It'd be one thing if he was just nicked and act, and that was it.

This is, you know, that calf injury we're talking about.

An Achilles stuff sounds too similar.

Toe What K d Kevin Durant had to endure with him being out, It could be a month.

Could be two months.

It could be three months.

We just don't know at this particular moment in time.

We certainly don't know if he'll ever be 100%.

Here's what I'm willing to tell you.

There is not one single team in the NBA that can be less than 100% and beat the Brooklyn Nets.

Not one nobody.

I mean, their offense is just lethal.

I'm calling them Lethal Weapon three, but I gotta tell you something when I look at, uh, Kyrie and the level of unselfishness that he is playing with right now in terms of getting other dudes involved in some of the things that some of the some of the baskets he set up for other teammates.

I'm looking at the great point guard play of James Harden.

I'm fantasizing about what they'll be once K D comes back, assuming he comes back healthy.

And if K D comes back healthy, I don't see how anybody could beat them because I don't think their defense is gonna be Is God awful, as it was earlier this season?

And then not only that, I'm watching them get other people involved.

TLC, Joe Harris, Jeff Green and others.

I'm watching them get other people involved, and I'm saying to myself, Damn, you know what?

Joe Harris is still get some shots.

Jeff Green is still get some shots.

Chelsea still get some shots.

DeAndre Jordan has been a presence in the middle.

We can't ignore defensively rebounding as well.

Um, I'm just looking at them potential.

And let me not forget Landry shaman as well who can shoot the rock?

They can go nine or 10 d.

And I look at it from that standpoint, Bruce Brown can't forget about him either.

I'm just looking at them and I'm saying, Excuse me, who the hell's gonna beat him?

Because guess what?

A lethal offense can make you tight once you're on offense, because, you know, you have to be close to perfect because these guys are so unstoppable on the offensive end of the floor themselves.

That could make you tight.

That could alter and compromise what you're trying to do offensively as a result of it.

And then you won't be as effective as you're supposed to be now with the Clippers last night, Uh, minutes restriction.

And listen, I love Tyler.

He's a coach of the year candidate.

I think he's doing a phenomenal job, and I'm very, very happy he got that job.

But when he laughed at the reporter because you know this incredulous look because the reporter asked him about Paul George being out of the game.

Look, man, minutes restrictions or not, you gotta make sure Paul George is in the game around money time, particularly the way he was flowing last night.

I thought that was a very legitimate question, and there was nothing to dismiss about that.

But in the end, it didn't matter.

The Brooklyn Nets to the best team in basketball at this particular moment in time.

A month from now, two months from now postseason time, we can revisit it at this moment.

The Brooklyn Nets are the best team in the world.

Yeah.

I mean, look, if if a D is not playing, I can't say the Lakers.

Right, But I'm assuming a D will play.

They're taking precaution.

They're being They're going to be extremely careful with a D.

And what I've seen from this Lakers team this season when a.

D s on the floor is basically a continuation of last season.

They went wire to wire is the best team in the Western Conference.

They gentleman swept the entire Western Conference for 1414 and then they didn't even get extended seven games in the finals.

Now let's take that team Clearly the best team in basketball, right?

Like, listen to those facts.

Did they get better or worse in the off season?

They got better.

And they're the Onley team.

When a D is healthy, that is absolutely elite on both ends of the floor offense and defense.

Now we agree about Brooklyn's offense.

I keep saying it.

They are, they're not.

Already, they will certainly clearly and by far be the best offense of all time.

By the end of this season, just want to mention the best offense according to efficiency numbers.

Right of all time occurred last season, the Dallas Mavericks, but they were a good team on Porzingis.

Got hurt in that Clippers Siri's.

But they didn't come close to winning a championship because you also have to play defense.

No team in the last 20 years has one of finals, with the defense ranked under 11, and the Nets have been playing better, defense hardens.

Not wrong.

He's like, We don't have to be amazing.

We just have to be, you know, middle of the pack.

He's right about that.

But if they are, what I see is a clash of the Titans in the finals, Lakers, Clippers and, by the way, the win against the Clippers.

No Paul George at the end of that game, and I know I more than anyone have been saying he has to prove it in the playoffs.

Paul George.

He looks like a man on a mission to me so far to try to prove that in the playoffs, like he's heard the criticism, then he wants to do something about it.

Stephen A.

He dropped what 12 points in five minutes in the fourth quarter, and one thing you and I definitely agree upon is, even if there's a minutes restriction, we don't have to be fanatical about it.

If it's a game like that, dude is hot and you need them for a couple minutes at the end of the game, going over your minutes.

Restrictions by 90 seconds or two minutes ain't going to result in an injury.

You know, knock wood.

It's not.

I don't think I don't believe that.

And I think that that would have been the smart thing to do.

But they didn't.

And so the Nets won a game with on a bad call on an offensive foul that shouldn't have been called on Kawhi Leonard.

And without Paul George on the floor, they squeaked by the Clippers squad.

Um, that also poses its own threats.

I'd say the Nets are probably gonna come out of the East.

I can't say if a D is healthy.

They're the best team in the world right now.

Well, I can't.

I can.

The way that they're looking, they're beating everybody that matters right in front of them.

Utah Jazz have been on a tourist stretch, winning like 2020 19 of the last 20 or 20 of their last 21 games were one of those losses with to the Brooklyn Nets by 34 by 34.

You know they beating everybody in their path beat both L A.

Teams beating, you know, Golden State beating Indiana beat Boston.

Uh, anybody that stands in their way, and the better the team is, the better Brooklyn plays against them.

It seems like the teams that have the best shot are the teams that are stinking up the joint because they might play down to the competition, feeling they could take a night off or whatever.

But they get up there.

Ross the occasion, and I just can't say enough about what I'm seeing from Kyrie and James Harden.

They've been absolutely sensational, and Kevin Durant is not a subtraction.

He's not a minus in any way because this brother could put up 30 on 15 or 16 shots.

That's how lead through Kevin Durant.

The fact that you're doing this shit, he is the fact that they're doing it without K D is the key, because, yeah, when a D gets back, the Lakers are different But my God, when K D gets back and if if he gets back as himself, he's also a defensive force.

And this year, even when he hasn't been, he's at least accepted the assignment.

Who's the other team's best perimeter player?

Find all guard?

Um, so yes, I do think if the Nets are healthy, they're going to get out of the East.

I believe that.

Especially the way they've been playing defense recently, although the Sixers will have something to say about it.

Thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming sports and premium content.

Subscribe Thio, ESPN plus.