The Brooklyn Nets can win it all even against a healthy Los Angeles Lakers squad.
In their recent matchup, the Nets, without Kevin Durant, beat Los Angeles, who did not have Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder, 109-98. This will sound like a knee-jerk reaction, but Brooklyn is a team that turns it up a notch when facing strong teams. Despite the emergence of the Utah Jazz, the Lakers look to be the greatest challenge to the Nets, and so Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden will bring out their best for them.
The Nets are 5-1 vs the Lakers, Clippers, Jazz, Bucks, Sixers this season.
That one loss was vs the Sixers on a second game of a back-to-back without KD and Kyrie. pic.twitter.com/y0o0tQQXQb
— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 19, 2021
Brooklyn is 9-3 vs. the Western Conference. No other East team has a winning record vs. the West: https://t.co/dEfWNqQmgV
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) February 19, 2021
While the Lakers had a great offseason and got even better with free-agent acquisitions Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Marc Gasol, and Wesley Matthews, the Nets made trades that changed the landscape of the league. Brooklyn has assembled arguably the greatest offensive trio in basketball.
Each of Brooklyn's three stars is capable of going off for 30 points each game, while still contributing in other areas. In spurts, Durant is an underrated defender and can be utilized as a small-ball five and use his ridiculous wingspan to alter and swat shots. Irving can dish out dimes. Harden, who is the team's designated point guard can effortlessly run the offense without forcing any bad shots. Surprisingly, he gets his fair share of deflections and defensive stats.
To make this collection of talent possible, the Nets had to sacrifice some depth. Fortunately, the team retained Joe Harris. The former 3-point contest winner creates additional strain on opposing, scrambling defenses. With the three stars in tow, Harris is seeing the most open shots of his career and making them with high volume and accuracy. DeAndre Jordan is a shell of himself and the departure of Jarrett Allen will be hard to overcome, especially in matchups with elite bigs like Davis. Nevertheless, Jordan has productive nights now and then and is a reliable lob target for the likes of Harden.
The Achilles' heel of the Nets is their defense, or rather lack thereof. If they score 130 points, chances are they conceded 120 points. This team's defense makes average players look like All-Stars. They have some designated defenders though in Bruce Brown and Andre Roberson, the latter who has certainly seen better days.
In a Finals matchup with the Lakers, James and Davis will undoubtedly feast on the defense, especially in the paint. However, the Nets' firepower could prove to be too overwhelming even for the top-ranked defenses of the NBA.
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