The Brooklyn Nets were a trendy preseason pick to secure homecourt advantage in the Eastern Conference. The truly bold may have picked them as an Eastern Conference finalist on the back of Kevin Durant returning from injury. Yet the idea that the Nets would be the conference favorite with 20 games to go has to be logged as a surprise.
The Nets currently stand at 36-16 with a 0.5 game lead ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers for first in the Eastern Conference. After an early-season blockbuster trade for James Harden, they boast one of the greatest offensive trios in NBA history, up there with the Showtime Lakers and the more recent dynasty edition of the Golden State Warriors.
What is perhaps even crazier is that the Nets are rolling through the league with one hand behind their backs. Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving have only played seven games together, and Durant returned just this week from two months rehabbing a hamstring injury. If they have been this successful apart, how incandescent will they be all together?
The Brooklyn Nets are setting up for a Finals run
As the postseason approaches, playoff seeds are settled into place and teams look to the final prize, the Nets have to be feeling good. In an inconsistent Eastern Conference, the Nets have a clear path to the NBA Finals, and once they arrive they are set up to win. Here are three reasons why the Brooklyn Nets will win the NBA title.
3. First time for this group, but tons of postseason experience
Last season the Brooklyn Nets qualified for the postseason while playing in the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. With Kevin Durant yet to make his Brooklyn debut while rehabbing from an Achilles tear, Kyrie Irving sitting the Bubble out and James Harden playing with a red jersey in another conference, the rotation looked vastly different from what it does now.
Of the Nets’ expected full-health rotation, only Joe Harris played in last year’s playoffs, appearing in just two games. The experience of last year’s playoff “run” will not have any bearing on the current roster’s postseason preparation. That shouldn’t matter, however, given the sheer amount of playoff experience permeating the roster.
Kevin Durant leads the way with 139 career postseason games, fifth-most among players actively seeing minutes in the NBA, including four trips to the NBA Finals. James Harden also ranks in the top 10 with 128. postseason games. Kyrie Irving has 61 games, three trips to the Finals, a title and an all-time iconic shot to his name.
The depth pieces behind them have postseason experience as well. Newly signed stretch-big LaMarcus Aldridge has played in 72 career postseason games. Blake Griffin has appeared in 53, while his former “Lob City” partner DeAndre Jordan has been in 57. Jeff Green has 72 appearances of his own. Even Landry Shamet totaled 19 games in the first two seasons of his career, with the aforementioned Harris logging 13 across six seasons. Bruce Brown brings up the rear with four appearances.
In total that’s 618 postseason appearances in their expected playoff rotation, with only Nic Claxton among potential rotation players without postseason experience. This group needs to “go to war” together, if you can pardon the phrase, but they have all battled themselves on various teams.
The website FiveThirtyEight has written that teams laden with overall postseason experience tend to outperform their regular season performance. To that end, the Nets should be even more confident of performing once the playoffs roll around. They have all been there before, and that experience could boost them all the way to the title.
2. Elite offense, even if one player is off
The reason the Brooklyn Nets are first in the Eastern Conference, with the third-best record overall, is that they have an incendiary offense, spearheaded by their stars but sustained by a deep rotation of talented offensive players. The Nets rank first in the league in offensive rating, scoring 118.5 points per 100 possessions.
What is incredible about that stat is that, as we mentioned in the intro, the Nets have played just seven games with their full complement of stars. In those seven games, the Nets have scored 135, 128, 98 (what??), 132, 124, 117 and 134 points, or an average of 124 points. With Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving all in the lineup, this team is unstoppable on offense.
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What is remarkable is that the Nets lead the league in offensive rating despite the infrequency with which those players have all been available. The Nets have played 52 games this season; Durant has missed 32 of those games, Irving 15, and Harden missed the first 13 loafing on the Rockets and another six since joining the Nets, with more to come as he nurses a hamstring injury.
Despite the injuries, the Nets just keep humming along. Durant returned Wednesday night (4/7) from a long absence, and the Nets suited up without Harden, an MVP candidate. They dropped a ho-hum 139 points, including 79 in the first half and 115 by the end of the third quarter.
That’s the beauty of having three on-ball creators who can also shoot. When all three are in the game and healthy, defenses can’t leave one to double another. Yet when one or two are off the court, due to rotations or for the entire game, their offense doesn’t crater. In the playoffs, defenses look to take away what you are best at. With Durant, Harden and Irving on the court, often paired with an elite shooter in Joe Harris and a stretch big — LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, or even a rim-runner like Nic Claxton — there is no way to take something away without being pulverized elsewhere.
Some offenses wilt in the postseason. James Harden knows how that feels, running a heliocentric offense in Houston that couldn’t adjust when their best actions were taken away. Now in Brooklyn, he is part of a machine that looks unstoppable.
1. No other East star has proven in the playoffs to Kevin Durant’s level
Kevin Durant has been to the NBA Finals four different times, once as the top-dog on the young Oklahoma City Thunder and three times as the co-star with Stephen Curry on the Golden State Warriors. He has won two titles, both coming with well-deserved Finals MVP awards. No other star in the Eastern Conference has proven himself in the playoffs like Durant has.
Because LeBron James tends to soak them up, there are only four active players who have won a Finals MVP award. James and Kawhi Leonard play in Los Angeles in the Western Conference. Andre Iguodala won the award (that probably should have gone to Stephen Curry) in 2015, and while he plays in the Eastern Conference he’s averaging just 21.3 minutes and 4.5 points per game for the Miami Heat.
Durant also leads the pack among players with NBA Finals experience. The leaders of the Toronto Raptors are the only non-Nets stars in the East with titles, but the Raptors are currently 20-31 and clearly not a contender this season. The Miami Heat have experience from their run to the NBA Finals last year, but outside of Iguodala, that amounts to one year in the NBA Bubble.
Kyrie Irving probably has the second-best claim to proven playoff performance, and he’s Durant’s wingman on the Nets. Irving has been to the NBA Finals three times, winning one title alongside LeBron James by hitting the greatest shot of his career over Stephen Curry.
That leaves Kevin Durant the undisputed king of the Eastern Conference playoffs until someone dethrones him. Win the East and you’re four wins away from a title. While the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers look formidable with their proven stars, they are also far from perfect and dealing with injury issues of their own.
Add all of this together: playoff experience, elite offense and the best player, and it equals a run to the NBA Finals and the best shot of any team at winning a title. Basketball is unpredictable, and anything could happen once the playoffs begin. Yet from our vantage point, a fully healthy Brooklyn Nets team is ready to take on all comers and win the NBA title in 2020-21.