The Brooklyn Nets are beginning 2023 off proper. With a convincing win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, the Nets have prolonged their win streak to 12 video games. This win was so convincing that Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn allowed his stars to clock out after the third quarter. The Nets rallied behind Kevin Durant’s 25 factors and Kyrie Irving’s 27 to beat the Spurs 139-103 at house.
The turnaround from the Brooklyn Nets has been unimaginable to look at. After a turbulent summer time and begin to the season, they’ve received 17 out of their final 20 video games. The Nets had been twelfth within the Jap Convention on Nov. 15. Lower than two months later, they’re in second place behind the Boston Celtics, the group answerable for their final loss. The Nets’ streak features a notable sequence of consecutive wins in opposition to the Golden State Warriors, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
To not jinx them, however it appears to be like just like the modern-day Nets, with Durant and Irving at its core are lastly residing as much as their potential. In the event that they experience this momentum and keep wholesome, the Nets might simply come out of the east and struggle for the title they’ve been lusting over. Damaged down, listed below are the elements of this successful components.
The Nets have an skilled head coach.
Give Jacque Vaughn his flowers. If anybody deserves credit score for a way properly the Nets have performed on this current stretch, it’s the man with the clipboard. All people knew that hiring Steve Nash to command the Nets’ newly renovated roster was a shot at midnight. When Nash obtained fired at the start of November, followers had been unsure about the way forward for the top coach place. A lot thought that the Nets would signal former Celtics head coach, Ime Udoka. However to everybody’s shock, Vaughn has been unimaginable within the driver’s seat for the Nets.
Vaughn labored below Greg Popovich as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs from 2010-2012. Since then he served as the top coach for the Orlando Magic for 3 seasons and a professional scout for the Spurs for a 12 months earlier than becoming a member of the Nets teaching employees in 2016. Vaughn’s expertise and understanding of the sport have been key elements within the Nets’ unimaginable run. He was given a roster with good items and he’s giving a showcase of easy methods to play the playing cards proper. He has earned his gamers’ and followers’ respect within the course of.
The celebs are shining in Brooklyn.
The Nets’ New 12 months’s decision needs to be to ensure that Kyrie Irving stays away from Twitter. Irving’s absence because of his refusal to get vaccines for COVID-19 and a suspension because of an antisemitic tweet was damaging for the Nets. However upon his return, Irving has not skipped a beat. One of many issues that this run has confirmed is that Durant wants Irving simply as a lot as Irving wants Durant to carry out for the Nets to flourish. Durant and Irving are averaging 29.7 and 26.2 factors per sport, respectively. When two of the sport’s greatest scorers play properly nightly, the Nets are enjoying phenomenally, a sight to behold.
Whereas Ben Simmons has struggled within the scoring finish, he’s regularly getting his confidence again. He doesn’t assault the basket as a lot as he did when he was in Philadelphia, however he’s wanting extra decisive when he does. Simmons has been contributing in rebounds and has carried out properly as considered one of a number of flooring generals for the Nets. As soon as he totally will get out of this funk, anticipate him so as to add emphasis to this already robust group.
The depth of the Nets roster is paying off.
Two teams deserve a spherical of applause for this entry; first, the Nets entrance workplace for signing the appropriate items to encompass their stars with. And second, the gamers for embracing their roles and creating an influence. The Nets have one of many deepest and most full rosters within the NBA. You may go down the listing and see that every participant is stable. As a unit and below the appropriate coach, they’re exhibiting flashes of their full functionality.
Nic Claxton, Seth Curry, Joe Harris, and Royce O’Neale have been the first choices to finish beginning lineups with Durant, Irving, and Simmons. And whereas these 4 have been complimenting the three principal items properly, you possibly can draw names from a hat, and they might nonetheless work properly. The variety of totally different lineups that Vaughn can play with the hand he has been handled is horrifying. Greatest imagine that the Nets will solely get higher because the season unfolds. Even when this unimaginable run stutters alongside the best way, given how they’re enjoying, anticipate the Nets to make loads of noise come post-season.
