The Brooklyn Nets, 10-3 away from the comfy confines of Barclays Center, are road warriors, with an identity centered around the defensive end of the court. You'd be forgiven for not having predicted that before 2021-22 tipped off,  but here we are 26 games into the regular season.

When you think of James Harden, Kevin Durant, Patty Mills, Joe Harris and LaMarcus Aldridge you probably don't think “Bad Boys Pistons.” But they are in first place in the East at 18-8 overall. The Nets rank first in opponents' effective field goal percentage (49.1) and sixth in overall defensive rating (106.2) per NBA.com/stats.

One thing that makes this trend even more exciting is versatile big Nic Claxton returning to the lineup. Brooklyn has been able to do some things they couldn't while he was sidelined for 13 games with an undisclosed illness. With Claxton and James Johnson, who's been a big help since Blake Griffin was benched, the Nets can switch more frequently and generally muck things up for an opposing offense.

Durant likes his team's defensive versatility. Speaking after a huge 113-105 road win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, a game the Nets forced Trae Young into 10-of-27 shooting, the MVP candidate praised his team's defensive effort.

“You could look at the Dallas game and this game,” explained Durant. “Trae Young and Luka Doncic pretty much play the same way. Their pick-and-roll was hurting us early in both of those games and I think we were able to eliminate some of those kick-out threes to the Kevin Huerters and Dorian Finney-Smiths and players like that.”

“And was able to keep the ball in front, guard 1-on-1 which is is really what basketball is,” continued Durant, who is leading the NBA in points per game. “We was able to get some stops in both those games…. but tonight was a good test and glad we was able to finish.”

KD is getting some love for his own defense as well.

What does James Harden think it's going to take to get to where they want to be come season's end?

“Ultimate confidence,” said Harden, who finished with 20 points, 11 assists and five rebounds against Atlanta. “Especially, we’ve been having a lot of ups and downs. A lot of lineups [that are] inconsistent and whatnot, so we’re just trying to figure it out on both ends of the ball.”

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Harden missed all five of his looks from downtown and had six turnovers, but was still part of Brooklyn's winning formula on the defensive end. A couple of weeks ago it was Bruce Brown and DeAndre' Bembry helping on the wings; Paul Millsap, Johnson and Claxton have played key roles more recently. No matter who's on the floor, the Nets are cobbling together winning lineups centered around their top stars.

“But defensively tonight,” Harden explained, “and like you talked about that Dallas game, it felt really good to just guard and then obviously use that to get out in transition and get easy baskets. I think that’s what's gonna have to happen until, you know, for the entire season.”

We're not mind-readers at ClutchPoints, but you could almost fill in that last “y'know” from Harden. The Nets are going to have to continue to play at a very high level defensively until you know, Kyrie Irving comes back to take some of the pressure off. It sure sounds like that's what he wanted to say.

Simply put, the Nets wouldn't need to be elite on defense if they had Irving in the fold to wreak havoc on opposing defenses.

But if Irving isn't returning, Brooklyn's going to have to continue evolving into a lockdown defense as the season progresses. The unvaccinated Irving, by the way, is actually eligible to appear in these road games. But so far, Brooklyn is winning away from home without him because of its solid defense.