The Nets dropped to 2-3 after they got spanked by Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry and the rest of the Miami Heat on Wednesday. One of the key storylines early on this season for Brooklyn has been James Harden and his apparent struggles.
We've grown accustomed to The Beard pretty much dominating games at will. But he's struggled to get to the rim, struggled to get calls, and struggled to find confidence. All of that has limited him as a scorer and playmaker and makes the Nets a bit easier to defend.
Kevin Durant gets his, but teams can slow down everyone else.
Before the game against Miami, Nets coach Steve Nash was asked if the new officiating or the return-to-play from his long-term hamstring injury affects the California native more.
“I think a little bit of both,” explained Nash. “I think it’s an adjustment to the officiating, they’ve drawn a new line. So getting accustomed to that is one part of it and the other part of it is he's just played such little basketball the last six months.” Nash continued “it's inevitable that there’s gonna be a period of time that he needs to play and adapt and kind of refine his rhythm and groove and all that.”
Refining that rhythm and groove may come. But for a player as talented as Harden is must be frustrating to know what you're capable of yet not quite be back to that point.
Harden'll finish better at the rim, but his attempt rate had already been reduced and frequency of shots from floater range (3-10 feet) jumped last yr. The trend's been more extreme thru 4 games now.
Also driving less early on. 14.4 in 33.4 MPG this yr, 17.4 in 36.5 MPG last yr. pic.twitter.com/osyhSLrE6Z
— ShwinnyPooh (@shwinnypooh) October 27, 2021
The Heat, one of the tougher defensive units in the league, held James Harden to just 4-of-12 from the field. The eight-time All-Star got hot in the second quarter and showed glimpses of peak form, however, he also made the rounds on Twitter because he called the league's bluff on rule changes and lost a few hands. They're really cracking down on some of his favorite “non-basketball” tricks.
Harden tries to wrap his arm around Bam to get a foul. No call. The right call. pic.twitter.com/Wni7IIeHXt
— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) October 28, 2021
After the Nets' second home loss of the year, Harden addressed his slow start to the season.
“Just getting more confident, being aggressive,” said James Harden. “It's getting better every single game as much as I want to get back to just 30s and 40 points, I can't do that …as much as I want to obviously would love to, I had no opportunities to play pick-up or nothing this summer. Everything was rehab for three months from a grade-two (hamstring) injury that happened three times in one season.”
For now the Nets are saying the right things and taking a patient approach. They don't seem to be terribly frustrated. They may not have predicted these rule changes to be such a contrast from last season, but it does sound like they expected a slow-build for Harden.
Harden said if it weren’t for the money he’d still be hooping. Loves the game so the injury was frustrating. Looking forward to ramping up.
— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) October 28, 2021
Kevin Durant after the game said he liked the way the team played defense and stayed in front of the Heat. He said he didn't like the way they played offensively, but then he corrected himself and explained he thought they got good shots that simply didn't fall. He admitted, in a moment of levity, they really do miss Kyrie Irving.
“I know what you want me to say. Yeah we do miss Kyrie.”
– Kevin Durant— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) October 28, 2021
Durant wasn't singling out his fellow former MVP teammate. But it was hard not to think about how much more competitive the Nets would have been if either James Harden was in mid-season form or if Kyrie Irving were around.
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