Kathy Willens / Associated Press
Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets know where they want to go, a fact that was made clear in the comments of the All-Star guard after Tuesday’s 124-120 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
“We know that they are vying to find us in the future, “Irving said of the expired clips in the TNT broadcast. “So we wanted to make a good impression and we did it.”
If any team has the right to think about sending messages before a possible Finals clash in early February, it may well be the one with the Nets’ extreme star power. You do not form a constellation like this, unless you intend to become a supernova.
The Nets came out against the Clippers on Tuesday, combining timely defense (no, seriously!) With incendiary scoring and offensive harmony. In doing so, they sent out a signal that their journey is more than just reaching the finals.
Brooklyn may be the team that will take the entire NBA beyond the limit that has been advancing for years.
Although the trend line is not perfectly straight, the attack is on the rise, moving from an offensive rating of 104.6 to a decade ago to a record 110.9 this year. Math (three is more than two) has a lot to do with it, but so does a group of players created to shoot, control and score in high-value areas, regardless of size or position.
Saying that the Nets brought Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant together because they sought to open a new offensive track for a title may be giving them a lot of credit. The goal, as evidenced by hiring Steve Nash to be the head coach, could have been simpler: just getting stars and making noise. But the Brooklyn people and their extreme dependence on the attack make undeniable sense with the direction the league has taken in the past decade.
Brooklyn’s makeup also goes against where the league has been.
In the past two decades, the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers are the only team to win a championship with a defense ranked 11th, according to Ryan Blackburn of the Denver Stiffs. By the time the Nets added Harden to a squad that already had a scoring surplus at the expense of defense and depth, it was clear that they were ready to challenge cliché and convention.
Does the defense win championships? Yes, we’ll see about that.
Critically, Brooklyn’s defense was good enough against the Clippers.
The Nets started Jeff Green at 5, allowing for an exchange scheme for everything. Although the Clippers started to lead, the Brooklyn tactic paid off. Los Angeles lacks a conventional point guard to set its attack in motion when switches block pick-and-roll; Brooklyn induced attacks of isolation and stagnation of a crime already predisposed to stand still.
Don’t be fooled. The Clips entered Tuesday’s defeat with an offensive rating just a tenth of a point worse than Brooklyn’s runner-up attack. LA can score like few other teams. But in addition to the effective exchange, the Nets got a reliable one-on-one defense from Harden (especially in the post), active hands from Irving and some “man, this guy is long“Durant rim competitions.
This approach may work for Brooklyn. If the Nets push opponents into basketball one-on-one, that is a victory. Movement, screens, communication – this is where the Nets get involved in problems in D. They are better when things are simple, when their capable individual defenders can face a frontal challenge.
Summoning the right level of effort also doesn’t get in the way.
The Nets record against quality teams suggests they can reach that level at the helm.
The attack will take Brooklyn most nights, and although we spent a lot of time discussing the defense, Tuesday was still one of them.
The Big Three of the Nets worked together to conquer late Los Angeles leadership, not so much taking turns, but taking advantage of opportunities whenever they presented themselves. Irving set the season’s record with 39 points and recorded more highlights, but Durant (28 points out of 11 out of 13 shots) and Harden (23 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds) were hardly observers.
The Nets gave up on D, and it often seemed that the Clippers could have shown more patience, trusted their advantages and established the game. But it is difficult to stay calm with the ball when Brooklyn never gives in when it has the ball. You could feel the clips feeling the pressure and fighting the urgency. They had to score because the Nets would definitely go when they got the ball back.
It’s not like Brooklyn has run away with this game. Yes, it went up 10 after Durant did a patented 1:55 left wing pull-up on the left. But the Clippers reduced that advantage to a single point at the end of the process. This shows how small the Nets’ margin of error is – even with such a good offense.
Defensively, Brooklyn will never be great. it is Day 25 in the defensive classification and 27th since the acquisition of Harden. The acquisition market will not save the Nets. Whoever you find to reinforce your defense will not play ahead of Irving, Harden, Durant or Joe Harris in the greatest moments of the games that matter most.
For Brooklyn to reach the destination it’s already thinking about, it will be done with a mind-melting offense and just enough – just bad enough – in D. If the Nets go all the way this way, it will be the first time.
But there is no denying that the league is increasingly inclined to attack. And there is no denying that there is a first time for everything.
Statistics courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. I need the games played on Tuesday, February 2nd.