James Harden's Brooklyn Nets

And none of that happens unless his 3 pt shot is falling. That's why the 3 point shot is so important to his game. Everything else is predicated on it.

 

Kyrie could play the rest of the season and still pay less in fines than JVG did badmouthing the refs.

 

Yeah, but it only takes once to go from that playoff choker to playoff hero narrative. See Dirk.

And even then, its all a matter of perspective. Harden has higher 2 point, 3 point and MEANINGFULLY higher TS% in the playoffs than Kobe Bryant for example. Different era, different cities, not playing with Shaq lol. Kobe obviously runs circles around Harden defensively though.

 

"Brooklyn has not fared well this season against teams they will likely see in the playoffs. On opening night, they got pummelled by the defending champs, they beat the 76ers a few nights later, but since then have lost to Charlotte, Miami, Chicago (twice), Golden State and Phoenix.

The Nets are now 0-6 against contending teams. Hardly championship quality. "

Yeah they needed Kyrie.

 

Nets won’t go the fine route until the last second because of optics

 

Harden looks to have started his decline this year but he is still very good, top 15 player at least.

 

If I had to guess based on the large number of ignored posts over the last few pages the haters are starting to worry again and are getting a little antsy….

 

All the nets need is good outside shooting from one person not part of the big 3 to be completely unbeatable. Last season, they had Kyrie and Harden go down, and Harris laying a goose egg in the playoffs, and they managed to stay competitive against the eventual champs.

 

the amount of easy layups Harden has smoked this year is crazy…I saw another 1 early in the Bulls game when I was watching the highlights

he plays like a guy who hasn’t touched a basketball in awhile, but he’s talented so he still plays relatively well despite that…that’s how Harden looks when I see him

the 1st step has come back the last few weeks, but the touch on his layups has been gone all season

 

Dude you need to chill, no need to bring

Whoin that Bulls 5 can guard Harden or KD, who in that 5 for the Bulls is a plus defender?

Lavine, Derozan and Vucevic are all below average defenders

Small sample size and the team has been nowhere near full strength.

That 0-6 does not mean anything this early in the season.

 

The bulls are the definition of a pretender. They're no different than the raptors when DD was there. they'll flop in the playoffs and just show they're not at that level once the bright lights are on

 

Honestly, of the 20 home games they have left, I think they only really 'need' Kyrie for about half of them, at most. If I were running things, I'd gladly eat some fines to get Kyrie more time on the court and against the best opponents.

 

just checked their remaining schedule, and the home games are mostly against a bunch of bad or meh type teams although they’ve been losing to or barely beating teams at home while needing to play KD and Harden 40 minutes…they should go ahead and pay the fine when Miami and Milwaukee come to town, and even when LA comes to BK, but the Lakers fine would be mostly for entertainment purposes…I’d like to see the Big 3 beatdown Lebron, AD if he’s back, and Russ

 

All about floor spacing

 

Last night was an outlier game. You understand this, right? The Nets can easily win without Irving when Durant/Harden/Mills combine to shoot 70% from the 3pt line.

 

That makes sense, otherwise the Nets would have been paying already.