NEW YORK – The main question for many Brooklyn Nets players and fans is how did they get here?
Here is seventh place in the improved Eastern Conference. It’s been a meandering six-month slog filled with drama, disgruntled high-priced superstars and the ever-present backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, which nearly crippled the team after the omicron outbreak in December.
There is no simple answer for why the Nets and their three-plus year crusade to achieve NBA glory went the way of the instant breakfast … add All-NBA caliber talent, stir and hope you have something digestible.
The 2021-22 season that was filled with so much promise had no fewer than five different Vegas oddsmakers peg the Nets as a championship favorite.
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But nothing has gone according to plan as Brooklyn settles into the play-in game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night (7 p.m. ET), guaranteed a maximum of two games to determine whether vacation or the playoffs await.
It wasn’t always this bad. Despite early-season adversity, Brooklyn was tied for the top seed in the Eastern Conference for 17 games. A road victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 21 gave the Nets the No. 1 seed for the final time with a 29-16 record. In the meantime, Kevin Durant got hurt, missed 21 games with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and the Nets went 5-16 in his absence.
No matter who is assigned the blame for the less-than-stellar season, or praise for winning 44 games, one keeps coming up: Kyrie Irving.
Kyrie and the Gang
At the beginning of the 2018 season, Irving, the superstar shooting guard, was settling into his second season with the Boston Celtics and let the fans know his intentions for the future.
“I’m happy here,” Irving said at the time. “Every single day is at an all-time competitive high.
“Honestly, it just was like, ‘Man, I do not want to move again.’ I do not want to uproot my family and just be dealing with anything new again. No disrespect to other organizations, but here is perfect for me.”
But move again he did.
The Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and Irving joined Brooklyn a month later, signing a four-year, $136.5 million deal and persuading some Super Friends (namely Durant and DeAndre Jordan) to join him in Flatbush.
But Irving’s on-court availability quickly became an issue. He played 20 injury-plagued games in his first season, 54 in the pandemic shortened 2020 campaign, and suited up for 29 this season – thanks in part to New York City’s private sector coronavirus vaccine mandate that prohibited unvaccinated players from playing in home games and the Nets’ reluctance to let Irving be a part-time player.
Enter James Harden, a three-time scoring champion and 10-time All-Star. He was supposed to be the final piece of the complicated championship puzzle after he forced a trade from the Houston Rockets to Brooklyn. But after 13 months on the team, all the Nets got was a second-round playoff exit.
“Of course, I’m frustrated because we’re not healthy,” Harden said in January. “It’s a lot of inconsistency for whatever reason – injuries, COVID, whatever you want to call it. … I don’t know reports. If you don’t hear from me, then it’s reports. I’m frustrated because I want to win.”
Harden and his $44 million salary were traded to Philadelphia on Feb. 10 in a deal that sent Ben Simmons, Andre Drummond, Seth Curry and two first-round draft picks to Brooklyn. Simmons has not played all year because of a back injury.
Irving returned Jan. 5, albeit only in road games, after New York City mayor Eric Adams lifted the private sector coronavirus vaccine mandate for unvaccinated performers and athletes.
Irving used words like “freedom”, “sacrifice” and “government controls” to explain why he hasn’t gotten vaccinated.
“I knew the consequences,” Irving said upon his return. “I wasn’t prepared for them, by no stretch of imagination.”
Chances in the playoffs
Nets head coach Steve Nash knows that advancing deep in the postseason will require heavy reliance on Durant and Irving. They can’t afford to miss games because of injuries, or in the case of Irving, to sit out if they face the Toronto Raptors; Canada will not allow unvaccinated athletes to enter the country.
But it was this dynamic duo that took center stage in the final week to cement the Nets’ spot in the play-in games, as Irving averaged almost 30 points and Durant chipped in 26 points per game during the last week.
Brooklyn is going to be a problem for any team it faces, especially if Simmons returns, as he can provide steady defense and relieve Irving and Durant of ball-handling responsibilities.
Riding a four-game winning streak, Nash acknowledges how little time the roster has spent together – especially Irving and Durant – but indicated the approach heading into the playoffs.
“We are an isolation heavy team because they’re so gifted, but that’s not the plan. The plan is to get into as many actions as possible,” Nash said. “We want to continue to bring players into the action, so we can give the defense decisions to make. We ask questions of the defense; we see if they make a mistake or create a slight advantage. It’s a work in progress.”
Because playoff basketball and regular season are vastly different in style and tempo, the Nets need to limit opponents’ possessions and their own mistakes. They are last in the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage. They turned the ball over 21 times in the season finale against the Indiana Pacers, but won because they shot 64%.
“I know a lot of fans that are watching us had high expectations for us coming into the season and expected us to run away with the championship. If you’re a fan and you appreciate Nets basketball and what we’re trying to build, you’ll follow us along this journey,” Durant said. “It’s been an up and down year, but I think we are finding who we are as a group. It’s the perfect time of the year to play our best basketball.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nets, preseason title favorites, fighting to get into NBA playoffs