Everything is an experiment right now. Everything is tinkering. Everything is testing. Everything is trying stuff out, throwing spaghetti against a wall, seeing what sticks, seeing what works. That is the Nets right now, every day, a pricey bicycle with training wheels, from the coach on down.
They played another ridiculously fun game Wednesday night, and if nothing else, it is awfully clear the Nets are going to be worth the 2 ½-hour investment of your time every time out. The Cavaliers beat them, 147-135, Colin Sexton making like Isiah Thomas circa 1984 at Joe Louis Arena (lapsed Knicks fans can explain) in the second overtime, putting on an absurd show, finishing with 42 points.
The Nets were their own show, of course, because that is what they are, it is who they are, especially when all three of the Big 3 report for work, as they did Wednesday night for the first time. Kevin Durant scored 38, Kyrie Irving 37, James Harden 21. It isn’t every day you get three players who can make scoring 96 points look as easy and as effortless as breathing, or blinking. That’s something.
And when they click … no kidding, it can be breathtaking. The Nets made their first 10 shots of the night, everyone getting a little taste: Irving, naturally, and Durant, but also DeAndre Jordan pogoing to one alley-oop after another, Jeff Green and Joe Harris knocking down 3s. Basketball played with this kind of proficiency and this brand of efficiency can be downright beautiful. They were up 23-15. The bouquets were all aimed at them.
They didn’t score again the rest of the quarter. The Cavs led 28-23 at the end. The Nets stopped scoring and never really started defending. It is a common issue and will remain that way, will remain the teal elephant in every gym they play in. It is unavoidable. In is inescapable.
It is also fixable. But it will take time.
“It’s a process that’ll last the entire year,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “We had breakdowns all over the place. We have a lot of work to do. We know that we have a very offensive team right now. We have to find ways to get connected.”
There are other things, too, and those reside on Nash’s shoulders. It isn’t just that Nash is still finding his way 16 games into his coaching career; there are things that only reps will solve, allowing him to get more comfortable. Nash chose not to have his team foul, up three late in the first OT, and Sexton burned the Nets with a game-tying 3 with 1.5 seconds left.
He also loaded up his vets with minutes. Yes, adding the extra 10 minutes of two overtimes didn’t help, but even absent those, Harden checked in at 41 minutes (after playing 40 and 41 his first two games as a Net), Durant was at 40, Irving (after two weeks in exile) 38. Nash only used nine in his rotation. His circle of trust is pretty narrow right now. With 56 games to play, that’s not a great thing.
Durant, always a gamer’s gamer, said, straight-faced: “I feel like I could have played another 20 minutes.”
Irving conceded there might have been some fatigue issues. But he also saw the bigger picture, too, and it made him smile with wonder.
“We were just a little uncomfortable,” Irving said. “But playing with Kevin Durant and James Harden, playing with those names … we’re having so much fun, we’ll have good nights and we’ll have great nights but it’s not just us. We have to galvanize as a group, come together for the greater good. I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Said Durant: “It felt right, it felt perfect, it felt like the journey together is going to be fun. I like where we are.”
The key is to like where they’re going even more. Again: There are stretches that make you shake your head at what you’re watching. The Cavs led 104-92 with just over seven minutes left, looked primed to simply dismiss the Nets, but the Nets are too good, too gifted to be written off so casually; the run was 21-9, it took less than six minutes, and the Big 3 accounted for 19 of those points.
It was something to see. But not the only thing to see.
“We have a long season ahead of us,” Durant said. “I like the camaraderie we’re building, the coaching staff and the players are communicating at a high level. We just have to keep doing it.”
And doing it. And doing it. In this case, with this team, with these stars, the journey might really be every bit as enjoyable as the destination.