No team is more star-studded this NBA season than the Brooklyn Nets of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. They are the favorites to win the Eastern Conference. Should they be?
Four current NBA franchises have reached at least two NBA Finals yet are without a championship: The Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz in the Western Conference, and Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic in the East. Could the Nets get back to the Finals this summer? Absolutely they can if healthy, but that’s the big question. On BetOnline’s NBA futures odds, the Nets are -110 favorites to win the East.
Led by future Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd, the Nets reached their first Finals in 2002 but were no match for the Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant Lakers, who swept out New Jersey. The Nets returned the next year but lost in six to the San Antonio Spurs. They haven’t been back since or really even close.
BetOnline does list Brooklyn as a +225 favorite to win it all, and it’s hard to argue if Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving are all healthy. They just rarely have been much this year at the same time and they aren’t currently.
Since Brooklyn stunned the NBA world by trading for three-time scoring champion and former league MVP James Harden in mid-January, the team is 34-14 and currently sits atop the East at 41-20 (31-30 against the spread on NBA picks). The Nets have reached the 40-win mark in the fewest games of any season in the franchise’s NBA history.
Brooklyn was 7-6 (.538) prior to the trade, fourth in the East and the 11th-best record overall. The Nets are 26-8 when at least two of Durant, Harden and Irving play and 27-7 when at least Harden does.
Pre-Harden, the Nets were 3-4 in “clutch” games – those are defined as a margin no more than five points for either team in the final five minutes of regulation. With Harden, the team is 23-6 in them. Those are the most clutch wins in the NBA over that span.
Brooklyn is 17-7 vs. the Top 10 teams in the East and 11-5 vs. the Top 10 teams in the West. In games Irving has played against Western Conference teams, the Nets are an astonishing 16-1.
Irving has been in and out of the lineup this season with minor injuries and some personal issues. Still, he has played 45 games, easily the most of the Big 3, and is averaging 27.3 points. Durant has played in just 25 but is averaging 27.5 points. Harden has been limited to 34 and may not play again in the regular season after a recent setback with his injured hamstring.
Harden became a triple-double machine in Brooklyn and had inserted himself into the MVP conversation, but that won’t happen now. Denver’s Nikola Jokic remains the clear favorite at the top-rated books. Harden was on pace to set career highs in rebounds per game (8.7 rpg), offensive rating (118.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.69) since joining the Nets. The team is 5-2 when the Big 3 all play.
The Nets have used a franchise-record 32 starting lineups with all the injuries. Brooklyn recently got some surprising bad news when seven-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge retired for health concerns. He had taken over as the starting center. In adding Aldridge, Blake Griffin and Harden this season, Brooklyn had been the first team in NBA history to add three players with at least five All-Star appearances during a season.
If Brooklyn is tied or leading after three quarters this season, forget about it. The team is 34-1 in that scenario. Who can other teams try and stop late in games?
Ideally, the Nets are able to earn the East’s top seed and perhaps work Harden back in slowly against an overmatched first-round opponent. This writer believes Philadelphia is the only team that can realistically beat the Nets because Brooklyn doesn’t have an answer for Joel Embiid (no team
At full health, the Nets are the team to beat in the East. Their offensive firepower is essentially unmatched.