Brooklyn Nets: 3 reasons they’re still undeniable NBA Finals favorites

Why the Brooklyn Nets should be NBA Finals favorites: Analytics

A lot of people will point to a few specific statistics to point out how the Nets aren’t ready to run after a title.

Let’s talk about those first.

Poor Brooklyn Nets stats that might lack context

The Nets are an average rebounding team, something that probably won’t change much with the window for adding new players closed.

They’re also a poor defensive team, with the 26th-best defensive resting in the league. They don’t force turnovers (their 11.3 forced per game is 27th in the NBA) and they don’t force missed shots.

On the shooting, what’s most discouraging is the effort. The Nets allow 31.9 shots beyond the arc per game that are classified as “open” or “wide open” by Second Spectrum. That’s indicative of a lack of effort on close-outs, likely.

Even more frustrating is when they guard threes well, opponents shoot horrifically. They are top-four in the league in opponent 3P% on “tightly” guarded shots (26.3 percent).

One could argue that on a team like this, they may be able to turn it on on the defensive end when needed.

And additionally, let’s not forget that Irving, Durant, and Harden have shared the floor for just a small sample of games. They’ve played a grand total of 186 minutes over seven games together thus far. Poor stats at this point need to be taken with a heaping of salt.

Brooklyn Nets stats that show the offense is potent

But most impressive about this team is of course, that smothering offense. It doesn’t matter how many points the opponent scores when you can put up 130+ points at-will.

The Nets score the second-most points per game (118.8) and have the league’s second-best offensive rating (118.3).

Brooklyn Nets clutch stats

A big part of postseason winning is, of course, winning in the clutch.

The Nets have one of the league’s best clutch win percentages at 71.9% (third-best in the league).

And back to those 3-point stats… Remember how I said this team is one that could very well be one to turn on its perimeter defense whenever it wants to? It kind of seems as if that’s the case, given that the Nets have the third-best 3-point percentage in the clutch, allowing opponents to sink just 27 of their 96 shots (28.1 percent) in clutch situations this season so far.

So, feeling at ease now, or are you still worried about this team heading into the postseason?