Warriors forward Draymond Green said he believes the Nets are “the team to beat” in the East after losing a 134-117 game to Brooklyn on Saturday night, as relayed by Peter Botte of The New York Post.
Green tallied six points, seven rebounds, and eight assists in the contest, playing against former teammate Kevin Durant for the first time since Durant left Golden State in the summer of 2019.
“They’ll be really dangerous in the East. I think there are some other good teams in the East that pose a threat to them, but they’re the team to beat in the East, if you ask me,” Green said. “It’s my opinion. That doesn’t mean anything, but that’s my opinion, they’re definitely the team to beat in the East.”
As it stands, the Nets hold the third-best record in the East at 16-12, trailing only Milwaukee (16-10) and Philadelphia (18-9) in the conference standings.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division tonight:
- Sixers guard Shake Milton will miss Monday’s game against the Jazz due to an ankle injury suffered last week, head coach Doc Rivers said, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). Rivers didn’t offer a specific return timetable for Milton, who has already missed the last two games.
- Raptors big man Chris Boucher has been the team’s most improbable success story, Michael Grange of Sportsnet writes. Boucher has proven to be effective on both ends of the floor this season, averaging 13.8 points and 6.9 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game.
- The Raptors are striving to maximize their practice time as the season progresses, Doug Smith of The Toronto Star writes. Naturally, Toronto is also concerned with maintaining a balance and ensuring its players don’t get injured by increasing the workload too much, as guard Fred VanVleet explained. “It’s a fine line, because we have a very inexperienced team in some regards,” VanVleet said. “We’re not the sharpest team at times this year, so it feels like we need those reps. But at the same time it’s been a grind and we need to manage the schedule, manage guys’ bodies.”
Shake makes a difference when he plays. A couple games recently could have gone the other way for Philly if Shake was playing.
Nets are my team and have been since the days of Buck Williams in the early 1980’s, but it’s going to be hard to make a run for their first title since Dr. J was on the team (I wasn’t old enough to know what was going on then) if they can’t keep the Big 3 on the court together for an extended period of time.
Sounds like Draymond wants to play in Brooklyn.
Evvvverybody loves dRaymond.
Draymond who begged KD to join him, then during a time out called KD a female dog??? Durant would never sign off on that move.
There’s a such thing as playing “hard to get”…
Milwaukee is still the team to beat in the east, not Brooklyn. After finishing with the best record two years in a row and failing to beat Toronto or Miami, one has to figure that eventually the Bucks will make it to the Finals.
Bucks can easily win the regular season
Nets have to trade away Dinwiddie and two seconds this summer for a healthy player
Bucks are good, regardless of what Giannis says about Utah. They have the right pieces to slug it out with any team in the playoffs. Philly, Milwaukee, Brooklyn look like the teams to beat. Celtics could be really good with a move & health too. And Indy if Levert & Warren can get to full strength.
The bucks are easy to audit… Give Giannis the rock at the top of the key, he barges his way through five players. He often picks up silly fouls. When opposing teams put up a wall and dare him to beat them from the perimeter those top points per game drop tremendously. Every single time too! Even with Holiday now into the fold I don’t see Milwaukee getting to the finals… You are right about one thing though, I don’t see the nets coming out of the east with their lack of defense, and multiple holes in that roster.
Nets O is legit. They have to work on their D. I think the Bucks n Sixers give Nets matchup problems. Nets are not dominant, they are one of best in East. Seven gm series a team knows you better. East is competitive this yr. I want to see what teams do TD (5 wks)
As long as Harden is on the Nets they should never be considered a favorite. Just watch Rocket playoff reruns. Start with v. San Antonio. Game 6