Sorry Nets fans but this was your best shot at a title

[ayyayyron]

Then lay off the "superteam" talk. If our window closed, we're not a superteam. Stay consistent.

[GSP]

Honestly, the Kyrie injury was so stupid lol. But that's pretty much what always happens. Kyrie gets these little injuries at inconvenient times or they're like freak injuries, but they never amount to anything, it's just in that moment. Like, if he'd sprained his ankle in late April instead of now, the Nets are easily in the conference finals. He just has some awful luck. Just injury prone, without like, one common chronic injury to point to as the actually problem. Harden's injury was just even worse luck, and he was out of shape. I think he'll rededicate himself and come back to camp in elite shape this fall.

I think this was the Nets best chance at an easy championship, but they will be competitors for as long as they stick together. The key is just making sure at least two of the three of them are healthy. The fact that they weren't able to trade Dinwiddie and he also wasn't available was really damning. If Dinwiddie was there, he's a guy that can average 20/5/7 on 56 TS% or so like clockwork and be decent on defense. If Dinwiddie were here maybe the nets take home this one. Just a lot to surmount, but KD was so impressive. He's even better than I thought honestly. Definitely the most flawless player in the league, and a top 3 player. Just need Harden and or Kyrie to be healthy this time next year and they'll have a great chance to get the chip.

I dont think the 2/3 Nets are healthy thing holds up. If its just Kyrie and Harden that wont work. Kd is obviously their best player but he provides that great defense that neither are capable of. Kyrie was playing pretty good defense these playoffs but Kd just is multiple tiers ahead on defense and Harden obviously isnt much of a defender unless hes defending postups. Kds scoring is also much harder to stop than either of them even if he isnt the passer those 2 are

[GSP]

Dinwiddie will be back next year, claxton a year older and improved. As long as their big three stay healthy, they'll be the favorites in the east for the next 2-3 years.

Dinwiddie isnt back anywhere in Brooklyn. Hes gonna get PAID

Why can’t the Nets pay him?

Dinwiddie will be back next year, claxton a year older and improved. As long as their big three stay healthy, they'll be the favorites in the east for the next 2-3 years.

Dinwiddle is an UFA if he declines his $12.3m player option, which he surely will.

With what money? Dont forget Deandres contract + big three

[brutalitops]

I dont think your injury woes will get any better and now the whole world knows Joe Harris is one of the biggest chokers in the league. Teams might just start sagging off on him in the future. Great season but Kd played so much.

Blake and Jeff getting older. Can you even keep Bruce Brown? Lot of ifs....

Kyrie is almost always injured in the playoffs too. Cant count on him IMO

LOL

yeah the nets are gone because Blake Griffin isnt getting younger./

[Pelly24]

Did any smart people really think THIS was their year? This was always a team built for next year and hey if it works out, maybe this year. I mean really, who were the smart basketball guys thinking this team was a sure thing?

TBH, literally the only thing that really prevented them was Harden and Kyrie being injured. For the most part, KD and Kyrie looked like they were just on different tiers than the Bucks when they played through the first two games. I think if anything, this year showed a few things. 1. Concerns about the nets defense were always overblown and all three of the Big 3 can play at least average, if not flat out very good defense for decent stretches. Jrue and Middleton were really kinda locked up for a lot of this series. 2. Besides health, talent matters more than anything. For all of the concerns about "there's only one ball," etc. None of that matters. All of the stuff about fit, etc. was just people thinking too hard. Watching them, it really was more or less exactly what you'd think. There's no defending three elite three-level scorers who can play on or off ball and pass. KD, Harden and Kyrie are simply just amazing players who can pretty much do anything varying extents. They ultimately didn't play many games together, but I don't think this Big 3 is beatable if they're all healthy. They even have dominant subsets. Any combo of KD or Harden and Kyrie, or vice versa with a decent supporting cast will be a contender. 3. Health matters and that was always their ultimate question mark. Kyrie was mostly healthy this year, but all it took was a bad landing at an inopportune time and it was over. Probably would've been good for next series, but that's a wrap now. But Harden was the real unexpected one. He's an iron man. Didn't expect him to be out. But that's what happens. Can't take anything fore granted. Kawhi's probably out this year. CP3 in the COVID protocol. Jamal Murray had the ACL tear. Denver probably goes to the finals if he's there. Best ability is availability.


So yeah I think this really wasn't a reach to think they could win this year. Their defense appeared to be good in the playoffs, and they showed in stretches that they could be solid during the regular season. They were even better during the playoffs. And their offense looked damn near all additive with no one really sacrificing.

[SleepingDragon]

Dinwiddie will be back next year, claxton a year older and improved. As long as their big three stay healthy, they'll be the favorites in the east for the next 2-3 years.

Dinwiddie isnt back anywhere in Brooklyn. Hes gonna get PAID

Why can’t the Nets pay him?

Because of Irving and Harden playing at his position.

So are the Nets gonna pay a reserve/6th man $20m/yr?

[GSP]

I dont think your injury woes will get any better and now the whole world knows Joe Harris is one of the biggest chokers in the league. Teams might just start sagging off on him in the future. Great season but Kd played so much.

Blake and Jeff getting older. Can you even keep Bruce Brown? Lot of ifs....

Kyrie is almost always injured in the playoffs too. Cant count on him IMO

LOL

yeah the nets are gone because Blake Griffin isnt getting younger./

You need big men for matchups specially in a conference with Bam, Giannis and Embiid

Not going anywhere if Jeff Green is your best option on those bigs. Blake got credit for his defense on Giannis and he still couldnt do much. Deandre is a flatout liability on both ends.

[therealbig3]

Dinwiddie isnt back anywhere in Brooklyn. Hes gonna get PAID

Why can’t the Nets pay him?

Dinwiddie will be back next year, claxton a year older and improved. As long as their big three stay healthy, they'll be the favorites in the east for the next 2-3 years.

Dinwiddle is an UFA if he declines his $12.3m player option, which he surely will.

With what money? Dont forget Deandres contract + big three

Don’t they have his Bird rights? So can’t they go over the cap to pay for him?

I mean, it depends if the owner is willing to pay that much, but he doesn’t seem like a guy who’s unafraid of spending if it’s worth it.

I think the Nets certainly have a chance of keeping him.

[brutalitops]

I dont think your injury woes will get any better and now the whole world knows Joe Harris is one of the biggest chokers in the league. Teams might just start sagging off on him in the future. Great season but Kd played so much.

Blake and Jeff getting older. Can you even keep Bruce Brown? Lot of ifs....

Kyrie is almost always injured in the playoffs too. Cant count on him IMO

LOL

yeah the nets are gone because Blake Griffin isnt getting younger./

You need big men for matchups specially in a conference with Bam, Giannis and Embiid

Not going anywhere if Jeff Green is your best option on those bigs. Blake got credit for his defense on Giannis and he still couldnt do much. Deandre is a flatout liability on both ends.

The nets biggest weakness defensively was Blake Griffin. Claxton is going to be a better option for the nets next season. You would have 10-20 big men who would be happy to play 5-10MPG and defend bigmen post-season who arent corpses, which is legitamately what Nets had this season

[Richard4444]

Blake and jeff don’t really matter when you have a a healthy kd Kyrie and harden. They can be replaced

First, It's tough to read healthy and Kyrie in the same sentence.

Second, Durant will be 33,5 years old next season's playoffs. Harden will be 32,5 years old. Lately, they are atypically getting injured a lot. It can be a tendency. It's father time showing their face.

[Pelly24]

Honestly, the Kyrie injury was so stupid lol. But that's pretty much what always happens. Kyrie gets these little injuries at inconvenient times or they're like freak injuries, but they never amount to anything, it's just in that moment. Like, if he'd sprained his ankle in late April instead of now, the Nets are easily in the conference finals. He just has some awful luck. Just injury prone, without like, one common chronic injury to point to as the actually problem. Harden's injury was just even worse luck, and he was out of shape. I think he'll rededicate himself and come back to camp in elite shape this fall.

I think this was the Nets best chance at an easy championship, but they will be competitors for as long as they stick together. The key is just making sure at least two of the three of them are healthy. The fact that they weren't able to trade Dinwiddie and he also wasn't available was really damning. If Dinwiddie was there, he's a guy that can average 20/5/7 on 56 TS% or so like clockwork and be decent on defense. If Dinwiddie were here maybe the nets take home this one. Just a lot to surmount, but KD was so impressive. He's even better than I thought honestly. Definitely the most flawless player in the league, and a top 3 player. Just need Harden and or Kyrie to be healthy this time next year and they'll have a great chance to get the chip.

I dont think the 2/3 Nets are healthy thing holds up. If its just Kyrie and Harden that wont work. Kd is obviously their best player but he provides that great defense that neither are capable of. Kyrie was playing pretty good defense these playoffs but Kd just is multiple tiers ahead on defense and Harden obviously isnt much of a defender unless hes defending postups. Kds scoring is also much harder to stop than either of them even if he isnt the passer those 2 are

Harden and Kyrie looked very dominant during the regular season, like a good amount better than KD and Kyrie (though KD and Kyrie didn't get to play with Claxton or Blake Griffin in the early going) so idk. It was basically like LeBron and Kyrie again, except Kyrie's better than he was in 2014-2017. I think KD is for sure a more impactful defender, but Harden is just an irrepressible offensive player. He looked like the Nets best player before he strained his hamstring. I think they can flesh out their defense with peripheral pieces, etc. But Claxton can play defense, etc. They can get players a little more suited for that stuff. In general, these guys like Kawhi, Harden and KD, they come to the East Coast and it's like they're in candy land lol. They're like "Oh, I had to play peak CP3, the 2015-2019 Warriors, Tim Duncan/Tony Parker/Manu, Dirk, Kobe...why would I ever be concerned about these guys?" And they promptly proceed to dominate lol. I'm taking Harden and Kyrie over 76ers and hawks any day, and probably the Bucks, too. Middleton had some good games, but he's ultimately kinda "meh" and Jrue ... he honestly kinda let me down.

KD's scoring is harder to stop than harden's in a way, but then again, their playoff numbers are generally fairly close. Harden rarely played with All-NBA talent between 2013 and 2017. When he did he didn't look so stoppable. And then, Harden is massively better as a playmaker, so he weaponizes teammates better. I think Harden and KD are very close in terms of how good they are.

[FreeSpiritNY]

Hahahahhaha karma is a beech ... remember when you guys said your team was the new kings of New York and that I should go suck a **** .... well with all that talent and you still couldn’t win. That is just sad.

[dhsilv2]

Did any smart people really think THIS was their year? This was always a team built for next year and hey if it works out, maybe this year. I mean really, who were the smart basketball guys thinking this team was a sure thing?

TBH, literally the only thing that really prevented them was Harden and Kyrie being injured. For the most part, KD and Kyrie looked like they were just on different tiers than the Bucks when they played through the first two games. I think if anything, this year showed a few things. 1. Concerns about the nets defense were always overblown and all three of the Big 3 can play at least average, if not flat out very good defense for decent stretches. Jrue and Middleton were really kinda locked up for a lot of this series. 2. Besides health, talent matters more than anything. For all of the concerns about "there's only one ball," etc. None of that matters. All of the stuff about fit, etc. was just people thinking too hard. Watching them, it really was more or less exactly what you'd think. There's no defending three elite three-level scorers who can play on or off ball and pass. KD, Harden and Kyrie are simply just amazing players who can pretty much do anything varying extents. They ultimately didn't play many games together, but I don't think this Big 3 is beatable if they're all healthy. They even have dominant subsets. Any combo of KD or Harden and Kyrie, or vice versa with a decent supporting cast will be a contender. 3. Health matters and that was always their ultimate question mark. Kyrie was mostly healthy this year, but all it took was a bad landing at an inopportune time and it was over. Probably would've been good for next series, but that's a wrap now. But Harden was the real unexpected one. He's an iron man. Didn't expect him to be out. But that's what happens. Can't take anything fore granted. Kawhi's probably out this year. CP3 in the COVID protocol. Jamal Murray had the ACL tear. Denver probably goes to the finals if he's there. Best ability is availability.


So yeah I think this really wasn't a reach to think they could win this year. Their defense appeared to be good in the playoffs, and they showed in stretches that they could be solid during the regular season. They were even better during the playoffs. And their offense looked damn near all additive with no one really sacrificing.

You disagree with me but then kept saying the word health. Their "guy" in this series was coming off missing a full year due to ...health! Harden who i'm weirdly a big fan of vs most people....cause I like too players...but he came into the season completely out of shape and being out of shape leads too.........injuries. And the Irving....he's just injury prone. And on top of all this injuries just randomly happen.

So this team was at the most likely and worst situation in this season where we ALL knew it was going to be an injury fest with the short season and rushing things. Like, we knew the finals would be down to health this year, it wasn't a debate that I recall seeing.

On top of that while I"m BLOWN away and I guess wrong... I thought the nets had real defensive issues and to be fair, we don't really know what they would be with those 3 healthy, but I don't think I was wrong to question their defense. I'm more than happy to see they were good on defense....I like everyone on the nets other than Irving a lot, so I'm a biased fan boy. I'm still a realist. On paper that team had holes and I assumed it would either take a year to mesh the talent or fill in holes. Generally it takes time to develop guys together unless they're obvious fits.

[zimpy27]

Did any smart people really think THIS was their year? This was always a team built for next year and hey if it works out, maybe this year. I mean really, who were the smart basketball guys thinking this team was a sure thing?

TBH, literally the only thing that really prevented them was Harden and Kyrie being injured. For the most part, KD and Kyrie looked like they were just on different tiers than the Bucks when they played through the first two games. I think if anything, this year showed a few things. 1. Concerns about the nets defense were always overblown and all three of the Big 3 can play at least average, if not flat out very good defense for decent stretches. Jrue and Middleton were really kinda locked up for a lot of this series. 2. Besides health, talent matters more than anything. For all of the concerns about "there's only one ball," etc. None of that matters. All of the stuff about fit, etc. was just people thinking too hard. Watching them, it really was more or less exactly what you'd think. There's no defending three elite three-level scorers who can play on or off ball and pass. KD, Harden and Kyrie are simply just amazing players who can pretty much do anything varying extents. They ultimately didn't play many games together, but I don't think this Big 3 is beatable if they're all healthy. They even have dominant subsets. Any combo of KD or Harden and Kyrie, or vice versa with a decent supporting cast will be a contender. 3. Health matters and that was always their ultimate question mark. Kyrie was mostly healthy this year, but all it took was a bad landing at an inopportune time and it was over. Probably would've been good for next series, but that's a wrap now. But Harden was the real unexpected one. He's an iron man. Didn't expect him to be out. But that's what happens. Can't take anything fore granted. Kawhi's probably out this year. CP3 in the COVID protocol. Jamal Murray had the ACL tear. Denver probably goes to the finals if he's there. Best ability is availability.


So yeah I think this really wasn't a reach to think they could win this year. Their defense appeared to be good in the playoffs, and they showed in stretches that they could be solid during the regular season. They were even better during the playoffs. And their offense looked damn near all additive with no one really sacrificing.

I don't think the defense issues were proven to be overblown. From start of season they ended up bringing in guys that completely contributed to improving their defense (Griffin and Claxton) while also playing guys like Brown big minutes. Plus Harden, Irving and Harris being on court together was the concern but they didn't even get to play much together because of injury.

I do agree that Harden is definitely an underrated defender, he is far better than people realise and has been for a long time. Durant only turns it on when he wants but he obviously can do it, I don't think anyone doubted Durant.

[jc23]

I totally disagree.

[Pelly24]

Did any smart people really think THIS was their year? This was always a team built for next year and hey if it works out, maybe this year. I mean really, who were the smart basketball guys thinking this team was a sure thing?

TBH, literally the only thing that really prevented them was Harden and Kyrie being injured. For the most part, KD and Kyrie looked like they were just on different tiers than the Bucks when they played through the first two games. I think if anything, this year showed a few things. 1. Concerns about the nets defense were always overblown and all three of the Big 3 can play at least average, if not flat out very good defense for decent stretches. Jrue and Middleton were really kinda locked up for a lot of this series. 2. Besides health, talent matters more than anything. For all of the concerns about "there's only one ball," etc. None of that matters. All of the stuff about fit, etc. was just people thinking too hard. Watching them, it really was more or less exactly what you'd think. There's no defending three elite three-level scorers who can play on or off ball and pass. KD, Harden and Kyrie are simply just amazing players who can pretty much do anything varying extents. They ultimately didn't play many games together, but I don't think this Big 3 is beatable if they're all healthy. They even have dominant subsets. Any combo of KD or Harden and Kyrie, or vice versa with a decent supporting cast will be a contender. 3. Health matters and that was always their ultimate question mark. Kyrie was mostly healthy this year, but all it took was a bad landing at an inopportune time and it was over. Probably would've been good for next series, but that's a wrap now. But Harden was the real unexpected one. He's an iron man. Didn't expect him to be out. But that's what happens. Can't take anything fore granted. Kawhi's probably out this year. CP3 in the COVID protocol. Jamal Murray had the ACL tear. Denver probably goes to the finals if he's there. Best ability is availability.


So yeah I think this really wasn't a reach to think they could win this year. Their defense appeared to be good in the playoffs, and they showed in stretches that they could be solid during the regular season. They were even better during the playoffs. And their offense looked damn near all additive with no one really sacrificing.

You disagree with me but then kept saying the word health. Their "guy" in this series was coming off missing a full year due to ...health! Harden who i'm weirdly a big fan of vs most people....cause I like too players...but he came into the season completely out of shape and being out of shape leads too.........injuries. And the Irving....he's just injury prone. And on top of all this injuries just randomly happen.

So this team was at the most likely and worst situation in this season where we ALL knew it was going to be an injury fest with the short season and rushing things. Like, we knew the finals would be down to health this year, it wasn't a debate that I recall seeing.

On top of that while I"m BLOWN away and I guess wrong... I thought the nets had real defensive issues and to be fair, we don't really know what they would be with those 3 healthy, but I don't think I was wrong to question their defense. I'm more than happy to see they were good on defense....I like everyone on the nets other than Irving a lot, so I'm a biased fan boy. I'm still a realist. On paper that team had holes and I assumed it would either take a year to mesh the talent or fill in holes. Generally it takes time to develop guys together unless they're obvious fits.

It's just the way that you framed it (re: THIS team). I took that to mean that you thought there was something fundamentally wrong w the set up of the team, but I think when you can get three players like this on one team and they can all play off the ball, not too much else besides health has to go right. The team looked utterly dominant whenever even two of this big 3 were healthy in the playoffs. But the big concerns were, as far as the set up, this: Can the nets make their offense work. Yes, their offense was essentially unstoppable. It's not quite greater than the sum of its parts in the same way that 2017-2019 GSW was, but it is in the sense that their three best players are not Klay Thompsons and Chris Bosh's; there's no real sacrifice and they can score from everywhere. I just watched a lot of these guys and I never though there'd be any difficulty meshing, but that's not a bad thought. It's pretty unprecedented to have three scorers like that at once, so uncharted territory. The other question was can they play good enough defense? I think given their offense, they never had to be elite, or even truly good. But they looked like a very good defensive team during this bucks series. A lot of their issues likely had to do with them having like 40 different starting lineup changes, and so there were a lot of continuity issues, and defense is a lot about communication and effort. I think it's pretty clear that their defense is more than adequate in general, but when you combine the fact that they're a super elite offense w. answers to any defensive coverage, their defense is pretty good. So I think with these in mind, it was never a reach to think this team could win a chip. I've said it a bunch of times, I always thought it would come down to health. I figured if Kyrie got injured at least Harden would be there. His bad habits came back to bite him.

And yeah, I think it was right to question their defense. I get that. I kind of suspected that they'd be fine because these guys are mostly vets and are super competitive and motivated. A lot of defense comes down to effort, communication and physical tools. KD has pretty much the best physical tools besides not being stout, Kyrie's always been at worst a serviceable defender when needed and honestly was pretty solid most of the year. Harden kinda same thing, more soon the post. But yeah, I think Claxton and Blake Griffin were X factors.

This season has just been absurd w. badly timed injuries. the rate is the same, but it definitely feels different this year. AD, LeBron, Kawhi, Jamal Murray, CP3, Kyrie, Harden...even more than that. Just wild.

[dhsilv2]

TBH, literally the only thing that really prevented them was Harden and Kyrie being injured. For the most part, KD and Kyrie looked like they were just on different tiers than the Bucks when they played through the first two games. I think if anything, this year showed a few things. 1. Concerns about the nets defense were always overblown and all three of the Big 3 can play at least average, if not flat out very good defense for decent stretches. Jrue and Middleton were really kinda locked up for a lot of this series. 2. Besides health, talent matters more than anything. For all of the concerns about "there's only one ball," etc. None of that matters. All of the stuff about fit, etc. was just people thinking too hard. Watching them, it really was more or less exactly what you'd think. There's no defending three elite three-level scorers who can play on or off ball and pass. KD, Harden and Kyrie are simply just amazing players who can pretty much do anything varying extents. They ultimately didn't play many games together, but I don't think this Big 3 is beatable if they're all healthy. They even have dominant subsets. Any combo of KD or Harden and Kyrie, or vice versa with a decent supporting cast will be a contender. 3. Health matters and that was always their ultimate question mark. Kyrie was mostly healthy this year, but all it took was a bad landing at an inopportune time and it was over. Probably would've been good for next series, but that's a wrap now. But Harden was the real unexpected one. He's an iron man. Didn't expect him to be out. But that's what happens. Can't take anything fore granted. Kawhi's probably out this year. CP3 in the COVID protocol. Jamal Murray had the ACL tear. Denver probably goes to the finals if he's there. Best ability is availability.


So yeah I think this really wasn't a reach to think they could win this year. Their defense appeared to be good in the playoffs, and they showed in stretches that they could be solid during the regular season. They were even better during the playoffs. And their offense looked damn near all additive with no one really sacrificing.

You disagree with me but then kept saying the word health. Their "guy" in this series was coming off missing a full year due to ...health! Harden who i'm weirdly a big fan of vs most people....cause I like too players...but he came into the season completely out of shape and being out of shape leads too.........injuries. And the Irving....he's just injury prone. And on top of all this injuries just randomly happen.

So this team was at the most likely and worst situation in this season where we ALL knew it was going to be an injury fest with the short season and rushing things. Like, we knew the finals would be down to health this year, it wasn't a debate that I recall seeing.

On top of that while I"m BLOWN away and I guess wrong... I thought the nets had real defensive issues and to be fair, we don't really know what they would be with those 3 healthy, but I don't think I was wrong to question their defense. I'm more than happy to see they were good on defense....I like everyone on the nets other than Irving a lot, so I'm a biased fan boy. I'm still a realist. On paper that team had holes and I assumed it would either take a year to mesh the talent or fill in holes. Generally it takes time to develop guys together unless they're obvious fits.

It's just the way that you framed it (re: THIS team). I took that to mean that you thought there was something fundamentally wrong w the set up of the team, but I think when you can get three players like this on one team and they can all play off the ball, not too much else besides health has to go right. The team looked utterly dominant whenever even two of this big 3 were healthy in the playoffs. But the big concerns were, as far as the set up, this: Can the nets make their offense work. Yes, their offense was essentially unstoppable. It's not quite greater than the sum of its parts in the same way that 2017-2019 GSW was, but it is in the sense that their three best players are not Klay Thompsons and Chris Bosh's; there's no real sacrifice and they can score from everywhere. I just watched a lot of these guys and I never though there'd be any difficulty meshing, but that's not a bad thought. It's pretty unprecedented to have three scorers like that at once, so uncharted territory. The other question was can they play good enough defense? I think given their offense, they never had to be elite, or even truly good. But they looked like a very good defensive team during this bucks series. A lot of their issues likely had to do with them having like 40 different starting lineup changes, and so there were a lot of continuity issues, and defense is a lot about communication and effort. I think it's pretty clear that their defense is more than adequate in general, but when you combine the fact that they're a super elite offense w. answers to any defensive coverage, their defense is pretty good. So I think with these in mind, it was never a reach to think this team could win a chip. I've said it a bunch of times, I always thought it would come down to health. I figured if Kyrie got injured at least Harden would be there. His bad habits came back to bite him.

And yeah, I think it was right to question their defense. I get that. I kind of suspected that they'd be fine because these guys are mostly vets and are super competitive and motivated. A lot of defense comes down to effort, communication and physical tools. KD has pretty much the best physical tools besides not being stout, Kyrie's always been at worst a serviceable defender when needed and honestly was pretty solid most of the year. Harden kinda same thing, more soon the post. But yeah, I think Claxton and Blake Griffin were X factors.

This season has just been absurd w. badly timed injuries. the rate is the same, but it definitely feels different this year. AD, LeBron, Kawhi, Jamal Murray, CP3, Kyrie, Harden...even more than that. Just wild.

The path to the title has always required them to beat Giannis and Embiid. This feels like a weird "gotcha" but at the same time, giannis had his bad moments. The reality is dude with all his issues just dropped 40 and frankly his team didn't do that well around him. They didn't do badly either.

Jrue who was critical in this game on defense as also 5-23, you can't frame that as a good game. Middleton was good at the end but he wasn't great overall...and again they are both supposed to be top 30 players...not all nba players. So...I'm not sure what that means in our discussion. I've got thoughts but you know...smart people don't say things they aren't sure about. But the nets defense I feel wasn't good enough. And they also played beyond expectations. Is it wrong to think both are right?

[TheDavinciCHODE]

yep, don't even show up and play next season.

LOL why even try? LMAAOSMFEOFEOWWO

right?!?!?!?!?1

[Pelly24]

You disagree with me but then kept saying the word health. Their "guy" in this series was coming off missing a full year due to ...health! Harden who i'm weirdly a big fan of vs most people....cause I like too players...but he came into the season completely out of shape and being out of shape leads too.........injuries. And the Irving....he's just injury prone. And on top of all this injuries just randomly happen.

So this team was at the most likely and worst situation in this season where we ALL knew it was going to be an injury fest with the short season and rushing things. Like, we knew the finals would be down to health this year, it wasn't a debate that I recall seeing.

On top of that while I"m BLOWN away and I guess wrong... I thought the nets had real defensive issues and to be fair, we don't really know what they would be with those 3 healthy, but I don't think I was wrong to question their defense. I'm more than happy to see they were good on defense....I like everyone on the nets other than Irving a lot, so I'm a biased fan boy. I'm still a realist. On paper that team had holes and I assumed it would either take a year to mesh the talent or fill in holes. Generally it takes time to develop guys together unless they're obvious fits.

It's just the way that you framed it (re: THIS team). I took that to mean that you thought there was something fundamentally wrong w the set up of the team, but I think when you can get three players like this on one team and they can all play off the ball, not too much else besides health has to go right. The team looked utterly dominant whenever even two of this big 3 were healthy in the playoffs. But the big concerns were, as far as the set up, this: Can the nets make their offense work. Yes, their offense was essentially unstoppable. It's not quite greater than the sum of its parts in the same way that 2017-2019 GSW was, but it is in the sense that their three best players are not Klay Thompsons and Chris Bosh's; there's no real sacrifice and they can score from everywhere. I just watched a lot of these guys and I never though there'd be any difficulty meshing, but that's not a bad thought. It's pretty unprecedented to have three scorers like that at once, so uncharted territory. The other question was can they play good enough defense? I think given their offense, they never had to be elite, or even truly good. But they looked like a very good defensive team during this bucks series. A lot of their issues likely had to do with them having like 40 different starting lineup changes, and so there were a lot of continuity issues, and defense is a lot about communication and effort. I think it's pretty clear that their defense is more than adequate in general, but when you combine the fact that they're a super elite offense w. answers to any defensive coverage, their defense is pretty good. So I think with these in mind, it was never a reach to think this team could win a chip. I've said it a bunch of times, I always thought it would come down to health. I figured if Kyrie got injured at least Harden would be there. His bad habits came back to bite him.

And yeah, I think it was right to question their defense. I get that. I kind of suspected that they'd be fine because these guys are mostly vets and are super competitive and motivated. A lot of defense comes down to effort, communication and physical tools. KD has pretty much the best physical tools besides not being stout, Kyrie's always been at worst a serviceable defender when needed and honestly was pretty solid most of the year. Harden kinda same thing, more soon the post. But yeah, I think Claxton and Blake Griffin were X factors.

This season has just been absurd w. badly timed injuries. the rate is the same, but it definitely feels different this year. AD, LeBron, Kawhi, Jamal Murray, CP3, Kyrie, Harden...even more than that. Just wild.

The path to the title has always required them to beat Giannis and Embiid. This feels like a weird "gotcha" but at the same time, giannis had his bad moments. The reality is dude with all his issues just dropped 40 and frankly his team didn't do that well around him. They didn't do badly either.

Jrue who was critical in this game on defense as also 5-23, you can't frame that as a good game. Middleton was good at the end but he wasn't great overall...and again they are both supposed to be top 30 players...not all nba players. So...I'm not sure what that means in our discussion. I've got thoughts but you know...smart people don't say things they aren't sure about. But the nets defense I feel wasn't good enough. And they also played beyond expectations. Is it wrong to think both are right?

The road to the finals did mean that they would have to beat Giannis, and I think that looked very possible with *just* Kyrie and KD on the floor. Their defense held up when it was just those two, and honestly, the bucks did a great job defending them (at one point I took freeze frames of the shots they were hitting and they were always surrounded by like two or three guys) but it doesn't really always matter, KD and Kyrie they shoot like 50+ percent from midrange and can always get up shots, especially if you can't double them (especially KD, because hes' 7 feet tall). So with just that lesser version of the Nets, they looked better than the Bucks by a clear margin until game 3,so you add Harden and I don't see how they wouldn't beat the Bucks in 5 games, tops. It's speculative for sure, but it just doesn't seem like their defense was a huge problem. And even if it was, with Harden on the floor, they'll just go back to scoring like 120 ppg or something. Like I've said, I think I can understand the defensive questions people had. I thought it was overblown because vets w. deep playoff experience can usually turn it on, are really competitive. But the nets going at full throttle on offense—very hard, if not impossible to stop. The Bucks' offense just looked abominable at times. I don't even think Forbes ever scored more than 5 points.

This is a separate point, but Giannis is an interesting case. His playoff numbers always look great and he's clearly a dominant player, but his inability to make a variety of shots and his lack of scoring skills are really pretty astounding to watch at times. I've seen people tweet about him proving people wrong, whatever else, but I'm left w. the same questions/problems about his game that I had before. I think he's a top 5-7 player, but they'll need to get a great three-level scorer. Dame gotta find a way there lol. But yeah. I don't know how much credit I give Giannis for this. They were pretty much supposed to win this series after harden went down, and so after Kyrie went down I expected this series to go 6. They need more from Jrue holiday.

[heezyo2o]

Their big 3 are all under contract. And they seemed to get along and pull for each other so I don't see anyone forcing their way out.

Blake might be gone, but like blake and aldridge this year, they can probably pick up some cheap help come the buyout market or someone cheap in the offseason looking for a ring