The well-known narrative surrounding the Brooklyn Nets this season is that they have incredible talent, but what they don't have is familiarity on the court together. This is especially true for their Big 3, as Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving played just eight games together in the regular season.
However, if you have watched these Nets so far in this postseason, it certainly doesn't appear like there is any lack of chemistry. What has unfolded is the Nets are making up for lost time and then some. Just look at what the Big 3 have proven to this point.
Durant is averaging 32.6 points per game, with a low of 24 points, and is shooting 54.6 percent from the field, having topped 50 percent in every game. You know how many times LeBron James has done the latter in his five postseason games in 2021? ZERO times. In fact, LeBron has had just one game in which he has shot even 48 percent from the field. It's not just LeBron that falls short of KD's stellar postseason run so far, as only two other players have scored at least 24 points while shooting 50 percent or more even three times: likely 2021 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.
Harden shot 56 percent from the floor in the first round, 10 percent above what he shot for the Rockets in the first round last year, and his 18-assist outburst in Game 4 is the high number for assists in the 2021 postseason. He then saved his best for last in Game 5, becoming just the second player in Nets history, behind Hall of Famer Jason Kidd, to record a triple-double in the postseason. Harden, however, stands alone by doing so with 30 points – and to take it a step further, he scored his 34 on 59 percent shooting, a line no other player has ever accomplished this in a postseason game.
Don't forget about Kyrie, one of 15 players averaging at least 25 points per game this postseason – more than soon-to-be foe Giannis Antetokounmpo. Not only is the 6-foot-2 Irving scoring more points per game than Giannis, he is also more efficient from the field in terms of field goal percentage, and is averaging over six rebounds per game as well. The only other two guards this postseason to put up those numbers: 6-foot-8 Paul George and 6-foot-7 Luka Doncic. Irving, the little man on that totem pole, is not just scoring, he's doing the little things that ultimately end up in titles.
"We just don't want to take any of this time for granted," Irving said. "This doesn't happen too often kind of in our culture, in our history, where three of the best scorers to ever play the game are on one team."
Irving is 100 percent correct: there has never been a time where three scorers of this caliber all played on the same team in the heart of their prime. The Milwaukee Bucks better do their homework, because the Nets' familiarity with each other grows game by game, and that will be a nightmare for the remaining teams in this postseason.
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