The Brooklyn Nets have been looking for ways to stack wins in the absence of their lethal scorer, Kevin Durant. Without KD, still nursing a sprained knee, Steve Nash's team went to Target Center to take on Anthony Edwards, D'Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns and the rest of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Since it was a road game, that meant Kyrie Irving and James Harden were both in the lineup Sunday.

Brooklyn had all kinds of problems, defensively, losing 136-125. They gave up over 30 points every single quarter, having no way to slow down the Wolves. But after the game, it was the free throw disparity that was a topic of conversation. The Nets had less than half as many free throw attempts than the Timberwolves, losing that battle 31-15.

It was another struggle for James Harden, a theme that has become all too familiar for Nets fans this season. The 2018 MVP finished with 13 points and 13 assists, shooting 4-of-13 from the floor. Often on nights when The Beard struggles to shoot the ball, he often buoys his efficiency by draining a handful of freebies. However, he only shot four total attempts from the line on Sunday despite drawing lots of contact. That's often a recipe for frustration.

Earlier in the season, back in late October, Steve Nash referred to Harden as a “poster-boy” for the new rule changes aimed at reducing non-basketball moves.

“I feel like he’s unfairly become the poster boy of not calling these fouls,” Nash shared a few months ago. “But some of them are definitely fouls still, but [officials are] just so alert and aware and he’s the poster child of these new [rules]. I get it there’s a line but some of them are still fouls. So he’s just gotta stick with it.”

The subject was revisited by reporters after the Minnesota contest–even though Harden is third in the league in free throw attempts per game, trailing only Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid. Does Harden get calls like he used to in years past?

“No. I think there's nights where it's fair even in including the points of emphasis this year,” shared Nash. “And there's other nights where it feels like he gets targeted a little bit. It's automatically gets lumped into that point of emphasis where he's creating the foul which is not always the case at all.”

Is he the poster child of these new rules?

“Yeah, I think it's been well documented that he's one of the poster-childs,” the Nets coach added. “I think there was, the start of the year was rough. [Officials] were really trying to correct the point of emphasis. I think they over corrected now they've come back to the middle but tonight just was one of those nights where it felt like some of the calls that should go his way didn't.”

Harden is shooting 8.2 free throw attempts per game. That's actually up from the 7.3 he shot in 36 regular season games for Brooklyn last season. This tidbit started a back-and-forth with reporters on Twitter.

James Harden does not enjoy talking about this subject. However, he did admit back in October that “sometimes I feel like coming into a game it’s already predetermined or I already have that stigma of getting foul calls but I just ask for officials to call what they see.”

His teammate Kevin Durant didn't see it the same at that time, noting that “I don't think rule changes are affecting anyone's game, to be honest.”

But Harden opened up about some frustrations after the loss to the Timberwolves.

Does Harden feel he's getting the same type of whistle he used to get? “No,” said the former NBA MVP.

Why not? “That's a good question….obviously you know you can't call all of 'em, but there's ones where there's like… stiff arms and trips and things like that but then on the other end there's no consistency,” the Nets guard added.

Kyrie Irving finished with 30 points, six rebounds and five. This was his seventh game of the year. And it sounds like he's ramping up.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Adidas Harden Vol. 8 James Harden new colorways

Dominik Zawartko ·

76ers' Tyrese Maxey and Nets' Mikal Bridges

Sam DiGiovanni ·

Anthony Edwards Adidas AE 1 '3Stripes Select' release

Dominik Zawartko ·

So what does Kyrie think about Harden's struggles to get to the line?

“I mean I wouldn't call it struggling,” said Irving after answering a phone call mid interview to tell somebody he loved them. “I just, I think teams have made adjustments, the referees have made adjustments, now we have to make adjustments, and if he goes in there very aggressively, we want him to continue to do that. I mean he's gonna be James. We know who James is…. but the whistle can go either way night to night, and depending on the crew we have I think that also has an effect on it but we just want to start off the game with a consistent whistle. And when he's going in there and he's creating some contact, we feel like he deserves that respect.”

Those last four words, “he deserves that respect” make it clear Irving is standing up for his teammate.

The frustration is understandable. Harden's free throw numbers are up from last season, but there are wild fluctuations in the way a particular game is called and it does sometimes appear that a particular crew has predetermined Harden must “pay for some grifter sins of his past” or “be made an example of.”

One night a crew may call it close, and he'll wind up with 15-of-20 free throw attempts in a single game. The next night he'll face a crew who seems like they can't wait to get home and “swallow their whistles” or even tag him for an offensive foul while he's trying to draw contact. It's hard to predict which way it's going to go but it does seem sort of ad hoc.

Whether you think the Nets have a legitimate gripe or not, the point stands that the officials have not made it clear how a game is going to be called on a given night. And part of that may be because they themselves aren't fully comfortable with new rules yet. That could be a storyline which gets more important as we approach the playoffs.

The Nets are now a half game behind the Miami Heat in second place in the East.