The Brooklyn Nets have locked themselves into the playoffs, but thanks to a rough stretch at the end of the season, Brooklyn may have to win two play-in games just to have a shot at the top overall seed in the Eastern Conference.
The change to New York City mandates has allowed Kyrie Irving to become a full participant for the Nets, but while he provides instant offense, the Nets’ defense has been abysmal of late. According to StatMuse, the Nets have a 118.3 defensive rating with Irving this season, worse than all 29 other NBA teams have posted this season.
During ESPN’s Get Up, Legler explained why the Nets aren’t set up to contend in playoff series.
“I think it’s more likely that they go out early than they make a playoff run. And look, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the floor at the same time – they’re going to give you a chance every night to win any one game. The problem is when you get into a playoff series – assuming they get out of the play-in – you now have an ability to start to tweak your gameplan against those two guys. And if you make them just a little bit less efficient, the fact that they can’t really stop anybody….. you’re just going to have to continue to rely on great shotmaking out of two players. That’s not a formula for long-term postseason success.”
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