Over the past few days, Steve Nash has talked about the sacrifice that his new Big 3 will need to make for the Nets to be successful.
“These guys, they want to win. And if they really want to win, they'll find a way to play together,” Nash said on Friday.
On Saturday, James Harden and Kevin Durant made it look relatively easy in a win over Orlando.
Harden had a triple-double (32 points, 14 assists, 12 rebouds) and Durant added 42 points.
“For me, all I have to do is go out there and be the best James Harden I can be and good things will happen," Harden said afterward.
Plenty of good things happened on the opening night of the Harden era. But one of the big questions hanging over this trade couldn’t be addressed in Harden’s first game: how will Kyrie Irving’s role change now that Harden’s here?
We may start to get an answer to that question next week.
On Sunday, Irving may work out with a group of Nets who don’t play regularly. Brooklyn wants Irving to regain some on-court conditioning before he returns to a game. So if Irving looks good on Sunday, he may return to the court on Monday against Milwaukee.
Irving has missed the past six games. Five of them were due to personal reasons (more on that below); Saturday’s absence was due to health and safety protocols following his five-day quarantine.
It’s fair to wonder how Irving and Harden will fit together since both players, historically, are used to having the ball in their hands.
But Irving said something earlier this season that suggested he won’t have a hard time scaling back his time of possession for the greater good.
After the first game of the regular season, Irving talked about eschewing ‘hero ball’ in favor of team goals.
“It’s been a long journey to get here and to be able to master this craft and to learn that it’s not just about hero basketball, it’s about how great the team is,” Irving said then. “I think I got caught up in that in my career a few times in just trying to play hero basketball. Where the team success is really going to dictate how great you are as an individual and how great you play your role. Being here in this present moment, I’m enjoying that and I’m embracing that.”
Irving was asked that night if there was a particular moment that led to the shift in his mindset.
“I think it’s just the right time, right situation, right environment,” he said. “To explain that, as a young player, you think that scoring a bunch of points, doing a bunch of things, getting individual accolades is great.
"And I definitely was going after those things. Now I really don’t care for any of those individual accolades or goals. It really doesn’t bother me. I know I’m validated culturally and that’s all that matters. I don’t need an All-NBA. I don’t need a MVP, I just want a championship with a great team that I can look back on history and say we did it our way and we had fun doing it.”
Granted, this was said before the Harden trade. So the circumstances are vastly different today than they were when Irving made those comments. Both Irving and Harden ranked in the top 30 over the past two seasons in time of possession and dribbles per touch, meaning both players will have to adapt to make it all work.
We should get the first look at the process next week when Irving returns to the court.
The point guard was fined $50,000 by the NBA for violating league COVID protocols when he attended an indoor family party without a mask. He also forfeited game checks for time missed during his five-day quarantine. The total money lost for Irving was roughly $900,000.
Irving had been away from the team due to personal reasons. Some members of the organization were frustrated over the way Irving’s absence was handled. Will that frustration linger or impact the dynamic between Irving and the Nets? That remains to be seen.
As we noted earlier Wednesday, one factor in Irving’s decision to be away from the team was the recent news that the Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake won't be facing any criminal charges. That event, more so than the riots at the Capitol Building, contributed to Irving being away from the club.
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