Kristian Winfield: Nets are proving their biggest ‘What if?’ might not matter

NEW YORK — If the Nets can stay healthy, they’re championship favorites. Well, what happens if they can’t?

It’s been the biggest qualifier of a season flushed with championship expectations. The Nets have three of the most talented scorers in NBA history, each of whom have missed games for a variety of reasons. They just needed all three of them to be healthy for their playoff push. And for the first round, they all were.

That clean bill of health fell into the shredder 43 seconds into the first quarter of Game 1 against the Bucks on Saturday. James Harden gingerly walked off the floor, never to return after re-aggravating the same hamstring that kept him out 21 games during the regular season.

The Nets hoped to avoid this fate.

They strategically planned James Harden’s return from a hamstring injury, didn’t rush Kevin Durant back from his hamstring or thigh injuries and didn’t bat an eye when Kyrie Irving needed personal time twice over the course of the season.

In Game 1, the Nets proved the ifs don’t matter. They are a team built to operate at a deficit.

This is what happens when your stars align amid a COVID-19-riddled and truncated NBA season, and when your general manager is wheeling and dealing before the season ever begins. It’s what happens when Spencer Dinwiddie tears his ACL three games into the season, what happens when Durant violates the health and safety protocols twice in a 33-day period, then misses even more games due to injury. It’s what happens when Kyrie Irving takes an abrupt (and good-willed) leave of personal absence, and what happens when you trade your best young players for Harden, who joined the team just before Durant’s leg injuries.

The Nets have never played at full strength. In truth, they don’t even know what their full strength looks like. The Bucks don’t either, as they’ve played the Nets now three times with only Irving and Durant and no Harden. That was in the regular season. The Nets are no longer the same team.

They are a team that has learned to adapt to their shortcomings. Yes, Antetokounmpo is going to try to bully his way to the rim, but the Nets are collapsing on him and forcing others to make plays. The Greek Freak scored 34 points, but no other Bucks player scored more than 19. That’s not going to cut it against Durant and Irving, who combined for 54 points.

Harden re-injured his hamstring then left Barclays Center to get an MRI. That is not good news. The severity of his injury remains immediately unclear but the best bet would be on the Nets playing it cautious, holding Harden out until he is 100% ready to go.

There is no such thing as 100%, as Harden decreed himself ready to go before the playoffs began. That 100 went to zero real quick.

What’s clearer than Harden’s injury status, however, remains the Nets’ ability to operate without one of a number of their key players. They are an all-time NBA team masquerading as the East’s No. 2 seed.

They have enough depth to sustain Harden’s absence, however long he may be out. They are a team designed to operate without their best players because, well, for much of the season, their best players weren’t operating.