Brooklyn Nets: 3 performances from star players that prove title is within reach

The Brooklyn Nets are the gold standard when it comes to sterling team play and star power on an individual basis.

Had they not suffered costly injuries throughout much of the 2020-2021 season, they likely reach the NBA Finals. There’s no convincing anybody that the Bucks finish off that series if Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden are all at full strength.

How do we know that? Because at different points in the season, each one of those guys delivered a memorable performance that foreshadowed future success for this team.

While there are probably millions of moments that we could mention, we’ve broken them down to three key performances that show that the likelihood of the Nets bringing home a title in 2021-2022.

Where do we start?

3. James Harden’s triple-double vs. the San Antonio Spurs

Harden’s his skillset as a scorer was clearly essential to the Nets after he came over in the trade with the Houston Rockets.

There were 13 times he racked up a triple-double this past season, but in March of this year, he put forth performance that was absolutely jaw-dropping. Not because of the numbers he put up, but because of how he did it as well as the significance of the win.

On March 1, the Nets took on the San Antonio Spurs, whom they’ve been unable to beat on the road for 20 years. That’s probably all Harden needed to hear to change the Nets’ fortunes.

He scored 30 points, tallied 15 assists, and grabbed 14 boards for the night. Throughout this performance, which also went to overtime, Harden didn’t commit a SINGLE turnover. Brooklyn took home the 124-113 win to improve to 23-13.

The historic significance in this performance by Harden shows that any unfortunate cycles will be broken with this squad. Almost instantly, Harden’s presence was felt by the team and its opponents. What moment in just his 22nd game with the organization.