The Brooklyn Nets are the NBA’s newest super team, an offensive juggernaut with two former MVPs in Kevin Durant and James Harden and the owner of one of the greatest shots in NBA Finals history in Kyrie Irving, which is also widely regarded as the best trader in the world. sports.
But LeBron James wasn’t ready to declare the trio an unprecedented ensemble when asked to go to Brooklyn ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers’ first game against the new Nets on Thursday.
“Um, have we forgotten KD, Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) yet?” James said after the Lakers’ 112-104 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. “I mean, there you go. There you go.’
James knows that Golden State Warriors group well – it beat his Cleveland Cavaliers for back-to-back championships in 2017 and ’18.
But the most points Durant, Curry and Thompson ever scored in their three seasons combined were 75.8 per game in 2018/19.
Durant (29.0), Irving (28.3) and Harden (23.9) came in on Tuesday with an average of 80.7 points for the Nets this season.
Thursday’s showdown will lack some firepower. LA will be without Anthony Davis, who suffered a calf strain on Sunday and worsened the Achilles tendon in his right leg. He will see team doctors when the Lakers return home on Wednesday.
“We will see how he responds to treatment and re-evaluate it in a few weeks,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Tuesday.
On the other hand, Durant has missed the past two games with a left hamstring strain and Irving took Tuesday’s comeback victory against the Phoenix Suns with a tight lower back.
That said, James said he is looking forward to seeing these nets in person for the first time.
“It’s always exciting for me to take on some of the best guys in the game – and they’ve got three,” he said. “They have three of the best guys in the game. I would really love to be full when you play against such a team and see how you play at that point in the season – how you do against some of the best teams in the league. And of course we won’t be packed on Thursday. But other than that, yeah, I like to get out and about and just get on the ground with some of the best this game. “
James’ teammate Montrezl Harrell was less enthusiastic. He was part of the NBA’s shiny new toy with the LA Clippers last season, when the historically underperforming franchise added Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and became an instant favorite to win the title.
Perhaps through all that hype, only to be part of the second round of the Clippers’ playoff exit to the Denver Nuggets, he taught him that the regular season isn’t always the best indicator of post-season success.
“To be honest, I don’t really care,” Harrell said. “We go into every game with a game plan, we know offensively, defensively what we want to do to win that game, and that will be the same as what we will have to do when we play on Thursday.
“There’s nothing else. We don’t circle that game. We don’t put extra emphasis on that game. It’s like any other game – we’re playing it game by game. We’re still learning. We’re still growing and we’re still growing.” are still building with each other, and we’ll have to take it to the next level if we lose one of our big pieces [in Davis]