There's a showdown on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, with the league-best 11-2 Golden State Warriors visiting the 10-4 Brooklyn Nets.
Kevin Durant, James Harden and the rest of the squad are 4-2 at home, losing to the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat. They'll look to stake their claim as the top team in the NBA by knocking off Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the resurgent Warriors.
Let's look at 3 keys for the Nets to snag a monster win.
Rebounding
In each of the Nets four losses this season they have been outworked and out-muscled on the glass, particularly defensively. If Brooklyn can force stops, then it becomes paramount they clean the glass. There are few things more deflating in basketball than working hard to force a superstar to miss a shot only to relinquish a layup because someone didn't box out.
The Nets have at times sent two players to contest a single jump shot, leaving the paint vulnerable. They have sometimes leaked out in transition seeking fast break points before a defensive board was secured. That cannot fly against a team as good as Golden State.
Kevin Durant, James Harden and one more scorer
At this point, the Nets are pretty susceptible to the sweeping effects of an off shooting night from Durant. Luckily for them he has seemed to hit every shot he's taken all season long. KD leads the league in scoring with 29.6 points per game. He's going to face a steady diet of one-on-one coverage from Draymond Green. The former Defensive Player of the Year can do about as good a job on KD as anyone might reasonably expect. Durant is still going to get his shots off. He'll probably still make a lot of them. But if anyone is going to offer a solid contest, it's Green.
James Harden must continue to attack against the Warriors. He's been up-and-down for the most part this season, one game dropping 39 points and 12 assists and the next laboring to 16 points on 13 shots. The Nets can't afford an underwhelming performance from Harden versus Golden State. With Green tethered to Durant most possessions, that means Harden should have a favorable matchup. They'll need him to drop some step-backs on that player, and get by the first line of defense to make plays for others.
Speaking of others, the Nets will need one more guy to step up. One night they got six triples from Joe Harris. On another night got nine from Patty Mills. They've recently had games where LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin delivered for them. With Harris out nursing an ankle injury, they will turn to those other names, if not a surprise X-factor—perhaps Bruce Brown or DeAndre' Bembry. Steve Nash won't care who it is, but he'll need that third guy to make Steve Kerr's team pay for leaving him open.
Slow down Steph Curry or slow down everyone else?
There are a couple ways to slow down the Warriors.
When the Memphis Grizzlies defeated them Curry dropped 36 points. But Memphis held the Dubs as a team to 43.3 percent from the floor, and surrendered just 12 free throws attempts to Golden State. The Nets don't have anyone who matches up very well against Curry one-on-one. I assume he'll see a diet of Harden, Mills, Brown, Jevon Carter and Bembry. But they should find more luck slowing down the rest of the Warriors attack and not fouling too much.
If Curry has a slow start, or is merely mortal and not supernatural, Brooklyn could get the ultimate outcome it wants—especially if his teammates are kept in check, too.
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