He did.

But perk.

I heard you called me out.

What's up?

You have something to say?

No, no, Go ahead, do your thing, do your thing right quick.

I want to hear what you gotta say, man.

Go ahead and have your business.

I want to hear this.

The answer.

The answer is yes.

Harden is the key.

And let me be very clear.

I am in no way saying he is better than Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant is the best player on the team, but hardens the key to the Big three.

He is.

Let's go.

Let's rewind this.

Remember when the trade took place?

Harden was playing himself out of Houston, right?

They weren't even.

He wasn't even in the lineup, and he wasn't playing well before he left.

And he was throwing like he was look just bad for Harden and everyone knew why he was doing it.

He's trying to force his way out of town, and it worked.

He shows up in Brooklyn Perk.

How many times have I said it fat looking like he just rolled out of bed looking like a hot mess.

And what he do rolled out of bed.

No, Kyrie a two time Kyrie wasn't playing a time.

It was It was Harden and K d and started killing him.

Started killing them.

They started winning right away, as though they never missed it as they've been playing together this whole time.

Harden, when he got to the team, was the guy who was going to have to sacrifice the most.

I knew that from the beginning it wasn't gonna be Kyrie.

It was gonna be Harden.

And what is hardened done.

You know what?

It reminds me of Perk.

When I was a kid, I used to hear stories because I was born in 73.

The Knicks won the championship January 73.

I was born in August.

Last time they won a title and I would hear stories off Earl the Pearl Monroe coming to the Knicks, right?

And Earl the Pearl Monroe back then, known as Black Jesus.

If you want a YouTube Earl the Pearl, he would be giving guys the business today.

Today he was nasty and the whole thing was there's only one ball how There's only how are they going to share this backcourt, These two guys.

But Earl the Pearl wanted to be great.

Clyde Frazier already had a ring.

He wanted to be great.

And so it worked.

Fine.

They won the championship together.

How are they gonna work this?

How what's gonna happen?

James Harden has given up shots until they needed him to score last night.

He's done everything that he's needed to do.

His judgment with the ball and his court vision.

Setting up teammates has been extraordinary.

And he is the key to this offense, all right, And Stephen A.

Smith, now here on first takes of Stephen A.

We're asking the question right now, with James Harden's dynamic performance last night scoring 38 points, helping them to get that comeback victory.

Is he now considered the most important factor of the Big Three?

No, he's not.

Uh, he's great.

Uh, he's shown he showed it last night.

He reminded us of what he could do, uh, when he doesn't have ah, big, too, to go along with him.

But the key component in all of this is Kevin Durant.

When you talk about the Brooklyn Nets and being title contenders are legitimately winning the chip.

It's not gonna happen without K d K d can win the chip potentially with Kyrie Que de can win a trip potentially with James Harden.

K D Will definitely could definitely win a chip with the both of them.

Neither of them are winning it without him.

That's the bottom line.

If k D.

I'm sorry.

If Kyrie and Harden were the cornerstones of this franchise, we wouldn't be talking about the Nets winning the championship.

We'd be talking about them being a contender.

But we have legitimate arguments as to whether eso why they wouldn't even come out of the Eastern Conference.

That's the difference now.

That's not to diminish what James Harden is giving you in any way.

James Harden is a superstar in this league.

He's fresh off of averaging over 30 the last three years he's captured the league MVP.

We know how electrifying offensively he is, and what he's been doing this year is unbelievable because he's a selfless as they come.

He's highlighting the fact that he can be selfless.

Hey hasn't been given enough credit for it.

He is the best point guard on the team, and it might be the best point guard in basketball right now the way that he's been playing and running the show for the Brooklyn Nets.

But in the end, what it comes down to is you ain't getting but so far, and you ain't doing but so much unless you have Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant is the key to the Nets, Big Three.

Without him, it doesn't work.

Well, you were gonna say this, and I respectfully disagree, and both of you guys came over great points.

But the key to this team to the Big Three is Kyrie Irving.

We already know what we're going to get out of Kevin Durant.

We know the efficiency and he's gonna put the ball in the basket at a high efficiency level.

We know that James Harden also put the ball in the basket, but also make guys around him better and lead the league in assists.

As you just alluded to Stephen A the best point guard on that team and probably the best point guard in the league right now.

But when you talk about Kyrie Irving, he is gonna be the deciding factor in all this.

And here's why.

He has one job.

And that job is to go out there and be that guy that get buckets.

And I'm gonna tell you why.

Because the defense is so horrendous and so terrible that they're gonna have to beat a lot of teams.

And when a lot of Siris on the offensive end and if Kyrie Irving don't have those monster nights and don't shoot at a high efficiency level, then the Brooklyn Nets are not going anywhere.

They need Kyrie Urban Toby, the Kyrie Urban that we have been witnessing this season all will be having the best season of his career, especially efficiency wise.

So when I look at the key to the Big Three, I strongly believe that is Kyrie Irving.

That's gonna be the deciding factor.

Whether or not they win the championship, I think it's It's James hard.

Look, Kyrie is freed up Now, guys, Kyrie is freed up when he said, You're the point guard on the off!

Guard it free Kyrie up to score.

No one's gonna stop Kyrie Irving from scoring when he doesn't have to.

Especially worry about running the offense because Kyrie has some court vision and obviously can pass, but not court vision that James Harden has, and James Harden shows better judgment with the ball.

I mean, when you think about the responsibility of Harden this offense, and I really believe you take anyone off this team, they're not gonna win a championship.

But all three they can, and they very well might, even this year if they could get the defense together.

Harden is the guy asked to change.

He's the guy asked to give up shots and last night talk about judgment.

He's the guy hunting mismatches and pick and rolling them to death in the second half.

Of course, you know, used to D'Antoni Steve Nash D'Antoni on the bench pick and rolling them to death in the second half, showing that judgment and court vision never mind scoring ability.

He was the guy who, from day one, made it work with, made it work with K D and then, after a couple weeks, figured it out with Kyrie.

He's the glue guy.

He's the guy who holds it all together.