PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – FEBRUARY 06: James Harden # 13 of the Brooklyn Nets warming up before … [+]
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One of the Nets ’worst defenses in the NBA may be to go along with their high-power offense, but James Harden believes they will have more than enough to earn an NBA title when the time.
“Of course, we’re more confident that it will be difficult for the team to beat us four times in a top-of-7 series so I’m excited about it,” Harden told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview which was broadcast on Friday. “And it’s only been a month, so we’re all trying to get to one goal and that’s the NBA tournament. ”
After the Lakers and Bucks, the Nets are the third favorite to win the title, according to Caesars William Hill.
The Nets are 8-6 since they acquired Harden in a big deal with Houston last month. He described the Houston experience as “draining” and said it was a “relief” to be in Brooklyn with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
“The situation I was in in Houston, regularly and every night getting 40 points to give ourselves a chance to win, for a long period of years draining and so on. just to be able to have a skill set of guys that you have to be a player and you can bring in people and not have to worry about scoring all the possessions, it’s a huge relief for me, ”he said. ri Nichols.
Harden averages 23.9 points, 11.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds. He leads the NBA in helping.
He said he did not like the way things went down in Houston before the trade because he was seen as a selfish man. Harden missed the start of training camp while attending events in Atlanta and Las Vegas, and appeared out of shape to start camp. Just before the trade, he said, “the Rockets had no chance of winning.”
“I don’t like it at all because that’s not me,” he said. “The drama, whatever you call it, the neglect, for me I don’t like negative energy, it drains. I don’t like how it happened, I feel like it happened a lot more relaxed, easier, but this is it. ”
The Nets (15-12) are No. 3 seed in the East but rank 26th in the NBA in defensive efficiency. Before beating Indiana 104-94 Wednesday night sans Durant (Covid protocols), they had conceded 120+ points in seven straight games. Just during that race, they lost games despite getting 146, 117, 111 and 108 points.
Now they will be challenged by some of the best teams in the NBA on their West Coast swing, starting Saturday night when Durant returns to Golden State for the first time since his departure in 2019.
“To get where we want to go, we don’t have to be amazing, we have to be firm and right now we’re not strong enough,” he said. “The record is so high, that we play four times a week and [there’s] there is no time to work.
“We have to learn through the games and I think we will use this season for that. ”