There have always been rumors in the NBA that the team that has gathered the big three will become strong and become a strong contender for the championship. The Celtics, the Heat, and the Cavaliers all followed suit, becoming a championship candidate for several years almost instantaneously, and eventually reaching the top at least once. The teams were convinced of this rumor and made various efforts to collect the Big Three until April 26, 2022, when the legend was shattered...
On this day, the Brooklyn Nets, which had three top players who were still at their peak, Durant, Irving and Harden, were swept 4-0 by the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. People suddenly realized that the original three giants of this thing is not the Dragon Ball, is not saved together can be used ah?
Textbook fit
On the surface, there's nothing special about the Nets' big three fit-in process. Durant and Irving joined the Nets on their free feet around 2019, completing one of the big three's prerequisites – getting two top players in normal transfer operations. Not to mention history, even now, being able to save two good players as the core of a team is also the standard for strong teams, the Clippers have George and Leonard, the Celtics have double probing, and the Suns have Paul and Booker.
Obviously, only two giants do not have a particularly obvious advantage, the Nets crossed a heart, almost all of their trades came hardened with the Rockets - three players plus three first-round picks plus four interchanges, almost everything the Nets can theoretically pay, in exchange for a complete big three.
Are the Big Three powerful or not? It's awesome indeed. Last season, the Big Three just formed a successful formation, and immediately set off an offensive frenzy in the league. While the Nets' defensive prowess was greatly reduced due to too much effort for Harden, Harden's offensive combination of organization and Irving and Durant's ability to score points was daunting. Such a lineup also quickly attracted the attention of a large number of veterans who aspired to win the championship, Griffin and Aldridge have terminated their contracts with the original team and joined with the base salary - this is not surprising, this is how the Heat recruited Battier, Ray Allen and even Oden, not necessarily the basic salary, but the cost performance and immediate combat strength are absolutely leveraged.
At this point, a complete super team formation plan has been basically completed. With the conventional operation to get the base strength of the two stars, and then look at the opportunity to gamble on the big three, and finally attract a group of cost-effective veterans to improve their combat effectiveness with the huge deterrent power of the big three.
The collapse of the night
It should be said that the real normal state of the Nets' big three, the strength is beyond doubt, the Nets also absolutely have the ability to do things in the NBA. Last season, the Big Three stopped and played, but also easily crushed the Celtics in the first round, and fought in the Eastern Conference semifinals and the final championship Bucks to the seventh game, and in the end, if it were not for Durant's shoes being slightly bigger, turning the deadly three points into a perfect two-point draw, the final victory was the Nets - considering that Irving was absent due to injury in this round of the series, Harden barely brought an injury to the court, and the overall strength of the Nets is stronger than the Bucks.
At that time, no one thought that such a strong team that seemed to be full of combat strength would actually become unrecognizable in just one year.
Most of the outside world believes that the Nets' disintegration began with Irving's refusal to get vaccinated, which led to most of the time and led to locker room chaos. This of course makes some sense, as the New York city government tightens its epidemic prevention policy, requiring New Yorkers to have to be fully vaccinated before they can enter closed stadiums to train and play, and Irving not only cannot play at home for most of this season, but even cannot train with the team. The attitude of the Nets to this incident is very confusing, and Durant, who is considered the leader of the team, said that he and Irving talked about it, talked unhappily, and will not talk about it in the future...
At about the same time, the Warriors had the same problem, and Wiggins didn't want to get a vaccine, but Curry came forward to say that he hoped to fight alongside him, so the problem was solved, and the Warriors all went to war. When the Nets were swept away, the Warriors beat the Nuggets, who were led by St. Nova MVP Jokic, to the teeth...
But that's not the beginning of everything. Those who pay close attention to the Nets' dynamics will notice that the two assistants who assisted head coach Nash last season: D'Antoni, who was in charge of coaching the offense, and Uduka, who was responsible for organizing the defense, both hung up the championship in the offseason, and the latter directed the Celtics sweeping the Nets a year later. Rumor has it that the two coaches already had a bad premonition about the Nets' condition.
Subsequently, Harden, who shouldered the burden of organization, gradually lost trust in the net due to a serious decline in his injury in the game against the Bucks. What he is most unacceptable is probably that Durant, who was the captain of this year's All-Star Weekend, only picked this long-time friend and teammate in the final round, and the signal released was chilling.
In the end, Harden, who had six months left on his contract, offered to apply for a transfer, and was immediately replaced by the Nets, who were worried that he would expire, to 76ers, and back to another former darling, Simmons, who had not played in official games since the end of last season because of psychological problems, and even participated in very little training.
Does it look like it's just back to where the double stars led the team two years ago? In fact, no, in this twist and turn, the Nets not only lost a large number of first-round draft picks and several powerful players (in fact, LeVert, Allen, Prince three players plus three first-round four exchanges, in exchange for a small Curry, Simmons even if the future comeback can only be regarded as a head... The cohesion of the team was lost, and the immaturity and eccentricity of head coach Nash were also exposed. Brown, who has been brilliant in this series, said he doesn't know what the Nets have for Irving and Simmons this season for the simple reason that "it's not something to think about as a salary player who earns me."
Thus, in the playoff battle with the Celtics, all the contradictions erupted in a concentrated way. Irving and Durant have super personal ability, but the team lacks organization, and the two are always trapped in the opponent's highly targeted bag and can't extricate themselves... Durant played almost all the game in the final game, with super statistics of 39 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds, but he was exhausted in the final moments, missed key free throws, and the Nets lost 112-116 to the Celtics and swept away.
Text/Hubei Daily reporter Guo Xiaoming
Photo: Xinhua News Agency