The Brooklyn Nets’ season has been like a summary of the club’s last three years. At best, the team is the sharpest top of the basketball league NBA, at worst, a reluctant and confused team.
Kevin Durant’s and Kyrie Irving’s the team he led lost 9 of the first 15 games of the season. The team won 21 of the following 25 games. At the same time, Durant rose to a level he had not played at since the Achilles injury in the summer of 2019.
Under his leadership, the team sparkled in December in a way that almost made us forget what kind of uproar the season has contained since the summer. Durant was injured on Jan. 8 against Miami, and then Brooklyn lost four straight games.
The team, dependent on its superstar, is on a tightrope towards spring.
The main stars of the soap opera
In addition to his skills, star quarterback Irving is also known for the attention he has garnered off the field. This season, Durant started creating a stir already in the summer when he demanded a transfer away from the club or to the head coach at the time For Steve Nash kicks.
In September, among other things, Irving shared on his Instagram a video from 2002 in which the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones tells about a government conspiracy called the New World Order, which will, for example, release motion sickness into the world.
In October, there was a real shock when Irving shared a tweet on his Twitter account with his almost five million followers. The tweet contained a link to a low-budget film that has been condemned for, for example, anti-Semitic content and Holocaust denial.
The incident garnered a lot of media attention and Irving was eventually suspended for eight games, fined and other obligations. The team’s most important back man missed games again, just like he had in each of his seasons in Brooklyn.
Durant led the team to a winning streak
In November, it was Durant’s turn again. He made questionable comments about his teammates.
– Look at our starting five. Edmond Sumner, Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris, Nic Claxton and I. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but what do you expect from that group? You expect victories because I am there, Durant uploaded to the sports site Bleacher Report (you’re going to another service).
Despite everything, the team started to win matches. He replaced the dismissed Nash as head coach in November Jacque Vaughn was able to bring stability to the group.
– The biggest thing is the arrival of Jacque Vaugnh as coach. He simplified the offense and the team interaction is now better, HoopsHype basketball website editor Michael Scotto analyzed in a podcast interview with The Ringer at the turn of the year.
At the end of the year, Durant got into a mood with which he played himself into the MVP race of the season. Perhaps even known as the most versatile basket maker in the history of the league, Durant has played one of his best seasons ever in light of the power.
For example, he has been more accurate in his two-point jump shots than ever before, even historically good. Throws that have gone from three to barely six meters, the 34-year-old American has hit with an average accuracy of almost 60 percent.
The long-limbed winger’s true shooting percentage is also the highest in his career, a shocking 67.3. Defenses know the skills of the star player, but still Durant throws a lot and accurately.
True shooting percentage takes two-point shots, three-point shots and free throws into account when measuring shooting efficiency. In this way, it is a more comprehensive measure than just the shooting percentage in game situations.
The defensive rating reading tells you how many points the team allows per hundred possessions.
At the same time, he has been excellent on the defensive end. Durant, center Claxton and enjoyed an annual salary of more than $35 million Ben Simmons form a truly mobile and reachable frame for defense. Under Vaughn, Brooklyn’s shifting defensive concept has worked.
In his time, the team’s defensive rating has been the sixth best in the league at 111.1. In that, the athletic and reaching trio plays a key role.
The role players have filled their places
After a confusing early season, Kyrie Irving has become a star-level player again. In January, after Durant was injured, he averaged 31.4 points per game.
For example, against the reigning champion Golden State, Irving practically single-handedly decided the victory. The guard scored 38 points with an insane 73.2 true shooting percentage. Led by Irving, who scored 12 points in the final period, Brooklyn came from 17 points behind to win.
Vaughn has brought out the strengths of Brooklyn’s wide roster. Claxton, a practically unable-to-shoot center, is even one of the candidates to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Claxton has blocked 2.7 shots per game, and is able to adequately defend even smaller attackers.
Yuta Watanabe, Seth Curry mixed Joe Harris bring a huge throwing threat whenever they are on the field. For example, Watanabe has hit almost 60 percent of his three-point shots from the corners of the court. Curry’s three-point percentage is almost 44 and Harris’s 41. Both shoot more than four threes per game.
When will Durant return?
With Durant recovering from the third lateral knee ligament injury of his career, the team under Irving’s leadership has straightened its course a little after four losses. Durant predicts in his own podcast that a return to the courts could be possible before the NBA All-Star Game (February 19).
When Durant recovers, the team aims for the championship. This spring is Brooklyn’s opportunity, as Irving’s contract, among other things, expires in the summer, and there is no certainty about the extension.
Experienced NBA reporter for ESPN Brian Windhorst said in the late fall after Irving returned from his suspension to the court that it is difficult for him to trust that Irving would not cause a disturbance around him in the future.
– A few things have prevented this team from achieving success in recent years. One of them is the ruckus that Kyrie Irving has repeatedly caused his team.
That goes for the entire Brooklyn team. It’s been quiet since the fall, but will the focus remain only on basketball and winning the championship during the spring?