Nets reaction: James Harden spoils Caris LeVert’s revenge game

The Brooklyn Nets entered Wednesday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers a bit vulnerable despite being the hottest team in the league. Wednesday afternoon, the team announced that Kyrie Irving wouldn’t play in the game due to right groin soreness. That just added on to the injury list of Kevin Durant (hamstring) and Blake Griffin (knee) for Brooklyn, which is never good news.

The Nets did have James Harden, though, and he made all the difference. Coming off of a stellar performance at Barclays Center on Monday night, it was all up to Harden to lead the team to victory being the only player in the Big 3 playing. Just when basketball fans thought they’ve seen it all, the Beard showed up in Indiana with yet another signature performance to remember.

Harden exploded by going for 40 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds, making this his 11th triple-double of the season for Brooklyn. In a game where Caris LeVert was expected to take the spotlight and probably an upset against the player he was traded for, James Harden proved why Sean Marks made a big time move.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

James Harden should be on every analyst's MVP list

It's clear now. James Harden should be on every basketball analyst's MVP list regardless of how he forced his way to Brooklyn. He is playing out of his mind right now. The Beard keeps breaking record after record. He keeps coming through for the Nets game after game. Harden continues to add something new to his arsenal year after year. We have reached the point where James Harden is closing in on his true potential. In his words, that's "Scary Hours."

Nicolas Claxton displayed that he can play big minutes

Nicolas Claxton had himself a night going toe-to-toe with All-Star Center Domantas Sabonis Wednesday night. Not only was he defending him well throughout the game and more importantly the fourth quarter, but also he showed to the coaching staff and fans that he can play longer minutes. In the postgame press conference, Claxton made it known that this was the first time he had ever been given the opportunity to close out a game in his young NBA career. The sophomore capitalized on that and played a key role down the stretch to help Brooklyn get the lead and extend it in the final period. He finished with a career-high 23 minutes.

Steve Nash does not get enough credit

When a team is full of All-Stars, people tend to set high expectations and standards for the team no matter what the situation is. All season Nash, in his first as head coach, has been plagued with injury after injury after injury from key players like Kevin Durant to even the youngest player on the team in being Nic Claxton. For the Pacers game, Nash had to go to war without one of his magicians, Kyrie Irving. Keep in mind that Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant also did not play. This has been a reoccurring problem for the Nets coach since the season started and although it was difficult for him to adapt in the beginning, now it looks like nothing fazes the basketball legend heading any contest. His heroics have Brooklyn on a six-game winning streak and yes many are going to give most of the credit to James Harden, but always remember that players can never win alone. They need at least some sort of guidance and mentorship from somebody and that usually comes from the coach. Having someone with the I.Q. and overall basketball experience in Steve Nash is a blessing for a players and right now he has the team rolling.

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