Are the Nets the Second Best Team in the East?

Brooklyn has won 12 straight games.

Rohan Nadkarni and Chris Herring dive into Brooklyn's hot streak and if the team has surpassed the Bucks as the second best team in the Eastern Conference after the Celtics. 

The following transcript is an excerpt from The Crossover NBA podcast. Listen to the full episode on podcast players everywhere or on SI.com.

Nadkarni: I wanna talk about one team that we've not talked about in a long time on this podcast that is now surely the hottest team in the NBA: 16–1 in their last 17. Twelve wins in a row. Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant. I mean, he's playing like the Kevin Durant we know and love. …

Listen, they've been a juggernaut. Ben Simmons is being the role player everyone wanted him to be in terms of a defender, distributor … all these guys coming off the bench … I think the Nets are a better team than the Bucks right now. Milwaukee's dropped to 22nd, I think, in offense. I don't know if that's just all Khris Middleton, but I'm starting to worry about them.

So gimme a vibe check right now: Are you more confident in the Nets or Bucks at this present moment?

Herring: I'm gonna go with the Bucks for a little bit longer. Because Khris Middleton and not just him but the offense as a whole, ‘cause sometimes you could have a player that's struggling and the offense still can do well because just having that player, his presence, his spacing, his threat can add to your offense. Milwaukee has not had that yet or benefited from that yet. Middleton has shot really, really, really poorly to an extent where it's like, I don't think he's capable of shooting this poorly for much longer.

I do believe a little bit more in the Bucks defense when it comes down to it than the Nets. Although the Nets are a top 10 defense at this point. They've played well for long enough to be legitimate. They've won, as you said, 16 out of 17, 12 in a row. They have two guys that, like, it wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world if they ended up going 50, 40, 90.

So I mean, this team is real. I also think the concern about will there be something else that happens with them, whether it is Ben Simmons and his back, whether it is Kevin Durant having an injury. He's stayed healthy all year. He's played in every game … which is unusual and also, you know, was always the main impetus for me saying clearly that Giannis was the best guy in the world. Durant can make a very good case if he can stay healthy, obviously. …

But this team is real, and they have just enough of a blend of everything from spacing and shooting to the fact that they do have some guys that are capable of really getting after it defensively. It's a good roster. … This team is deep. This team has some great players on it and also some stability now and not a question mark hanging over them as far as the coach. So it's not terribly, terribly surprising, but it's refreshing to see them play well finally. There is a part of me that wants to see them prove it when it counts. They are coming off of a sweep.

So we'll see. I would take Milwaukee over them slightly right now, but I would also love to see a Milwaukee-Brooklyn series. I would love it.

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