Kevin Durant, James Harden Starting To Mesh In Brooklyn

It's pretty remarkable how Kevin Durant has carried this Nets team this season. Kyrie Irving is now an afterthought as the Nets continue to chase a title in Brooklyn, and Durant may just be on his way to another MVP award.

If the Nets want to win a title, though, it can't be KD all by himself. The rest of the NBA better watch out because James Harden is starting to look more like himself again.

Strong Trends For Harden

Durant scored 27 in his return to the lineup against the Cavs on Monday and continues to go head-to-head with Steph Curry for the league lead in scoring, and MVP odds (Curry +200, Durant +500 on FanDuel).

The Nets now sit at 13-5 SU, and are at least starting to justify the fact that they're still heavy favorites to win the NBA title this season (+260).

Now, we could sit here and debate whether that actually going to be the case or not, but the reality is there's a lot of season to go before we really know how good the Nets can be. James Harden continues to be more of a facilitator, coming off a season-high 14 assists in that win over the Cavs, and his ability to adapt to the new rules and continue to get better in this new role are keys for Brooklyn come playoff time.

Harden has averaged 23.4 points, 9.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds in his last five games, but the key trend here has been his 10 free-throw attempts a game during that time.

Durant is the Nets' clear leader, but if Harden is starting to not only get in better shape, but also figure out how to play in this new NBA world that doesn't involve ticky-tack foul calls, the Nets may be well on their way to molding together a championship team.

Yes, time will tell, but right now the trajectory is clearly in the Nets' favor.