The Brooklyn Nets are back to life without James Harden

The Brooklyn Nets are expected to be without James Harden for Game 2 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks, perhaps longer.

Playing only 43 seconds in the Brooklyn Nets‘ Game 1 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, James Harden left the game early following a Steve Nash timeout. Since then, it has been revealed to be a reaggravation of the same right hamstring injury that plagued Harden throughout the regular season; an injury that was the root cause of 21 missed games during an already shortened 72 game-campaign.

Harden’s first play of the game went as expected, following up a Bucks miss with a transition scoring opportunity, as Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez awaited any one of Harden’s offensive maneuvers.

What started as a floater quickly became a bailout pass to Joe Harris in the corner, and Harden soon signaled to Nets coach Steve Nash that he needed to come out of the game.

In spite of Harden’s absence, Brooklyn managed to overcome Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 34, to go along with 11 rebounds and four assists. The Nets were not only bolstered by all four Nets starters scoring 18+, as well as the bench all owning a positive plus-minus, but by Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton shooting a dismal 6-23 from the field, and the Bucks as a whole managing to shoot a meager 20 percent from beyond the arc on 30 attempts.

Simply, things went especially well for the Nets, even Mike James, playing substantial time in the win, managed to hold his own, posting a line of 12, 7, and 3, a plus-12 in his 30 minutes of play.

Yet, as is true for nearly all things in basketball, numbers will eventually regress to the mean, and Milwaukee’s 3-point heavy offense is no different. Thus far, the Bucks’ beyond-the-arc barrage has been nothing short of outstanding. Leading the league in both makes and attempts from deep throughout the regular season, it is immensely unlikely that Milwaukee sees the same lackluster performance from their jump shooters in the coming games.

Furthermore, Khris Middleton’s performance in Saturday’s game was far from the usual. Seeing as Middleton’s shooting tends to sit around 43/41/85 come the postseason, it is reasonable to expect his numbers in both production and efficiency to rise as the series progresses.

One might look at all of these irregularities in Milwaukee’s Game 1 loss, combined with the Nets’ loss of Harden, and conclude that it was a one-off night and that Milwaukee can expect smooth sailing for the remaining games. I certainly won’t be the first to say it, but just for good measure; absolutely nothing is guaranteed against this Nets team.

Even without Harden, they are equipped with two of the game’s most talented shot-makers, the league’s resident three-point maestro, and some exemplary role-players. While things may be easier for the Bucks than it would have been with Harden on the floor, it is important to remember that the game is ‘easier’ relative to its prior state of complete and utter madness. Sans Harden, the Nets still have dependable and capable players to see the series through, but will they have enough to combat Milwaukee’s strength in numbers?

As for James Harden’s timetable for a return, nothing concrete has come out of Brooklyn, except for wishes for a quick recovery. While it is reassuring that Harden was able to walk himself off of the court in the first quarter of Game 1, reaggravating a past injury never bodes well for athletes in the postseason.

Looking back to Chris Paul in 2018, whose reaggravation of a hamstring injury in Game 5 of the WCF sidelined him for the rest of the series, or Anthony Davis just days ago feeling the pain of a left-groin injury contributing to the Lakers’ eventual 4-2 defeat to Phoenix in the first round.

In most cases, teams could hope to complete a second-round series and await the return of a star player come the next round, but against an opponent of Milwaukee’s caliber, that next round is far from guaranteed.

The Nets, without Harden, will look to hold their ground and increase their series lead to 2-0 with Monday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Barclays Center.