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Regardless of buying “third star” James Harden one month in the past to kind an All-Star triumvirate with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Nets have traveled a bumpy highway since then. Irving was on a private go away of absence on the time, Durant was simply coming off one COVID-19 quarantine and since has undergone a second quarantine that ended Friday.
The Nets’ Large 3 performed their seventh sport collectively as a unit Saturday evening at Golden State to start a five-game West Coast highway journey that figured to be their hardest take a look at of the season, they usually didn’t have beginning heart DeAndre Jordan, who missed the sport for private causes. Counting Golden State, the Nets had simply 10 video games left earlier than the All-Star break in March, they usually nonetheless are looking for solutions.
The great factor is that they have performed their finest in opposition to the highest groups, and they’re dealing with 4 groups with successful data plus a top quality Kings group that slipped one sport under .500 with a loss on Friday evening.
“We appear to rise up and play higher in opposition to the higher groups,” coach Steve Nash mentioned earlier than the Nets departed on their cross-country trek. “The West Coast undoubtedly will problem us. All these groups [also including the Suns, Lakers and Clippers] are excellent. I hope we match the extent that’s requested of us and play to our degree.
“The concept is to win video games, however the huge image is: Are we getting higher? Are we placing ourselves in place to be a extra formidable group down the highway? That’s the No. 1 precedence for me over wins and losses. We’ve bought so many guys which were out and in of the lineup, so we’re nonetheless in our infancy so far as attempting to jell and put this group collectively.”
The Nets lately snapped a three-game dropping streak that was their worst of the season with a win over the Pacers on Wednesday of their finest defensive efficiency of the season. Durant mentioned his time without work allowed him to concentrate on what the Nets must work on most.
“Simply being on the identical web page to start out video games on the defensive aspect,” Durant mentioned. Pointing to the ultimate sport of their current dropping streak, he added, “I watched the Detroit sport, and we had been down 14 factors on the finish of the primary quarter. Regardless of who we’re enjoying in opposition to, that’s an enormous deficit. We simply wish to begin off video games with depth and preserve constructing from there.”
Lengthy highway journeys supply a possibility to construct an off-the-court bond that interprets to raised efficiency on the courtroom, and that’s very true within the midst of a pandemic when everyone seems to be harassed by the necessity to observe strict NBA well being and security protocols.
“With the bus rides, aircraft rides, being within the locker room with these guys, I really feel like we nonetheless are in a ‘bubble’ it doesn’t matter what,” Durant mentioned. “I believe we’re constructing that chemistry and attending to know one another on a private degree.
“Clearly, being out and going out to dinners and having the ability to hand around in public collectively undoubtedly would assist, however I nonetheless assume we’re getting a variety of group bonding and constructing as we’re going by way of the season. It’s about executing what we have to do on each ends of the ground, staying on one web page, and I believe we’re trending in the suitable route.”
The Nets have made no secret of their championship aspirations, and it’s apparent they’ve one of the crucial high-powered offenses within the league. However the win over the Pacers confirmed the significance of communication and what Nash describes as “connectivity” on protection to their long-term success.
The coach mentioned the Nets are a quiet group, so this highway journey comes at a terrific level within the season as a result of it would assist to provoke them. “Within the outdated days, we bonded by going out to dinner collectively, going to a bar,” Corridor of Famer Nash mentioned of his enjoying days. “You possibly can’t try this in COVID. It’s not a standard world.
“It’s a problem for us being a brand new group, new [coaching] employees, the modifications, the commerce, COVID. We simply haven’t had a clear runway. Within the good, outdated days, I might have put my bank card behind the bar and advised the fellows to exit and have an excellent time, however that ain’t occurring in COVID. So we’ll have to seek out artistic methods to develop and discover that bond.”
@GregLogan1
Greg Logan has labored for Newsday since 1982 overlaying a wide selection of sports activities and occasions, presently together with the Brooklyn Nets beat.
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