By all accounts, the 2021 Brooklyn Nets were the favorites to win the NBA Championship.
With a roster composed of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden, it’s only natural that expectations get held high for the organization.
But after steamrolling their way into the playoffs, injuries, mistakes, and poor chemistry cost them their chance to win and instead got bounced out by the Bucks in the East Semis.
Blake Griffin, who recently re-upped to return to the Nets next season, shed some light on what that series loss was like for the team and what their mindset is heading into their next campaign:
“When that series started, in my mind that was kind of who was going to be in the Finals. They matched up with us pretty well. Obviously not being at full strength hurt us,” Griffin said on the team’s series vs. Milwaukee.” It’s kind of weird watching us take them to seven games, banged up, and after that they … they didn’t necessarily handle everybody easily. But, they won in six games, six games and Giannis got hurt in the next series and ran four straight on the Suns.
It’s always tough. You always kind of sit there and think like, ‘Man if we just did this one extra thing. But that happens every season — It’s just more motivation to come back and be more focused.”
Blake Griffin talks about watching the Bucks win the NBA title after taking them to 7 games in the Eastern Conference Semis
"It's just more motivation to come back and be more focused, pay more attention to detail, and get another crack at it" pic.twitter.com/FspuS6ers2
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) August 12, 2021
Blake only played a total of 2 games for Brooklyn last season, but he showed his value, averaging 10 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks per game on 49% shooting.
While he is far from the All-Star player he used to be, the 32-year-old big man had a great run with the Nets, and it will be interesting to see what he’ll be able to do with them again next year.
In the meantime, it will be hard for the fans not to think about what could have been the reality had things fallen into place for Brooklyn a few months ago.
The likelihood is, they will be hanging with the best of the best for some time to come.
