James Harden tabs a healthy Nets squad as unbeatable – is he onto something?
James Harden didn't mince words.
"At full strength, nobody can beat us. I'll just leave it at that."
The former NBA MVP unleashed that quote in an interview with Sports Illustrated, in reference to his new team, the Brooklyn Nets, and their title hopes moving forward.
The Nets, in their first season with the ultra-dynamic trio of Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, finished with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and made it to Game 7 of the East semifinals, where they lost in overtime to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks.
But that doesn't tell the whole story.
In that Game 7, Durant led all scorers with 48 points and nearly won the game for Brooklyn by his lonesome.
Why? Because even though Harden played and pitched in 22 points, it wasn't the real James Harden.
It wasn't "The Beard."
Harden suffered a hamstring injury 43 seconds into Game 1 of the Bucks series and was inactive for Games 2, 3 and 4, before hobbling onto the floor for Game 5.
Over the last three games of the series, he scored a combined 43 points on 11-for-36 shooting (30.5%) from the field, making just five of his 26 3-point attempts (19.2%).
Furthering the injury issues in Brooklyn was the fact that Irving – well, he wasn't playing at all.
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After suffering a severe ankle sprain a little over 17 minutes into Game 3 against Milwaukee, Irving was sidelined for the remainder of the series.
The first season for Brooklyn's new "Big 3" was injury-plagued before the postseason began. Irving played in just 54 regular-season games, Durant in just 35, and Harden in only 37 (he played eight games at the beginning of the season with Houston).
But in reality, those numbers are only shocking when it comes to Harden.
"The Beard" has played at least 72 games nine times in his 12-year career, and in the 72-game, COVID-19-shortened season in 2020, he played 68 games.
Irving has played 70 or more games only three times in his 10-year career, and while Durant has played over 70 games eight times in his 14-year career, he has only reached that number once in the past five seasons, including missing all of the 2019-20 season with a torn Achilles.
In other words, Brooklyn being "at full strength" as Harden alluded to is by no means a forgone conclusion. But, if they are, does evidence suggest the Nets can't be beaten?
The sample size is small but telling.
Harden, Irving and Durant only played in eight games together during the regular season and six games together in the playoffs, including the 43 seconds Harden played in Game 1 against Milwaukee.
In those 14 appearances with all three on the court, the Nets were 11-3. Durant averaged 27.2 points, Harden put up 20.5, and Irving went for 25.4.
In last year's first-round series against Boston, Brooklyn dispatched of the Celtics in five games, winning by an average of 11.2 points per game. And it took a gargantuan 50-point effort from Jayson Tatum to guide Boston to its only win of the series.
Then, against the Bucks, even with Harden effectively out in both Games 1 and 2, the Nets beat Milwaukee by eight in Game 1 and 39 in Game 2.
And without the services of Irving in Game 5, and a mere five points from a hobbled Harden, K.D. scored 49 and put Brooklyn on the brink of advancing to the Eastern Conference finals, before Milwaukee won Games 6 and 7.
"The biggest thing is us being healthy, which we will be," Harden told SI. "Honestly, we’re just excited to play a whole season together. That’s the exciting part."
On Friday's edition of "Speak For Yourself," Marcellus Wiley, Emmanuel Acho and Ric Bucher discussed Harden's confidence ahead of the 2021-22 season, and if he actually has reason to believe the Nets – healthy – will reign supreme.
For Acho and Bucher, Harden's stance is a "detachment from reality," as Bucher put it.
Said Acho: "We haven't seen the Nets at full strength to know if the Nets would beat themselves at full strength. When you're in a honeymoon phase, it's hard to know if you will self-implode. … They've only played 14 games together. That's as much of a honeymoon phase as there can be."
Acho pointed to Durant's previous dynasty with the Golden State Warriors and how in their third year together, after winning two titles, the relationship between Durant and Draymond Green essentially imploded.
Wiley, however, defended Harden's stance, asking both Acho and Bucher that if they had to bet it all on a team winning the NBA title next season – considering all teams are at full strength – wouldn't they choose Brooklyn?
"This team played the champions and they weren't at full-strength against the champions – remember, Harden went down as soon as the whistle went off – and still were up 2-0 on the champions. It was when they went down to just one of [the ‘Big 3’] that they had issues with the champions.
"Milwaukee would not have advanced if Brooklyn stayed healthy."
Marcellus Wiley: James Harden is right; the Nets are indeed unbeatable at full strength I SPEAK FOR YOURSELF
Clearly, Milwaukee benefitted from remaining healthy for a majority of the playoffs, and the injury bug played a role in Brooklyn not reaching its full potential.
But, in the end, injuries are a part of the game.
Just like the Nets are clamoring to see what they can do at full strength, so is the NBA world. But now, Harden has injected a little more life into that inevitable Brooklyn-Milwaukee rematch that will presumably take place next postseason.
Our popcorn is ready.
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