Kristian Winfield: The James Harden-Kevin Durant Nets look unguardable

NEW YORK — On James Harden’s first possession as a Brooklyn Net, he helped create a shot for someone without having the ball in his hands.

Harden and Kevin Durant played a two-man game, with Durant setting a screen for Harden while DeAndre Jordan looked for an opening to deliver a pass. With the Orlando Magic fully focused on Brooklyn’s two active superstars, Joe Harris darted by his man down the middle of the lane, received a pass from Jordan, and finished the layup with the and-one.

Harris totaled nine points in the first quarter alone, the beneficiary of a Magic defense that learned the hard way in their 122-115 loss to the Nets (8-6) on Saturday that it won’t be able to send the double as frequently, or as obviously, as it would like. The other 28 teams are about to learn the same.

“Every other time you double one of them, it creates space for the other guys, and Joe Harris,” Magic head coach Steve Clifford said pregame. “I think the more you play them, you might be able to learn little things that you can do. But the reality is the nature of how they play, it’s going to be difficult to do a lot of blitzing or double-teaming with that much offense on the floor.”

This is without Kyrie Irving, another superstar-level offensive talent who has been out for personal reasons, but is expected to make his return this week once he clears the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocol.

How are NBA defenses supposed to stop a three-headed attack that makes the other two players on the floor more dangerous? Moreover, will coaches try to take away the stars, or take away the supporting cast?

Taking away stars was not an option on Saturday evening.

Harden recorded the first-ever Nets debut triple-double and the first-ever 30-point triple-double in a team debut in NBA history. He saw players open before they did, pushed the tempo like he used to under Mike D’Antoni in Houston, was pragmatic about his shot selection, and left his mark all over the tie-dye court with 32 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds on the night.

Durant dribbled up court time after time, treating each defender like a chair, raising up and shooting over whoever was in front of him to the tune of a game-high 42 points on 61.5% shooting from the field. Harris finished with 17 points, many as a byproduct of the attention defenders showed Brooklyn’s stars.

Those defenders respect the stars so much, they let Harris get loose for open 3s.

This is going to happen, and Harris is going to eat his fair share of opposing defenses. Durant, Harden and Irving have each seen it all. They know double teams, traps and blitzes, they know where the help is coming from and if there’s help coming to help the helper. These are things stars process in real time: Harden, much like Draymond Green, gets a chunk of his dimes throwing lobs and over the top when a defender rotates over to help.

Durant is a more than capable passer, and operated out of the high post often for his 13 assists against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. Irving is a wizard with the ball, capable of reducing all defenses to rubble before scoring or finding an open teammate.

“I think it always starts with what can we live with with each guy and what can we take away?” Clifford said. “Unfortunately for all of us, those three guys are used to being double teamed a ton, so they’re all very good at it. So I think probably what you’ll find with most coaches is they’re not gonna give them a steady diet of any one thing.”

Clifford is one of the NBA’s premier defensive minds. It’s how his Magic have maintained their standing as an Eastern Conference playoff team each of the past two seasons despite lacking offensive talent that jumps off the roster.

The Magic, though, did not have time to practice, having played the night before. Clifford implemented some new double-team schemes in a Saturday team walkthrough, but the key, he said, is in intentional randomization.

“There will be some double teams, there will be some drops, there will be some switching,” he said. “But when they know what’s coming, they’re all so used to seeing double teams that they’re comfortable, so I think as much as anything, you have to be able to switch things up.”

But you eventually run out of things you can switch to, as the Magic learned on Saturday. This is why you go all-in on superstar talent.

It wasn’t perfect by any means. The Nets turned the ball over 20 times. They could not defend Nikola Vucevic, marking another year the Montenegrin big man dominated the Nets, this time running up 34 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists with six made 3s. Magic guard Terrence Ross came off the bench and scored 23, and New York City hooper Cole Anthony put up 16 points and dished eight assists.

The Nets defensive problems did not leave with Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince and their draft picks. This game showed how much the Nets need to improve on the little things, including the offensive glass, where the Magic outrebounded them and secured nine extra possessions versus Brooklyn’s four.

The Nets, though, pulled the win because their stars demand respect from all defenses.

Not to mention one of them should be returning to the team in the coming days.