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The Brooklyn Nets entered the 2021-22 season as the odds-on favorite to win the NBA championship. But with four games remaining in their campaign, Brooklyn finds itself at 10th place in the Eastern Conference and in serious danger of missing the playoffs.
The Nets have lost three of their last four outings. Though they are locked in for a spot in the play-in tournament, this losing skid isn't an ideal way to finish the season. Nonetheless, Brooklyn could still get to the eighth seed, which gives them an easier path to the playoffs. A strong finish should give them more momentum heading into the play-in and, possibly, the playoffs.
With that said, here is the player the Nets must rely on the most over their last four games of the regular season.
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1 player Nets must rely on: Kyrie Irving
Make no mistake about it, the Nets will need Kyrie Irving to be Kyrie Irving if they want any chance of winning a championship. But Brooklyn will need him to find his top form as soon as Tuesday when it begins its final stretch of this season.
Irving hasn't been quite the same since he became a full-time player once again.
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The seven-time All-Star was playing lights-out basketball while playing part-time and suiting up just in Brooklyn's road games this season. Before the exemption was made for the New York City vaccine mandate, Irving was averaging 28.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 5.5 assists while shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from 3. He had a 50-point game earlier this month, then dropped a 60-piece seven days later. The Nets point guard may have benefited from the light workload of playing just one to two games a week since it kept his legs fresh from game to game.
Since then, Irving has fallen back down to earth. Over his last five games, his numbers have dropped to 21.4 points per game on just 36.2 percent field goal shooting and 37.8 percent 3-point shooting. The full-time schedule doesn't necessarily equate to Irving's struggles. Nonetheless, the additional time off can definitely have its advantages.
The Nets have a pretty favorable schedule to finish: the Houston Rockets on Tuesday, the New York Knicks on Wednesday, the seventh-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, and then the Indiana Pacers for the season finale. This should give Irving a chance to regain his rhythm and get his legs back playing full-time basketball. Since Irving has only played in 25 games this season, he won't need to rest through Brooklyn's last four games, especially in the upcoming back-to-back.
In addition, this is also a time for Irving to acclimate himself back into the Nets' full-time rotation. Chemistry is an important part of a championship team. The 30-year-old hasn't played much with the rest of the team the entire season. Four games to get the chemistry up to speed is probably not enough and ideal, but they'll need to work with what they have.
He and Kevin Durant also haven't played much together in their two years as teammates. In fact, they have only appeared in the same game 40 times. Of course, with both of them being top-tier offensive talents, they're most successful with the ball in their respective hands. While they have had success for the most part, KD and Kyrie will still need to find the right balance of playing off of each other.
It will be shocking if Brooklyn somehow doesn't make the postseason. With players the caliber of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving leading the way, the chance to win a championship, no matter their seeding, is as open as anyone's … but they still have to prove it.
