Brooklyn Nets: Did the Philadelphia 76ers find their kryptonite?

The Brooklyn Nets appear to be the best team in the league this season. With players like Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Kevin Durant along with a deep bench, on paper, they seem to be the most well-constructed roster in the NBA with no major weaknesses.

However, the Philadelphia 76ers may have found the one flaw in the Nets armor. The 76ers just knocked off the Nets for the second time this season in their three meetings, winning the season series.

We will see if the 76ers are able to keep this up in the playoffs or if it is just a regular-season fluke. However, up to this point in the season, a pattern is beginning to show itself on the best way to try to beat this elite Nets team.

Although the Brooklyn Nets have been one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA, defending a dominant big man may be their one weak point.

Up to this point in the season, the Nets have not played the 76ers with their roster at full health. In the first matchup, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant did not play. Along with this, James Harden was not traded to the team yet. In this game, Joel Embiid finished the contest with 20 points and 13 rebounds of 50.0 percent shooting.

In the second game, Irving and Durant once again were sidelined. Embiid lit the Nets up for 33 points and 9 rebounds on 47.6 percent shooting.

In the most recent meeting, James Harden and Kevin Durant were absent. Embiid had his best game yet, scoring 39 points and pulling down 13 rebounds on 44.8 percent shooting.

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Once Durant is on the floor, it could solve a lot of the issues that Embiid causes for the team. Despite being a lot lighter than Embiid, Durant is still one of the best defenders in the league when he wants to be.

Although he will not be the one to match up against Embiid, his help-side defense could cause the 76ers center some issues.

Along with this, Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant still have not played against Embiid this season. With Nets head coach Steve Nash having this rotation of big men to throw at Embiid, there is a chance that they could wear him out or at least keep him on his toes with so many different defenders being able to put up a fight against him.

Given, this is not a problem that exclusively happens to the Nets. Embiid is having an MVP caliber season and there are more teams that can not guard him than those that can.

However, if this pattern of not being able to guard paint dominant bigs continues, the Nets could have some issues in the future against teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers.

It was recently announced that LaMarcus Aldridge will be retiring from the NBA due to an irregular heartbeat. This makes guarding dominant bigs even more of a problem for the Brooklyn Nets.

While Aldridge was not their best defender in the post, he was serviceable and was another body that could be thrown in the paint to stop players like Embiid.