Glenn James/NBAE by the utilization of Getty Photos
The Brooklyn Nets are in championship-or-bust mode this season, but they own hit a snag with four straight losses following Thursday’s 113-109 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks.
“It be about time we acquired tested,” Kyrie Irving told newshounds when discussing the shedding lag:
He also talked about, “The iso basketball down the stretch is now not going to glean us over the tear.”
Brooklyn is mute in fine location at 43-24 and the No. 2 seed in the Jap Convention, but its potentialities to defend shut the stop seed are fleet fading. It is 2.5 video games in the abet of the Philadelphia 76ers and perfect a half-game sooner than the third-seeded Milwaukee Bucks.
The isolation performs might perhaps well moreover as a minimum partially be outlined by the absence of James Harden, who’s averaging 11.0 assists per game for the Nets ever since they got him from the Houston Rockets.
Whereas Harden has been is belief as a unhealthy isolation participant who can force past defenders, draw fouls and hit step-abet threes for loads of his profession, he has been the foremost facilitator in Brooklyn and might perhaps well perhaps mute completely abet the ball circulate when he returns.
That it became Irving who known as out the iso performs is basically critical because he shot 31 times on his draw to 45 factors right through Thursday’s loss.
Kevin Durant (7-of-21) became the single heaps of member of the Nets who tried extra than 10 discipline desires, whereas five Mavericks own been in double figures for discipline-intention attempts.
Irving became as a minimum some distance extra desirous relating to the team’s performance than his individual statistics:
Beating a healthy trio of Harden, Durant and Irving will be a daunting task for any team in the playoffs, and the Nets are higher off operating into adversity down the stretch of the celebrated season than in the playoffs.
Mute, they own some enhancements to create earlier than the postseason.
