B’KLN RIPPED BY L.A. No. 1 seed for playoffs
Kyrie tossed from loss to short-handed Lakers
Kevin Durant had a blank stare in his eyes.
It was the end of the third quarter. Durant, in his second game back from a hamstring strain, was approaching his minutes limit. Kyrie Irving had been ejected after jawing with Dennis Schroder, and James Harden missed his fifth straight game because of his own hamstring.
The Lakers didn’t have LeBron James or Anthony Davis, but what was clear on Saturday night was they didn’t need them. The reigning NBA champions flexed their defensive effort in an impressive 126-101 victory over the Nets in a measuring stick game that showed how much distance Brooklyn needs to close.
The Nets never looked ready. Offensively, no one was on the same page. LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin were of little effect against Mount. Vernon’s Andre Drummond, who signed with the Lakers instead of the Nets on the buyout market. Drummond finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, his bruising presence too much for the Nets to overcome.
Lakers big man Montrezl Harrell also feasted on the interior. Maybe the Nets should have played DeAndre Jordan, who hasn’t seen the floor since the Aldridge acquisition.
“If they want to go big, they have another guy that can do a lot of things at the center position,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said of the Lakers centers pregame. “Pick your poison. They’d be very formidable with the smaller version of their frontcourt or the big one.”
The Lakers led by as many as 26. Their game plan: Make the Nets work for every shot they take. Brooklyn got few open looks and
Irving was the hot hand early with 18 points in his first 21 minutes. He then took exception to something Lakers point guard Dennis Schroder said, and both were ejected after a pair of double technical fouls. Irving was also on the receiving end of a Marcus Morris swing-through elbow to the face, which earned Morris a flagrant foul one in the first half.
Durant played 24 minutes, up from the 19 he played against the Pelicans after missing 23 straight games with a hamstring injury. He finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists, a performance punctuated with a coast-tocoast baby poster of a one-handed stuff over Drummond. But he turned the ball over eight times, was out of place on a number of occasions and also appeared to hurt his right quadriceps, though he shook it off and continued to play.
The Lakers outscored the Nets by 13 in the minutes Durant played. The Nets were only minus-three in Irving’s minutes before his ejection.
The Nets sorely miss Harden, their MVP candidate whose teammates uniformly credit for making their lives easier. Harden assumed the role of point guard, moving Irving to the shooting guard earlier this season, and the Nets have thrived.
Harden’s absence can be no excuse: The Lakers did not have their two best players, and James and Davis completely transform the way the Lakers both attack and defend. As good as the Nets can be when they get on the same page — and a clean bill of health with Harden, Durant and Irving — Saturday night’s performance showed just how much ground the Nets must make up if they want to realize championship aspirations.
same five playoff spots, and one of those seven will likely face the Nets in the first round: The Hornets, Hawks, Heat, Celtics, Knicks, Pacers and Bulls are all within arm’s reach of one another as the postseason draws near. Veteran teams like the Celtics, Heat, Pacers and Bulls could prove a tough matchup for the Nets in the first round.
Survival of the fittest will determine Brooklyn’s playoff opponent, but so will the league’s newest play-in tournament twist. Instead of one play-in tournament like we saw in last season’s Orlando bubble, there will be three.
The No. 7 and No. 8 seeds will play each other in the “Seven-Eight Game” to determine which team will enter the playoffs as the seventh seed. The No. 8 and No. 9 seed will also play each other in the “Eight-Nine Game.”
The winner of the “Eight-Nine Game” will then play the loser of the “Seven-Eight Game” to determine which team will make the playoffs as the eighth seed.
If the Nets finish first in the conference, they could end up playing the East’s 10th seed in the first round. The 10th seed in the East as of Saturday belongs to the Chicago Bulls, who are playing well below their expectations as a team with two high-level All-Stars in Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic.
There are still 20 games left on the schedule for most teams, which means the standings are going to be in flux over the next few weeks. Nets head coach Steve Nash has been consistent with his thought process: It doesn’t matter what other teams do so long as the Nets take care of their own business.
It also might not matter what other teams do, regardless, when you have two former MVPs and 41 total All-Star appearances spread across one roster.