While the Brooklyn Nets ‘Big Three’, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, continue to work on building their chemistry on the court, Irving and Harden had a brief conversation in practice this week to clarify their roles.
“We set that up maybe four days ago,” said Irving after the Nets’ 134-117 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday. “I just looked at him and said, ‘You are the point guard and I will play as point guard.’ That was as simple as that. “
Irving described the conversation as concise and practical.
“It is not a mystical conversation we had,” said Irving.
In Saturday’s game against the Warriors, Harden had 16 assists, increasing his average of 11.3 assists per game since joining the Nets in mid-January. It is the largest amount of assists he has given since the 2016-17 season, when he led the league with 11.2 assists per game for the Houston Rockets.
“He’s taking control of the responsibilities and doing an incredible job,” said Irving. “It makes my job easier to just go out and play for free and just make moves.”
When Harden – a multi-scoring champion – was added to the Nets mix, a predominant question was, “Will a basketball be enough?”
Harden had discussed his willingness to play any necessary role with coach Steve Nash after his arrival from Houston.
On Saturday, against the Warriors, Harden, Irving and Durant scored or helped with 100 points for Brooklyn. Saturday marked the seventh game the trio played together – including last week’s clash with the Toronto Raptors, during which Durant was knocked off the ground because of the league’s coronavirus protocols.
Their record together is 5-2, including the loss to the Raptors that Durant was unable to finish.
“I came to this team knowing that they have two special markers on this team,” said Harden. “Obviously I score when I need to, but while I’m involving everyone and Ky (Irving) is getting the shots he wants, KD is getting the shots he wants, it is very efficient. Offensively is not the problem for us, we can score in groups; it’s defensively. It looks like we’ve been picking up a pace recently. We just have to keep it going. “