James Harden says the Nets don't talk about their brutal playoff loss because they weren't at 'full strength'
- The Nets narrowly lost to the Bucks in overtime in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs.
- James Harden told Insider they don't talk about it because they weren't at "full strength."
- Harden said with the team healthy, their focus is on a championship in 2022.
The Brooklyn Nets were perhaps a Kevin Durant toe away from advancing to last season's Eastern Conference Finals.
In a decisive Game 7 against the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the playoffs, Durant hit the game-tying shot with .9 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. His toe was on the three-point line, preventing it from becoming a three-pointer and thus, a game-winning shot. The Nets went on to lose in overtime.
It stands to reason that the battered Nets - who were playing without Kyrie Irving, and with a clearly hobbled James Harden - could have made it to the Finals and won a championship if they escaped that series. Instead, the Bucks went on to become NBA champions.
The Nets, however, don't seem to think about the narrow tipping point of their season - Harden told Insider that there is nothing for he and his teammates to discuss, because they weren't healthy.
"We don't talk about it," Harden said. "We had Kevin Durant healthy, and I'm not even close to that healthy, Kyrie doesn't play. There's a lot. There's nothing we can say.
"Now, if a team beats us and we're at full strength, then that's when we have to go to the drawing board to kind of figure out what, you know, what we're doing. But we can't really talk about this past postseason."
Asked if it can be healthy for a team to review such a gut-wrenching loss, Harden confirmed that the Nets aren't overly worried about the outcome to the 2020-21 season.
"There's nothing that we can can talk about because it's like, a team didn't beat us at full strength," Harden said. "So there's nothing that we can kind of discuss."
Between the regular season and playoffs, Harden, Durant, and Irving only shared the court for 14 total games.
Harden admitted that the close to the season, between the injury, playoff loss, and skipping the Olympics, "hurt" him.
Harden, who spoke to Insider while promoting his investment in BodyArmor, said he is still rehabbing a hamstring injury that limited him in the postseason. He said this offseason has been good for his recovery, as he has been able to rest and focus on treating his body right.
Harden said with better health on the horizon, he's focused on winning multiple championships with the Nets.
"That's always the goal," Harden said.