Upon its acquisition of James Harden last month, Brooklyn had the look of an Eastern Conference juggernaut. But appearances can be deceiving. Despite their star trio of Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the Nets have struggled of late, dropping three straight including a head-scratching loss to the Pistons—owners of the league’s worst record at 6-18—Tuesday night in Detroit.
For all their talent, the Nets have shown an exasperating lack of consistency, continually taking their foot off the gas against lesser foes (NBA-worst 7-11 against losing opponents). That frustration seemed to boil over Tuesday night with an uncharacteristically animated James Harden ripping into teammate DeAndre Jordan. Irving, who contributed 27 points on disastrous 12-of-28 shooting in the losing effort including 2-of-9 from downtown (22.2 percent), appeared inconsolable on the bench, watching in disbelief as the slumping Nets fell to 14-12 on the year.
“We look very average,” Irving expressed to ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “A lot of teams come out very comfortable against us.” That was certainly the case Tuesday with Detroit erupting for 38 first-quarter points. Anchored by leading scorer Jerami Grant (11-of-19 from the field for 32 points), the Pistons opened up an 18-point, first-half lead and never looked back.
“We just have to turn that corner. And we haven't done it yet, but we will,” said Irving, confident the Nets will survive this rough patch and eventually hit their stride. “And I'm telling you the league's going to be on notice when that happens."
In Brooklyn’s defense, building on-court chemistry amid so many moving parts is much easier said than done. It hasn’t helped that Durant, Harden and Irving have rarely been on the court together. Durant, the NBA’s third-leading scorer (29.5 points per game) behind Bradley Beal (33.3) and Steph Curry (29.6), hasn’t suited up since testing positive for COVID last week, though the Nets are optimistic he’ll be back for their game Saturday at Golden State.
The Nets are averaging a prolific 121.1 points per game on offense (second to Milwaukee’s 121.3), but have been a turnstile defensively, permitting the second-most points per game (118.4) behind Washington (120.1).
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