Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from 3OT victory at Cleveland

2. Harris enters new territory

On Saturday night in Charlotte, Joe Harris of the Brooklyn Nets will get a chance to show a national audience what the rest of the NBA has already figured out — the guy can flat out shoot.

On Wednesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Harris poured in 25 points in a career-high 48 minutes in the Nets’ triple-overtime victory at Quicken Loans Arena.

He hit 9-of-12 overall and was 4-of-5 from 3-point range in the win.

The 25 points marked the first time in Harris’ five NBA seasons he has topped the 20-point mark in consecutive games. Harris had 24 points on Monday against the Toronto Raptors on 7-of-9 shooting, hitting 7-of-8 from deep.

That adds up to 49 points on 16-of-21 shooting — 61.9 percent — overall and a ridiculous 11-for-13 (84.6 percent) from long range.

Coming off a season in which he shot 49.1 percent overall and 41.9 percent from 3-point range while averaging 10.8 points per game, Harris has taken his game to the next level this season.

He has started a career-high 54 games — he had just 26 starts in his first four seasons combined — and is putting up career-best averages of 13.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 30.1 minutes per game.

His shooting is also at career-high levels at 50.1 percent overall and 47.1 percent from deep, third-best in the NBA, on 5.2 attempts per game.

After shooting 56.5 percent from 3-point land in December, Harris tailed off to 40.8 percent in January.

In five February games entering the All-Star break, he’s at 54.8 percent on 6.2 attempts per game.

In the NBA, there are scorers and there are shooters. Harris is the latter. He’s only averaging 10.1 shots per game overall and won’t force looks that aren’t there unless absolutely necessary.

But in the pace-and-space NBA of today, where 3-pointers and layups are valued above all else, Harris excels at getting both.

Harris averages 7.2 drives per game and is converting his shots at a 48.8 percent clip on those runs to the rim. Overplay the 3 and Harris is perfectly comfortable blowing by a defender on the closeout or curling inside a trailing defender off a screen set above the break.

He is an ideal complementary piece in Brooklyn’s system, a player that can be relied upon to get open looks and convert.

How important is Harris to the Nets? Brooklyn is 30-24 in his 54 starts this season … and 0-5 in the games he’s missed due to injury.

Joe Harris isn’t the straw that stirs the Nets’ drink, to paraphrase Reggie Jackson‘s statement as a New York Yankee back in the day. Instead, Harris is the guy who makes sure the Brooklyn offense stays in rhythm and provides the spacing essential to allowing the rest of the system to work.