IS ONE BALL ENOUGH FOR BROOKLYN?
The Brooklyn Nets’ jawdropping trade for James Harden has initiated a grand experiment never before tried at this scale: Can three ball-dominant playmakers coexist after spending most of their careers in offenses tailored to their needs?
“Whenever you’re meshing personalities, we’ve got to wait and see how this all fits on the floor and so forth,” Sean Marks, the Nets general manager, told reporters Thursday. “I think these guys have given us the right answers. They’ve said, hey, they want to play together. They can see this fitting.”
Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving aren’t the Nets’ first starry trio, much less the NBA’s: Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James won two championships in Miami; Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce won one in Boston.
But to give a sense of how unusual this new trio is, it’s useful to note just how much they have touched the basketball in their careers. A good measure of this is usage rate, which shows the percentage of a team’s plays taken up by a player’s shooting or turning the ball over. A-level stars are usually in the mid- to high 20 percent range. Durant is at 30.2, and Irving at 29.3. But Harden is on another level: He is one of two players in NBA history to reach 40 percent for a season, which he did in 2018-19 — 40.47. The other was Russell Westbrook, Harden’s teammate last season, who did so in 2016-17.
Thursday’s games
Rockets 109, Spurs 105:
Christian Wood had 27 points and 15 rebounds and visiting Houston rallied to beat San Antonio in its first game since trading franchise cornerstone Harden.
Sterling Brown, who took Harden’s spot in the starting lineup, had 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes.
Spurs forward Keldon Johnson had a career-high 29 points, and Lonnie Walker IV added 16 points,
76ers 125, Heat 108: Shake Milton scored 31 points, and Ben Simmons had 10 points, 10 assists and 12 rebounds to help host Philadelphia beat Miami.
Duncan Robinson led the Heat with 22 points. Gabe Vincent had 21.
Raptors 111, Hornets 108:
At Tampa, Fla., Chris Boucher had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Kyle Lowry had 16 points and 12 assists, and Toronto beat Charlotte. Pascal Siakam added 15 points and seven rebounds to help Toronto improve to 3-8.
Terry Rozier led the Hornets with 22 points, and P.J. Washington had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Pacers 111, Trail Blazers 87: Domantas Sabonis had 23 points and 15 rebounds to lead visiting Indiana past Portland.
Malcolm Brogdon added 25 points and seven assists for the Pacers.
CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard each scored 22 for Portland. The loss was costly: During the third quarter, center Jusuf Nurkic left
the court holding his right wrist and the Blazers later announced he had sustained a fracture.
Notable
The Celtics expect their unplanned weeklong hiatus because of coronavirus-related issues to end today, when they’re scheduled to play host to the Orlando Magic.
The Phoenix Suns, however, have a bit more time off coming.
The Celtics will be without at least three players today, including All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, because of the league’s health and safety protocols.
Meanwhile, the Indiana at Phoenix game scheduled for Saturday has been called off.