Steve Nash recently learned that his three most important players have totaled less minutes together on the floor than a recent hit Netflix film.
“Someone said to me yesterday the amount of minutes they’ve played on the floor together is shorter than ‘The Irishman,’” Nash told reporters on Friday. “That’s just what it is. That’s our gap.”
“The Irishman,” the famously long Martin Scorcese movie starring Robert DeNiro, spans decades with the same characters in a near three and a half hour story. For Brooklyn, the team wasn’t given that long for its star trio’s character development. Thanks to multiple injuries and personal leaves, the Nets will begin their playoff run on Saturday night against the Celtics trying to build chemistry on the fly.
“We know it, we accept it, we recognize it,” Nash said of his team’s lack of shared playing time. “We don’t have the luxury of a full season together…and most of our competitors are running this back for years three, four or five. So we’re not going to have that.”
The Nets do have the luxury of boasting three of the best players in the playoffs, with James Harden and Kevin Durant back from hamstring injuries and Kyrie Irving set to run the point, even with recent comments of his lack of focus after taking multiple stints away from the team this season due to personal reasons. Nash has no concern about his team’s focus level heading into the playoffs, but as for the big three’s familiarity with each other, he can only hope they click in time to make a run at a championship, as Brooklyn carries title expectations despite its star trio playing only eight games together all season.
“It’s what we accept, what we understand and we can’t control that,” Nash said. “The cohesion is going to have to come in time. How can we be good enough to survive until it becomes more well-rounded? That’s as much a challenge as any.”
Durant, Irving and Harden can likely cruise past an inferior Boston team on talent alone, and hopefully start to find their chemistry once the tougher East opponents arrive. Nash only hopes it happens while the team’s season is still alive.
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