While Kevin Durant’s “Big Three” from the Brooklyn Nets, James Harden and Kyrie Irving continue to work on building their chemistry in the field, Irving and Harden had a short conversation in practice this week to clarify their roles.
“We settled that four days ago now,” Irving said after winning the Nets 134-117 against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday. “I just looked at him and said, ‘You’re the guard and I’ll play the shooting guard.’ It was as simple as that. “
Irving described the conversation as concise and real.
“I didn’t have a mystical conversation,” Irving said.
In Saturday’s game against the Warriors, Harden had 16 assists, up 11.3 assists on average since joining the Nets in mid-January. It is the biggest assist he has given since the 2016-17 season, when he led the league with 11.2 assists per game for the Houston Rockets.
“He took control of his responsibilities and did an incredible job,” Irving said. “It makes it easier for me to just go out and play for free and just play songs.”
When Harden – a multiple-scoring champion – was added to the Nets mix, a major question was, “Will basketball be enough?”
Harden had discussed his willingness to play any necessary role with head coach Steve Nash upon his arrival in Houston.
On Saturday against the Warriors, Harden, Irving and Durant scored or assisted on 100 points for Brooklyn. Saturday marked the seventh game the trio played together – including last week’s match with the Toronto Raptors, during which Durant was taken off the floor early due to the league’s coronavirus protocols.
Their record together is 5-2, including the loss to the Raptors that Durant failed to finish.
“I came to this team knowing they have two special scorers on this team,” Harden said. “Obviously I score when I have to, but as long as I involve everyone and Ky (Irving) gets the photos he wants, KD gets the photos he wants, it’s quite efficient. Offensive is not the problem for us, we can score in bunches; is defensive. Looks like we’ll get a rhythm late. We just have to keep up. “