The Brooklyn Nets are tipped to be the NBA Championship contender this season especially with the team that they have gathered. However, despite pulling off some great trades in the offseason, the fans are yet to see the much-fabled ‘Big Three’ in full swing as Kevin Durant was out of action with injury after James Harden’s dramatic offseason signing.
While now Durant has returned after a prolonged period on the sidelines, James Harden has now succumbed to injury and is out for now. The Nets do have a strong lineup even without Harden but there are questions about the chemistry between Harden, Durant and Kyrie Irving as the playoffs are knocking at the door.
However, Durant cleared the air in a recent interaction with ESPN where he feels that not being focused and not following a plan might be a bigger issue for them. He said, “I’ll see more issues if we’re not focused. If we’re not locked in with the game plan, more so than anything. Once we got a good game plan and we follow it to the T, then we’ll start to see stuff form.”
“The chemistry, if you want to call it. Just energy form around like us following what the coaches need us to do to succeed. I think things will work out for us. But we definitely want to get on the floor,” he added.
The Nets for sure have a great lineup with too much quality throughout the starting five and even on the bench and therefore they are genuine title contenders this season. However, the recent defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers in a 101-126 blowout has raised some doubts. On top of that players like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma, Wesley Matthews and Pau Gasol were missing for the reigning champions.
Irving got ejected after he got into a scuffle with Dennis Schroder as Durant played less minutes but still scored 22 points and Harden did not even feature. A lot of people thought that the Lakers were dependent on the big two of James and Davis but that changed against the Nets as the likes of Drummond, Schroder and even Ben McLemore came up with the goods to help the Lakers in a blowout win.
With the playoffs approaching and the nets still looking weak on the defence, they have to sort a lot of issues. It all depends on how the ‘Big Three’ will perform when they all get together during the business of the season.
