On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Brooklyn Nets, which means facing their new Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
Many feel they may be the best or most talented trio in NBA history, but LeBron James reminded those observers to hold their horses.
“Um, have we forgot about KD, Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] already?” James said following the Lakers’ 112-104 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. “I mean, there you go. There you go right there.”
James knew the trio of Durant, Curry and Thompson well, as he battled them twice in the NBA Finals, losing both times.
Still, the four-time champ is looking forward to Thursday’s showdown, even without his first mate Anthony Davis.
“It’s always exciting for me to go against some of the best guys in the game — and they got three of them,” James said. “They got three of the best guys in the game. Definitely would love to be full when you’re playing against a team like that and see, like, at that point in the season, how you match up — how you match up against some of the best teams in the league. And, obviously, we won’t be full on Thursday. But, other than that, yeah, I love going out there and just being out on the floor with some of the best to play this game.”
The Nets have now won four games in a row and have climbed to second place in the Eastern Conference. They may be starting to figure things out, even though Durant and Irving have been in and out of the lineup.
However, the 5,000-pound elephant in the room for Brooklyn has been its defense. The team continues to give up at least 120 points on a regular basis, even to clearly inferior teams.
After a blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, the Lakers rebounded by defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday. L.A. will need everyone to bring their A game to have a shot at upending the Nets.
