Brooklyn Nets’ Big 3 slammed after loss to Cleveland Cavaliers

The NBA’s newest super team has been handed a bitter reality check on their first night out as the league was reminded of their big issue.

When they’re on, it will be absolute magic.

You put Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden on the floor and there will be fireworks but will it be enough to bring a championship to Brooklyn?

That is the question for the Brooklyn Nets as the Big 3 played together for the first time in a 147-135 double overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Incredibly the Cavaliers came into the match as the only team not averaging 100 points this NBA season despite now sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference.

But as the Big 3 took to the court for the first time the Cavaliers showed up the glaring issue that will define whether this team can be a success.

James Harden hasn’t felt the need to shoot so much as the Nets find an offensive groove.

There is little doubt that Irving, Durant and Harden can rack up the points, as they did against Cleveland — Irving scored 37, Durant 38 with 12 boards and eight assists, and Harden 21 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists — but the defensive end has been left wanting with social media already ready to take aim at the Nets’ weakness.

Cavs were the lowest-scoring team in the NBA coming into tonight. They scored 147 in 2 OT against the Nets. The Big 3 will score a bunch, but the Nets defense will be absolutely terrible and THAT's the big thing to watch on the court with them.

— Jason Smith (@howaboutafresca) January 21, 2021

We all know the Nets are an amazingly talented team & can outscore almost anyone on any given night.

However, to win championships you gotta build real defensive habits during the regular season. That way it’s not foreign in playoffs.

They got a long way to go on that end

— Jorge Sedano (@Sedano) January 21, 2021

I mean, the Nets lost this game. this isn't fantasy basketball Skip. in the NBA, you have to play defense. https://t.co/qn9TfXwP3j

— Steven Cohn (@spcohn) January 21, 2021

Cleveland’s Collin Sexton scored a game-high 42 points for the Cavaliers in an incredible performance.

Sexton had been out with an ankle injury for five games and left the NBA stunned after the victory.

After watching 11 years of LeBron in Cleveland and 6 of Kyrie I never thought I’d be speechless/in shock from something a Cavs player was doing on the floor. Collin Sexton tonight gave me that feeling again. I’m mind blown.

— WizKay (@WizKayTV) January 21, 2021

CBS’s Colin Ward-Henninger said it will be a “blessing and a curse” to have three All-Star’s on the same team.

“It’s going to take a while for them to figure out how to play together and how to distribute the opportunities,” he wrote. “At times, it’s going to be very ugly. Defensively, we can already see that it’s going to be a struggle – they’ve allowed 117.4 points per 100 possessions in three games with Harden.”

Harden and Durant have had some court time together now.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix wrote that while the Nets looked dangerous at times, “for other stretches, they looked helpless”.

“Cleveland came in with the NBA’s worst offensive rating. Against the Nets, they looked like the Showtime Lakers,” he wrote.

But while the Big 3 era in Brooklyn may have started with a loss, Durant was still positive about the performance.

“It felt right. It felt perfect. It felt like we belonged together,” Durant said. “It felt like this journey together is gonna be fun. Tough first start, and obviously it was an up and down game for us, but I like where we are.”

SIMMONS’

Originally published as Brooklyn Nets’ Big 3 slammed after loss to Cleveland Cavaliers