With competent defense, Nets use lethal offense to blow out Warriors

Good luck stopping this team.

So much of the focus on the Nets has been on their poor defense, and for good reason. Defense wins championships and separates the pretenders from the contenders.

But when the Nets are locked in on the defensive end, you get a result like Saturday night’s prime time 134-117 victory over the Golden State Warriors: a decisive performance that allows the offense to shine.

And shine the Nets’ offense did.

Every player who checked in scored, and every starter scored in double figures. The Nets shot better than 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and 90% from the foul line as a team, mirroring the efficiency that followed their head coach throughout his career. In Kevin Durant’s return to Golden State — albeit in a new arena in San Francisco instead of Oakland — it was James Harden who stole the show with his passing.

If the Sam Darnold experiment doesn’t work out, Harden could sign a contract as starting quarterback for the New York Jets. The Beard finished with 16 assists, including no-look, between-the-legs, full-court and drive-and-kick dimes to a variety of his teammates. He has recorded double-digit assists in all but two games since his trade to the Nets, and 16 assists set a new personal high for Harden with the Nets.

The Nets outscored the Warriors by 28 in the minutes Harden played.

Durant (20 points, six assists) and Kyrie Irving (23 points, four assists) combined for 43 points and 10 assists of their own. Irving dazzled, one physics-defying finish at the rim after another. Durant attempted to shoot over everyone. He only shot 1 of 6 from 3-point range but did most of his damage from the mid-range and at the basket.

With no DeAndre Jordan (personal family reasons), Nets head coach Steve Nash turned to a small-ball lineup with Bruce Brown as a starter. Brown answered the bell: 18 points in 21 minutes, most off cuts to the basket or offensive rebounds.

Brown helped set the tone defensively, guarding Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and seemingly every Warriors player in between. Curry finished with 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, but no other Warrior recorded more than 20.

The Nets have had their struggles defensively this season, but the belief has been so long as they can be competent, they have a chance to outshoot anyone in their path. In the first of a five-game road trip, the Nets played sound enough defense to allow Harden, Durant and Irving to carry the show.

With three of the league’s premier showstoppers, sound-enough defense might be enough — though the Warriors are no longer the team that reigned supreme as championship contenders.