DETROIT — Add another veteran point guard to the list of additions the Nets need to make en route to their championship dreams.
That’s the biggest takeaway in the Nets’ 116-104 win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday evening. In the first game James Harden rested all season, the Nets succumbed to the Pistons’ pressing defense and turned the ball over 17 times until flat-out blasting them in a monster fourth quarter. They need an experienced floor general on the roster behind Patty Mills to shore up the lack of depth at the one as insurance in case Harden misses games in the future.
While The Beard has been an Ironman most of his career, he missed a significant number of games due to a Grade 2 hamstring strain last season. Once Kyrie Irving went down with an ankle injury, an only half-healthy Harden was not enough to power the Nets past the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs.
The Nets are looking at a similar situation this season. Irving has not played at all due to his unwillingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
And if the only chance of Irving returning to the Nets this season lies in his willingness to take a plant-based COVID-19 vaccine, general manager Sean Marks should cover himself and his team and add more depth, specifically at the one.
Kevin Durant played the one against the Pistons on Sunday. In truth, he played all five positions in a 51-point masterpiece, a performance only blemished by his five turnovers on the night. The Pistons (4-22) own the NBA’s worst record and in the end were no match for Brooklyn’s might. Even without Harden, the Nets had options: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 15, Patty Mills scored 18 and Cam Thomas, the rookie becoming a household name in Brooklyn, scored 13 off the bench.
The Nets ultimately blew the top off the Little Caesars Arena with a 30-13 fourth quarter including a 19-1 start to the period. But that’s what they’re supposed to do.
The Nets have not been shy about their championship aspirations. A win against the Pistons—no matter how “hard they play”—can no longer be something to celebrate.
The Nets have bigger fish to fry: Their path to the NBA Finals will not include a trip to Detroit. Instead it will feature likely pit stops in Milwaukee, Miami or Chicago, against teams they have yet to beat this season.
Detroit’s star forward Jerami Grant missed the game due to a thumb injury that will keep him out at least six weeks, so the Pistons’ best player is rookie Cade Cunningham, who finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists on the night. They are a team that lacks star talent and thus must compensate by out-working and out-gritting their opponent every night.
That is no longer a recipe for success against the Nets. Brooklyn is home to a top-5 NBA defense, including the league’s best three-point defense. Without Irving in the rotation, the Nets have had to win games by stopping the opponent from scoring, rather than posting an unmatchable number of points on the board.
Yet while the Nets blew the Pistons out of the water in the fourth quarter, it was anyone’s game throughout the first three periods. The Pistons forced six turnovers in the first quarter alone and 15 through the first three periods. In the third quarter, Detroit’s press forced turnovers on three consecutive possessions, forcing head coach Steve Nash into a timeout.
Which brings us back to the need for a backup point guard: If the Pistons can expose the Nets, albeit without Harden, via a mix of full- and half-court presses, the other conference’s contenders surely can, too. It’s difficult to press Harden, one of the world’s most gifted ball-handlers and playmakers, but in a world where the Nets don’t want to play him 40-plus minutes a night, and the Nets want to insure themselves against his future health status, adding a veteran floor general—be it in a trade or a signing on the buyout market—is a must.
