Blake Griffin joined an already stacked Brooklyn Nets squad midway through last season and he immediately made an impact on both sides of the floor. Griffin was seen as the fourth star of the team, and while he wasn’t putting up Kevin Durant numbers, there is no doubt he was a massive addition to the roster. Heading into next season, Griffin is coming back to the Nets and there is no doubt this team has as good of a shot as ever to win a title.
Recently, Griffin reflected on last season and how it was full of various challenges. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges came in the form of the Milwaukee Bucks, who were able to defeat the Nets in seven games before going on to win the NBA title. As Griffin explains, there are a lot of “what-ifs” when it comes to that matchup.
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“You always kind of sit there and think like ‘Man, if we just did this’ one extra thing. You get to the playoffs and you get the third seed over the two seed and you’re like ‘Man, if we had just beaten this team,'” Griffin said.
Griffin and the Nets could have won that series had Kyrie Irving not been injured, and moving forward, it will continue to haunt the team, especially if they fail to get it done in 2022.
“When that series started, in my mind that was a good look at who was going to be in the Finals and possibly win,” Griffin told SNY. “It was kind of weird watching us take it to seven games and being banged up. After that, they didn’t necessarily handle everybody easily but they won in six games, six games. Giannis got hurt in the next series and won in six games, then ran four straight against the Suns.”
Regardless of the past, this Nets team is primed and ready to win a title, and it will be up to the Nets’ big four to get it done.