Not one member of Brooklyn’s big three made a big deal about their 124-120 win over the Los Angeles Clippers when talking to reporters over Zoom on Tuesday. Sure, they take about the importance of the game, given the Clippers are a team that has championship aspirations. But none of them expressed how the game served as a statement of some sort.
Their play did all the talking instead — and it showed everyone that for all of Brooklyn’s defensive problems, their offense can still make that flaw a non-issue against any team in the NBA.
“Oh yeah, they can win the championship if they play like that. … The offensive firepower that the Brooklyn Nets have — and their defense doesn’t need to be horrid, it doesn’t need to be god-awful — but this team could give up 120 points a night and still win because we see that they can outscore anybody on the planet,” ESPN’s Stephen A Smith said on First Take Wednesday. “They are the No. 1 offense in basketball. Last night was a display as to why that is, and in order to beat them, you’re going to have to be able to stop them. I don’t know anybody that can look at those three dudes, that big three in Brooklyn and say definitively, ‘We can stop them.’
“Of course, the Lakers should be the favorites, but it’s by a hair simply because of the offensive juggernaut that they are. They don’t have to change a damn thing to get to the finals. They are coasting. They are coming out of the East, they’re going to the NBA Finals. In order to win it, if last night you’re asking me, play like that and they could win: yes, as constructed, playing offense like that, they can win the championship. I don’t know if they’d be able to against the Lakers offensively, but they can win a championship without making a move if they can play offense like that every night.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IORJbYFUMj4
After Max Kellerman explained his lack of faith in Brooklyn, Smith’s added:
“Nobody’s stopping that offense. …What [the Nets] did last night, they can do against anybody, anytime they want to.”
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