From super-team to super-flops: Who’s to blame for the Nets’ playoff humiliation?

Jhe Brooklyn Nets started this season as favorites for many pundits to reach the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Instead, they were swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. All that remains is to try to figure out what was wrong with Brooklyn.

James Harden’s Trade

The Nets started this season with a Big Three: Kevin Durant theoretically healthy, Kyrie Irving theoretically on the court and a former NBA MVP in James Harden, who was acquired the previous January in a trade from the Houston Rockets. It was a high-risk move to reunite these talented veterans, given that they had all fallen out with their previous franchises.

To no one’s chagrin, the trio didn’t last and it was Harden who left. With their options limited for potential All-Star impact in a Harden deal, they staged a disgruntled trade with the Philadelphia 76ers, which brought them back Ben Simmons, a hugely gifted big man and first on defense.

The Nets’ bet was based on the idea that Simmons was only holding back because his relationship with the Sixers had disintegrated after his infamous offensive slump in the playoffs last year. In the end, it was more than that: Simmons’ absence was due to physical and mental health issues that ultimately kept him from playing a single minute in Brooklyn this season.

Yes, in the long run, the Nets could have something in acquiring Simmons. That said, being forced to do the Harden deal and settle for this particular comeback has hurt Brooklyn’s chances of success this year.

Kyrie Irving

The main reason Harden was fed up with his situation in Brooklyn? Well, it couldn’t help that he was dealing with the endless circus that was Irving’s battle with New York City. It turns out that New York’s Covid-19 restrictions meant unvaccinated players couldn’t play at home at Barclays Center, which kept Irving from playing in Brooklyn for much of the regular season. During many crucial games, Irving was a spectator.

Kyrie Irving: "I feel like I let the team down when I couldn’t play… It became a distraction sometimes."

— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) April 26, 2022

\n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/MattBrooksNBA/status/1518776147303141377″,”id”:”1518776147303141377″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”: false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”f0f3c5b6-d767-48c1-a08d-210ba79dfef0″}}”>

Kyrie Irving: “I feel like I let the team down when I couldn’t play… It became a distraction at times.”

— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) April 26, 2022

Many other players – despite their personal beliefs – would have simply received the vaccine, particularly when it hurt their team’s chances of winning a championship. After all, a committed Irving is one of the most dangerous players in the entire league.

Irving, for his own reasons, refused to make such a sacrifice for his teammates. If you’re wondering if this could have been why Harden finally forced his way out of town, well that’s conventional wisdom although there’s never been any official confirmation from Harden himself. . One man who thinks the issue has affected the season is Kyrie Irving. “I think [my vaccine status] has become a distraction at times,” the point guard said after Monday’s loss to the Celtics. “And as you see, we just had some drastic changes.”

Kevin Durant was injured

So the Nets were without Irving for many games, Harden was in Philadelphia, and Simmons was on the bench. It was up to Durant to help shoulder much of the team’s burden. Unfortunately, Durant suffered an MCL injury on Jan. 15 and was out for over a month and a half (KD wasn’t the only Nets player running out of time, Joe Harris’ season was ruined by a ankle injury).

When Durant returned, he was commissioned to lead the Nets to a seventh-place finish that required them to win a playoff just to qualify for the playoffs. By the time the playoffs began, Durant was beginning to feel the effects of the heavy minutes he was playing towards the end of the regular season.

It’s not a full excuse for his early fights against Boston — especially since the Celtics were missing starting center Robert Williams for the first two games of the series — but it couldn’t have helped. He had 39 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in Game 4, but by then he was running on empty.

Steve Nash Sunday was talking about fatigue, and more specifically Kevin Durant’s workload since his return.

This made me wonder about the NBA leaders in minutes played over the past month (regular season/play-in/playoff).

Go figure.

(Durant has gone over 40 minutes in 9 of his last 10.) pic.twitter.com/281qCP3xeo

— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) April 25, 2022

\n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1518471079601266689″,”id”:”1518471079601266689″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”: false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”fee4e57c-989c-4124-bb76-206428348a27″}}”>

Steve Nash Sunday was talking about fatigue, and more specifically Kevin Durant’s workload since his return.

This made me wonder about the NBA leaders in minutes played over the past month (regular season/play-in/playoff).

Go figure.

(Durant has gone over 40 minutes in 9 of his last 10.) pic.twitter.com/281qCP3xeo

— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) April 25, 2022

Steve Nash

The Nets are used to hiring mascots rather than head coaches: let’s not forget they brought in Jason Kidd just the season after he retired as a player. So, it wasn’t shocking that they handed over the keys to the team to Hall of Famer Steve Nash in September 2020, even though he had never even been NBA. assistant front trainer.

Nets players backed Nash Monday night after their season ended, but at times during that sweep Nash looked more like a babysitter than a coach. With his team down 2-0 and facing a crucial Game 3, Nash seemed allergic to timeout calls and play design, hoping his veterans would fall on the right course of action on their own. They mostly didn’t.

Upon hiring Nash, Irving responded to the news cheerfully, “I don’t really see us having a ‘head’ coach.” Maybe not the most polite statement in the world, but Nash has done little to prove his point guard wrong this postseason.

Boston Celtics

Still, it’s hard to know what Nash could have done given how much the Celtics dominated his team. While Brooklyn’s dysfunction hit the headlines, Boston should have been favored from the outset.

After stumbling through the first half of the season with first head coach Ime Udoka still learning on the job after an impressive internship under Gregg Popovich at the San Antonio Spurs and Nash himself with the Nets, the team has become in good health, Udoka came into his own and the Celtics finally found their identity.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have learned to play together again. After being elevated to starting point guard, Marcus Smart became the NBA Defensive Player of the Year…and the rest of his team wasn’t far behind. The Celtics were the best defensive team in the league in the second half of the regular season, and no sagging on the offensive side either. Given the chance to tank in the final game of the season and avoid facing Durant and Irving in the first round of the playoffs, the Celtics played at full strength against a Memphis Grizzlies B team to grab the title. second seed in the East.

They took on the challenge because they knew they could beat the Nets on their own terms. By betting on themselves, the Celtics not only avenged their loss to the Nets in last year’s playoffs, but they may have sent Brooklyn’s entire organization back to the drawing board.