Kyrie Irving received a pass from James Harden and gave an undisputed spin with his left finger to give Brooklyn Nets 18 points in less than six minutes to start the first game of the latest NBA Big Three – composed by Irving, Harden and Kevin Durant . They made their first 10 shots, an emphatic confirmation of our wildest expectations, putting the ball in the basket at ease with three of the most prolific individual scorers in the world.
But instead of sitting and taking the attack, agreeing with the narrative that was about to unfold, the Cleveland Cavaliers changed their stance, launching a series of zone defenses and pressure on the Nets to force adjustments. That, along with Collin Sexton’s virtuous 42-point performance, ended up leading the Cavs to a double win in overtime by 147-135, spoiling the debut of the Nets’ new triumvirate.
“We started out hot, 10 out of 10 to start. We got what we wanted,” said Durant after the defeat. “They played zone for the rest of the game until fourth place, and once they cleared the zone, we were able to get back in the game after we were lost by 15 or 16. Against young teams, you know they will start to throwing pressure outside, zones, mixing your defenses – playing more exotic defenses. You know, we just have to be prepared for that.
The difficulty in making adjustments was expected on Wednesday, with the Big Three playing together for the first time, but Durant’s comments express what will essentially be the main obstacle to advancing the Nets attack. When things are going well, it will be almost impossible to stop, based only on the individual talents of your top three players. But as defenses make adjustments and Irving, Harden and Durant enter and exit recessions, how will Brooklyn change its approach?
We saw some of this dilemma in the first half of the defeat for Cavs. Harden clearly sought to involve others earlier, as he did in his two previous games with the Nets, and on Wednesday he scored just two points out of two – yes, two – field goal attempts in the first half. Last season, Harden averaged more than one field goal attempt every two minutes.
Harden did not want to force the issue, and his facilitation allowed Irving to add 17 points in the first half, while Durant scored 11. Harden finished with 21 points, but he never entered an offensive pace when trying to turn the key in the second half and in overtime. . Playing the third wheel at any stage of the game is not something Harden is used to, and you could see him struggling to decide when to take control and when to postpone. All three stars seemed hesitant to push the issue offensively and wanted to make sure the others were comfortable, which led to some forced passes and bad spins, especially at the beginning.
“I’m trying to get an idea of the whole situation. It will come to me,” said Harden after the game. “I’m not worried. I’m not in a hurry – very, very patient. Things will come. That’s all – patience, communication and finding out, what we will do.”
Just as we saw the balance needed when three elite scorers try to keep each other involved, we saw the luxury that the power of the stars offers at the end of the games. While the Nets erased Cavs’ 12-point lead in the fourth period to eventually force overtime, Durant had 11 points, Irving had 10 and Harden had seven points and four assists – each capable of creating a kick for himself or a teammate. team apparently at ease.
Meanwhile, Cavs needed Sexton to be virtually perfect in overtime in order to win. It worked on Wednesday, but it often doesn’t work. The Nets, on the other hand, have three All-NBA players to choose from to end the games – precisely because the front line made the switch.
Then, in his debut, we saw the blessing and curse of having Harden, Irving and Durant together. It will take a while for them to figure out how to play together and how to distribute the opportunities. Sometimes it will be very ugly. Defensively, we can already see that it will be a fight – they allowed 117.4 points for 100 possessions in three games with Harden.
But at the end of the games, when most playoff destinations are decided, they will have three players capable of making the Nets a victory, and they are betting that the positives outweigh the negatives of three superstars sharing the court.
“At times we seemed a little lost, which is natural because we don’t play together, so there is a bit of indecision,” said Nets coach Steve Nash after the game. “But I remain optimistic. These guys, it’s their first night together, just feeling for each other. This will be a process that will take the whole year. Although we are all disappointed, we have a lot to build, a lot to grow, a lot more opportunities. ”