On October 30, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Nets played at home against the Pacers. The Pacers have a 1-4 record and the Nets have a 2-3 record, and they are not in very good shape, of course, for the Nets, they need to take a win with the Pacers. The game was divided into three stages, the first quarter to the first half of the second quarter, the Pacers punched and killed the teacher, once opening up the 16-point difference. In the middle of the second quarter to the third quarter, the Nets suddenly started to power, and in the middle of the third quarter to the fourth quarter, the Pacers began to press the Nets again, and they were not pulled apart. The final score was 105-98, relying on Harden's free throws, the Nets finally won, there were good aspects, there were some shortcomings, but one thing to be sure, Nash is now a little paranoid.
Let's take a look at the stats first, on the Pacers side, Sabonis has 16 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, Duarte has 19 points and 4 rebounds, Craig has 28 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, and Lamb has 12 points and 5 rebounds. On the Nets side, Durant had 22 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 turnovers, Harden had 29 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists (16 from 19 free throws), Ader had 21 points and 8 rebounds, Brown had 8 points and 6 rebounds, and Joe Harris had 9 points.
It must start with Durant shaking Craig down, when Craig was swung 3 meters away in that round, after watching Durant easily shoot a three-pointer, Craig exploded, two three-pointers, two make-up baskets, leading the Pacers to open a 16-point difference in the early part of the second quarter, and the Nets played a terrible game before that. In Nash's words, he had a hard time choosing not to use Durant, who was too aggressive on the offensive end. All the balls were handed over to Durant to finish. The Nets scored 26 points in the first quarter, and Durant himself scored 14 points on 6-of-7. This is the same as in the last 5 games, Durant himself opened, but the Nets did not contribute other points, the Nets passively beaten. The turning point of that game was here at Harden.
After Harden returned in the second quarter, he broke through to create fouls, made three-point fouls, got up and turned his head after being fouled, and did not entangle too much with opponents and referees. In the first five games, Harden has made a total of 15 free throws, and today he has 10 at halftime. Is it the referee who takes special care of Harden? I don't feel like, like Holliday, really directly at Harden's arm, and Craig, jumping to block Harden, directly knocking Harden away, when the opponent realizes that Harden has no whistle, they are bullying Harden, but today the referee is finally normal for a while, the blow is blown, so that the two teams can stand on the same running line, which is already the biggest gift to the Nets. The Nets flattened the 16-point deficit and overtook, with Harden making the first contribution.
Let's talk about Nash. Nash's tactical system can not see what it is until now, in the words of the commentator Shen Zhiyu, the starting lineup gives the ball to Durant to end, and the connecting section lineup gives the ball to Ade to end, but a lineup has no defense, a set of lineups is not attacked at all, from the perspective of the head coach, he is digging a hole for the players. When he realized he still had Millsap in his hand, he put Millsap on it. Watching Millsap play, it's really like holding your breath in your heart, after coming up, don't care about Harden, don't care about Durant, is holding the ball and constantly impacting the basket, he can play like this, can create fouls, the defense is also oppressive, just 13 minutes plus-minus +13, why Nash is not willing to give Millsap some more opportunities?
If Irving returns, in fact, Nash's most desired lineup allocation is Harden with the second lineup, the starting lineup Irving and Durant are partnered, and Irving is not there, Harden has less time to take the bench, which leads to no real offensive deterrent point on the bench. In the third quarter, Nash finally let Durant and the substitute Mills + Ard together, the Nets are constantly pulling apart the point difference, this is the normal idea, to ensure that Durant or Harden at least one person is present, to ensure that at least one of Harden's side Mills or Carter to protect the defense, the Nets will not be as passive as the first half, to know that the Pacers, there are fewer core players such as Brogton, Levert, Warren, etc., the Nets should have won easily.
The significance of this game is not only a victory for the Nets, Harden is gradually playing self-confidence, the referee's blowing scale for Harden has slowly returned to normal, the performance of Ade and Millsap proves that they really deserve more tactical status, of course, to be honest, Griffin and Joe Harris should adjust, Griffin is only 7 of 1 today, and Joha has no contribution at all, his continuous iron and mistakes in the third quarter also caused the Nets offense to stagnate, Nash's eyes, should not be only seven or eight people. Look at the Nets playing now, really tired, Harden is tired, Durant is also tired, the direct consequence is too many mistakes, but I see Nash is still quite relaxed.