Before the start of the season, many are predicting already (including me) that the 2 teams that will face coming into the NBA Finals will be the Lakers and the Nets.
Now the Lakers are below 500 and currently at the 9th position and the Nets are in a 8 game losing streak, currently in the 7th place and only 1.5 games above the 9th spot Hornets.
Right now the Nets are in a big trouble. I think one problem of the team is their inside defense because most of the time they are playing small ball and it doesn't work for them like in this game. They gave up 64 pts in the paint against only 32 for them. I think this is one of their problem. They don't have good defenders inside the paint that can stop those bigs in the opposing team. Durant might sit up for a bit longer and TBH, it will be hard for them to go up again.
I confess that I was one of those people too... I almost made a bet with my friends saying that this season's NBA Finals would be between Lakers vs Nets (I'm glad I didn't bet lol)
Anyway... I don't know what is happening with the Nets, the Lakers are another team that also surprised me, I would never imagine that a team like the Nets or Lakers are in the situation we see today.
I sincerely hope they get better as soon as possible.
I know that the injuries of some players, lack of motivation and lack of chemistry between players can be the real reason for this bad performance of these teams!
Yeah, but pre-season game, we see Lakers having some problems already and we have questioned their chemistry and how they are going to solved it in regular games. And now we have the answers, they don't have the answer, they are still below expectations.
For the Nets, in the beginning they are on the top with Durant putting MVP numbers and Harden also accepting his role, producing triple double. But both are not available because of injuries. And then we have the Kyrie drama. So teams like Bulls, Sixers and Cavs have step up now, together with the defending champion Bucks in the East.