's return from the ban, the new Nets still have endless possibilities.
In fact, the Nets' championship plan revolved around Durant and Irving from the beginning, and Harden was just a windfall, although they paid a high price for it, but eventually replaced a young All-Star (Simmons), as well as Two useful role players, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond.
Curry hit 44 percent of his career three-pointers, including a terrifying 46.8 percent from the Nets, effectively filling the outside fire vacuum left by Joe Harris's injury season. And unlike Harris, Curry itself has a good offensive ability, in addition to being able to catch the ball in the open position, the long-range dry pull shot with the ball is also very efficient.
Drummond's arrival filled the void inside the Nets. While Aldridge and Clarkston have their own characteristics, with the former having an experienced and solid mid-range shooting and the latter's ability to switch defenses to be at par with young interiors, neither of them has Drummond's size and strength advantage in the box.
Since joining the Nets, Drummond has averaged 11.8 points and 10.3 rebounds in 22.3 minutes per game, and he is not a perfect center, but he can complement Aldridge and Clarkston to meet Nash's interior employment needs in different situations.
Essentially, Durant's supporting cast, while imperfect, gives him the opportunity to fight for the third championship trophy of his career. In particular, Irving's full return has saved the Nets from having to rely on Durant's hard work alone, as they did in last year's division finals against the Bucks (even so, they almost beat the subsequent championship).
At the age of 33, after suffering a serious injury to a ruptured Achilles tendon, no one imagined that Durant could reach a new peak in his career. This season, he averaged 29.9 points per game, second only to the peak of the 2013-14 season (32 points), in addition to contributing 7.4 points and 6.4 assists per game, including a career-high assist stats.
In terms of offensive efficiency, Durant is once again infinitely close to the "180 club", shooting 51.8%, 38.3% and 91% shooting from the free throw line, shooting, three-point and free throw shooting. Durant has scored 50+ points in three single games this season, including a career-high 55 points on April 3 when he shot eight-of-10 from three-point range with the Eagles. In his previous 13 years of career, the total number of 50+ games was only 6.
The scary thing is that 55 points in a single game is not the Nets' craziest personal scoring performance of the season, Irving, who has only played 29 games, has also had two 50+ performances this season, including the Magic on the road on March 16, and he has scored 60 points in less than 35 minutes of playing time with only 31 shots. You can dislike Owen's personality, but definitely don't doubt his basketball talent.
Overall, the 2021-22 Season Nets are full of turbulence, and there is still a lot of uncertainty about the future. Both the dissolution of the Big Three and the current seventh-place finish in the East have been disappointing compared to expectations before the start of the season.
But the playoffs are the stage for superstars, and as long as Durant and Irving continue their current hot state, anything is possible for the Nets. On the final day of the regular season, the Nets ended their four-game winning streak with good news that Simmons is expected to return in the first round of the playoffs, and although it remains to be seen how he is after a season of not playing, it will add an extra point to the Nets anyway.
Since Durant joined the Nets in the summer of 2019, he has brought championship hopes to this team, to the fans here. In the blink of an eye, more than two years have passed, and the dream has not yet been realized, but the hope is still there.