Durant couldn't stop Brother Alphabet.
It is hard to imagine that the wisdom of Chinese fans, "West Hu fight, East Rotten Fight" will become the most accurate expression used to summarize the Lakers and Nets in the new NBA season so far.
On October 27, the Nets and the Lakers, the "difficult brothers and brothers", appeared one after another, and then swallowed a defeat unexpectedly. However, compared to the Lakers' clean and crisp loss to the Nuggets, the Nets' reversal by the Bucks seems to be tangled and struggling.
Facing the Bucks, who are "single-handedly led", the Nets are not without opportunities, they once opened the point difference in the first half of the third quarter, but with the offense of Durant and Irving alone, the Nets are still difficult to win a strong opponent.
So far in the new season, the 1-3 Nets are slightly better than the Lakers who have won four games, but the embarrassment encountered by the Nets is not lost to the Lakers in the slightest - the "big three" are difficult to play as a whole, the role players are embarrassed, and Nash cannot catalyze the chemistry of the lineup...
And the problems that Ben Simmons brought to the team could not be solved in a moment.
Simmons can't attack now, and he can't hold on.
Worst starter in history?
With just over 1 minute left in the Nets-Bucks game, the Nets pushed the gap close to single digits. At that time, Durant was in control of the ball, and the Nets seemed to have a glimmer of hope of catching up with the score.
Just after Durant dribbled over the half, it was Irving who stepped forward to help him block, but the block was not realized, Irving took the opportunity to ask for a single near the three-point line, and then Durant's ground pass was tackled by the Bucks' Hill, and Irving, who tried to save the mistake, also paid a physical foul.
Throughout the whole process, the Nets only cooperated with Durant and Irving, and the other 3 players, including Simmons, stood on the other side of the half, witnessing the whole mistake...
Just after this mistake, the Nets replaced all the main players and announced that they would abandon the game early.
This crucial offensive and defensive round seems to be the epitome of the Nets' first four games of the season - the only team can rely on in key moments is Durant and Irving, and Simmons is not worthy of the title of "Big Three" at all.
How much crotch does Simmons really have?
The numbers tell a lot — Simmons averaged 5.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 29.5 minutes per game in four games, and then 3.3 turnovers.
Even more glaring than the mistakes was his 4.5 fouls per game, the third highest of any player in the league — four games, and he had left the court with two six-fouls.
What's worse, according to ESPN statistics, in the history of the NBA, there is only one starter who plays more than 100 minutes, scores less than 25 points, and rebounds less than 25, and that is Simmons.
Simmons tried to block Holliday.
Owen couldn't stand it
Another part of the crotch that the data does not reflect is that it is full of Simmons' game.
A star player known for his defense, Simmons seems to be unable to defend against the core of his opponent's scoring this season.
Zion's debut loss to the Pelicans was repeatedly "eaten raw" on the inside, and in this loss against the Bucks, he also became the background board for the "alphabet brother" raging on the inside.
Of course, even more embarrassing than defense is his offense, with Simmons averaging just 4.3 shots per game this season.
Irving was speechless about Simmons' choice.
In the second half of the game against the Bucks, when Simmons received Irving's pass on the inside, there was an undefended basket in front of him, but he chose to pass the ball to Durant on the outside, a decision that made Irving standing next to him unable to stand it, so anxious that Irving spread his hands and shouted: "Shoot quickly, Ben (Simmons)!" ”
Fortunately, Durant was "contentious" enough to hit the mid-range shot steadily, and did not let Simmons' "bad choice" deteriorate into a bad result.
But at this moment, Owen's yelling was enough to tell the story.
Simmons, who is back on the court after a season, seems to be drifting away from the "Big Three" that everyone is looking forward to, not only in the dismal statistics, but also in his disappearing offensive desire in the game.
The Nets' offense can only rely on Irving and Durant.
Role players have largely disappeared
In fact, even if Ben Simmons is still in the process of adapting and recovering, as long as the Nets have Durant and Irving, they will still be fierce.
The 34-year-old Durant is also the best scorer on this team and even in the league. In 36.3 minutes per game this season, Durant can still score 32.3 points, ranking sixth in the league, and no one in the top five scoring list in front of him is over 30 years old.
Although Durant's three-point shooting rate is only 32% this season, his overall shooting percentage is still as high as 52%, which shows how dangerous he is on the offensive end.
Next to him, the "god is a ghost" Irving is also able to maintain a sharp offense most of the time, averaging 27 points per game and handing out 4.5 assists.
"Know that your opponent is the Nets, and their offense can never be underestimated." As Bucks head coach Budenholzer said in an interview during the game, facing the Nets this season, if you distract yourself on the defensive end, you can be fatally hit.
This is not a compliment from coach Budenholzer, looking back at the Nets' three losses so far in the new season, they have all scored more than 35 points in a single quarter in the second quarter, and successfully suppressed the opponent's offense, with a single quarter point difference of at least 10 points or more.
So the question is, Durant and Irving are lethal enough, why do the Nets always "can't kill" opponents?
This time, if you just let Simmons "back the pot", it would be a little too impersonal.
Claxton became the Nets' third-leading scorer.
After watching several games of the Nets this season, it is not difficult to find that there are too few role players who can continue to stand up on the offensive end next to the "Big Three", and on the defensive end, these role players cannot build a solid defensive line.
Today, the Nets' third scoring point is 23-year-old young center Claxton, but the 211-centimeter height Claxton is only 97 kilograms, and his excellent athleticism and explosiveness cannot make up for his lack of confrontation on the defensive end.
And after Markieff Morris was injured, the Nets' interior defense was even more broken...
In this way, the weakness of the Nets in the interior defense often becomes the starting point of the "butterfly effect", resulting in the holes in the Nets' overall defense.
If the Nets' offensive efficiency of 110.6 this season can barely rank in the middle of the league 18th, then their only 119.8 defensive efficiency puts the team in the 28th position in the league...
Nash was exasperated on the sidelines and scolded at the referee. (01:01) Can Nash's fury wake up the Nets?
"If the Nets want to explore the possibility of being a championship contender, then they need to try every opportunity." Coach Jeff Van Gundy also started to come up with ideas for the Nets, "I think they need to get a different type of big man. ”
However, as things stand, it doesn't seem like just bringing in inside players to pull the Nets out of the quagmire — because in terms of roster personnel, they shouldn't be outside the playoffs.
However, since the beginning of the season, Nets coach Nash's on-court scheduling and personnel rotation have been repeatedly questioned and criticized by the outside world. Otherwise, this summer, when Durant and the Nets staged a farce of applying for a trade, cleaning up Nash became one of Durant's demands.
Does Nash really have the ability to "steer" this Nets? At least judging by his performances on the sidelines in these games, Nash is adjusting himself as a young coach.
Before this season, Nash left an image on the sidelines as a Confucian coach. However, this season, he has repeatedly raged on the sidelines.
In the third quarter against the Bucks, when "Brother Alphabet" bumped into Mills but escaped the referee's blow, Nash was furious on the sidelines.
The TV broadcast camera at the scene also caught him glaring at the referee "spitting lotus flowers". It was his overreaction that led to two consecutive technical fouls and was eventually ejected.
And this is the first time Nash has been ejected by a referee since becoming a coach.
Nash wanted to wake up the Nets with his bloody nature.
"Nash used to trash at the referee when he was still playing, and he hadn't been whistled for a technical foul since he became a coach. I was thinking about where all his fire had gone. ”
When Durant was asked after the loss about Nash's first coaching career ejection, Durant left this remark.
'Of course, being a coach is not the same as being a player, but at some point you just want to support your players on the pitch and that's what he did tonight.
As Durant said, Nash's "furious performance" may have some impact on the team to some extent, "Anyway, I know the coach will support me and the whole team." ”
Perhaps Nash's first career ejection would be a good thing for his future management of the Nets and building prestige among players.
But the problems facing Nash now are quite tricky, in addition to Simmons' mental problems and injury concerns, how the team's personnel rotation is structured and how the chemistry is activated is related to when they get out of the quagmire of loss.
(Source: The Paper)
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