It’s just one recreation — a gap salvo in an 82-game marketing campaign that serves largely as a precursor to the postseason that follows. However with the load of championship expectations bearing down on the Nets, it’s onerous to not be involved with what we’ve seen via the primary 48 minutes.
Brooklyn opened its season on Wednesday with a surprising loss to the Pelicans, who outscored the Nets by 18 factors within the first quarter en path to a 130-108 win. It wasn’t essentially the loss itself that surprised these across the NBA, although it actually wasn’t the primary impression this group hoped for after a messy summer time. As an alternative, it was the traditionally lopsided margin that left many in disbelief.
Since 1995, simply 31 groups had opened their season with a lack of not less than 22 factors. Solely six of these groups had misplaced outright as residence favorites, because the Nets (-3) did on Wednesday. Unsurprisingly, 4 of these six groups ultimately went underneath their preseason win complete, and solely one of many six groups superior previous the primary spherical.
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The lone exception was the 2016 Warriors, who entered the 12 months as title favorites earlier than dropping their season opener by 28 factors — which, mockingly, got here in Brooklyn star Kevin Durant’s first-ever recreation with Golden State. That group ultimately ripped off 67 wins to assert the primary of back-to-back titles within the group’s dynastic run. But these Nets, clearly, aren’t the ‘16 Warriors. And for that one success story, there are numerous failures.
Like we talked about earlier than, simply 31 groups within the final 27 years had misplaced by 22 or extra of their season opener earlier than Wednesday’s consequence. Outdoors of these ’16 Warriors, solely one of many different 30 groups superior previous the primary spherical of the playoffs (2004-05 SuperSonics), and a whopping 21 of them missed the postseason altogether. For those who exclude the 4 groups with shortened seasons, the opposite 27 groups averaged simply 32.9 wins on the 12 months with 19 of them in the end cashing the Beneath on their preseason win complete.
That’s a staggering variety of groups falling wanting preseason expectation primarily based on one consequence alone. And regardless that lots of these groups entered the 12 months with low expectations to start with, it’s been an analogous story for title contenders: of the six groups with a preseason win complete of 48.5 or larger, 5 fell under that mark, and solely the ’16 Warriors superior previous the primary spherical of the playoffs.
That’s the last word worry with this group, which flamed out of final 12 months’s postseason with an unceremonious sweep by the hands of the East-champion Celtics. That got here earlier than one of the disastrous offseasons for a title contender in current reminiscence: Durant requested, then rescinded, a commerce request that shook the complete league, earlier than throwing shade on his coach and normal supervisor forward of the season.
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So ought to anybody be stunned this group was as disjointed because it was in Sport 1? Brooklyn by no means appeared proper on Wednesday, falling behind 7-0 and trailing by as many as 26 in a recreation it by no means led. The one shiny spot, fittingly, was Durant (32 factors), who was the one Nets participant to attain greater than 16 factors.
He’s the one participant on this roster who can relate to salvaging a season after such a crushing opening loss, too. Nonetheless, the Nets are a far cry from that Warriors squad he helped carry to a championship, each on the court docket and within the locker room. And over 20 years of precedent recommend an extended street forward for this malcontent squad.
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