Joe Harris Joins Kidd, Carter In Latest Career Milestone

Joe Harris

Getty Joe Harris celebrates winning the 2019 three-point contest.

The Brooklyn Nets are back in the win column. Brooklyn snapped a two-game losing streak last night after beating Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks 141-145 at home. Brooklyn’s Forward Joe Harris continued to impress as he poured in 23 points, draining six out of eight threes from long distance. This however wasn’t Harris’ most impressive achievement of the night.

Joe Harris Joins Elite Company

Joe Harris does many things on the court for Head Coach Steve Nash, but his bread and butter is shooting the lights out from distance. Last night Harris joined the ranks of some of the most elite shooters in Nets history. Harris extended his franchise record, registering a three in his 65th consecutive game during the first quarter of the Nets victory over the Hawks. As impressive as this is Joe reached an even more impressive milestone, becoming just the fourth player in Nets franchise history to hit 600 or more three-pointers. The other three players to do so are Kerry Kittles (687) along with Vince Carter (637) and Hall of Famer Jason Kidd (813). Some elite company for sure.

Harris Knows His Role For The Nets

When the Nets inked Harris to a four-year $72 million deal last month it left some people scratching their heads as to why. After all, why would Brooklyn give $72 million is to a guy who is ‘just a shooter’. To answer the doubters Joe Harris is much more than that. According to Basketball Reference, Harris has increased his points per game totals every season since he entered the league in 2015. He has also increased his rebounds per game and assists per game in each of the last four seasons.

While Harris knows his game has continued to trend upwards, he understands that the Nets will only go as far as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant take them. “For us to win and have the most success, our offense is going to go through those two guys, and then kind of go down from there,” Harris told reporters last month. “My main is assignment as an offensive player is to try to get space for those guys — getting down to the deep corner, cutting off for the ball, making sure that I’m occupying guys on the weak side, and allowing them more space to facilitate.”

Nets Want Harris To Shoot More

Although Brooklyn has a roster that goes 10-deep, the importance of Durant and Irving was evident during Brooklyn’s win against the Hawks. Both Durant and Irving struggled from the field early and Brooklyn trailed by as many as eight points in the third quarter. That’s when Brooklyn’s duo erupted. Kyrie went off for 17 points in the fourth quarter and Durant nearly messed around and had a thirty-point triple-double.

Despite the offense being centered around the two all-stars, Harris’ teammates understand his importance in Brooklyn’s offense and have implored him to shoot even more than he already does. “I think, kind of across the board, everybody sort of holds me accountable,” Harris told reporters. “Kevin has gotten on me a couple of times about letting it go. DeAndre, Kyrie, Spence [Dinwiddie]. You kind of go across the board, everybody is sort of telling you just to let it fly when you got a room-and-rhythm look.”

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