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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

The Detroit Pistons are keeping up with the trend of winning against the best teams in the league. The Lakers, Philadelphia76ers, and Miami Heat have all fallen into their underrated trap and the Brooklyn Nets became their latest victim.

While losing to a low-ranked team is certainly embarrassing for the stacked Nets side, the brutality of the loss would sting even more.

Without Kevin Durant, it seems like even the team with the worst record in the league was too much to handle for them. So, where is it that they’re going wrong? 

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What the Brooklyn Nets’ Big Three need to do

The Detroit Pistons are known to start slow, but thsi time around, they took full advantage of the Nets’ terrible defense. These were probably the easiest buckets Jerami Grant has gotten all year.

In fact, Delon Wright was able to knife through with hardly any resistance. James Harden and Kyrie Irving adding 51 points to the scoreboard was no help either.

Looking at this, all anybody can talk about is, why is a strong offensive unit like the Nets struggling so badly? On ESPN’s ‘The Jump’, Perkins had some harsh words for the team.

“They can’t stop a nose-bleed defensively,” he started off.

“But when I look at this Brooklyn Nets team, there’s one word that sticks out to me and that’s accountability. Because when you look at all the teams that formed the Big Three or went on to and won championships or be contenders, they bought in defensively. And it started with the stars,” Perkins explained further.

After giving examples from his time with the Celtics, he said, “I get it. They may not have the personnel defensively, but it has to come from those guys holding each other accountable along with Steve Nash and his coaching staff holding them accountable.”

USA Today via Reuters

Will this affect their chances at a title?

Well, to be fair, most of the other top teams’ big trio’s like them have had more time with each other. And continuity plays a big role in a team’s chemistry. However, it isn’t the time for Brooklyn to make excuses.

If they want a shot at the title, they need to be able to focus on their defensive end as well. Thankfully, they won their next outing against the Indiana Pacers and won’t fall down too low in the East. But their real test is against Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors, who they’re up against next.

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Will they be able to hold the fort without Kevin Durant, who won’t be returning to the court until this weekend because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols?

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