Before we get this show on the road, let me make one thing abundantly clear after your initial concern in reading this headline: I still don’t think the Brooklyn Nets are a playoff team. There is no special Kool-Aid that I am drinking and last time I checked, I have slept in the past 48 hours.
But the entire NBA world would be remiss if they didn’t just take a moment and appreciate the start the Brooklyn Nets have gotten off to.
Just by looking at the record, there isn’t much to bat an eye at after starting 2-1. Just remember though that the Nets have won a combined 41 games over the past two seasons and just 20 last year.
A week in the 2017-18 campaign and they already have 10 percent of last year’s wins output which, at the end of the day, is actually depressing to think about. That’s how bad this team has been.
On opening night against the Pacers in Indiana, what little hope they had looked like it evaporated when Jeremy Lin ruptured his patella tendon, a season-ending injury, during a 140-131 loss.
Brooklyn has since reeled off two-straight wins, a 126-121 home-opening triumph over the Orlando Magic and a 116-104 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
Their offensive output has been rare during this stretch, historically rare.
The Nets are the first team since the 1988-89 Portland Trail Blazers to score 115 points or more in each of the first three games of a season.
D’Angelo Russell has been leading the offensive charge with 21 points per game while Trevor Booker has been a force at the power forward spot, averaging 17 points and nine rebounds a night.
Looking back at Portland’s start 29 years ago, they began with 120, 121 and 115-point outputs, starting 2-1 as well. They would wind up finishing the season with a 39-43 record and make the playoffs before losing in the first round to the Los Angeles Lakers.
I wouldn’t expect the same ending to the season, but if the Nets keep scoring like this, it’s not too far-fetched to think that they will blow by 20 wins this year.
