Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Harden debuts with triple-double, Durant scores 42, Nets win
NEW YORK » James Harden and Kevin Durant needed a little while to remember how to play together again.
Once they did, the Brooklyn Nets really got rolling — and they might still get to another gear when Kyrie Irving rejoins them.
“The sooner we can be on the court together, it’s going to be scary hours,” Harden said. They look pretty fearsome already. Harden delivered 32 points and a triple-double in his Brooklyn debut, Durant scored a season-high 42 points in his first game back with his former teammate, and the Nets showed off their potent potential in a 122-115 victory over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night.
Harden had 14 assists and 12 rebounds after being cleared to play earlier in the afternoon after all the players in the blockbuster trade that brought him from Houston had completed their physicals. Harden also had nine turnovers and Durant had six, with some sloppiness while Harden got used to his new teammates.
“Early on I felt like we all were overpassing, trying to make everybody comfortable,” Durant said, “and then he just got into his mode of being aggressive to score and that opened up the whole game for others.”
Harden had no practice time with the Nets and sure didn’t need it, becoming the first player in franchise history to have a triple-double in his debut.
Durant made five 3-pointers in his 10th game back following an 18-month layoff after rupturing his Achilles tendon in the 2019 NBA Finals. He hiked his average to 30.7 points, which would be his highest since he scored a league-leading 32 per game and won NBA MVP honors for Oklahoma City in 2014.
“I think it’s going to be an adjustment for everyone, but it’s an incredible problem to have and something I think we’ll relish trying to decipher,” coach Steve Nash said.
Nikola Vucevic had 34 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the shorthanded
Magic, who lost their fifth straight. They were much more competitive than the others, including a 124-97 loss in Boston on Friday, but didn’t have enough answers for Durant or Harden.
“I mean, they’re whatever, they’re, two of the four, five best offensive players in the world,” coach Steve Clifford said. SPURS 103, ROCKETS 91 » DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points, Dejounte Murray had 18 points and 10 rebounds and San Antonio beat undermanned Houston to snap a fourgame home losing streak.
The Rockets had seven healthy players after Sterling Brown was ruled out due to a lower leg injury, but Rodions Kurucs became eligible prior to game time when the NBA approved the blockbuster trade involving James Harden.
Mass on kidney to keep LeVert out indefinitely for Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS » Caris LeVert’s debut with the Indiana Pacers has been put on hold indefinitely after an MRI revealed a small mass on his left kidney.
President of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard made the announcement three days after LeVert became part of a blockbuster, four-team deal that sent perennial All-Star James Harden to Brooklyn, twotime All-Star Victor Oladipo to Houston.
Pritchard did not provide details of the diagnosis including whether it was cancerous and declined to establish a timeline for LeVert’s return.
“In the medical process we’ve done, we were able to find something that could help this kid and give him a better and clean prognosis for the rest of his life,” Pritchard said on a Zoom call Saturday. “It’s an incredible story, and it’s something we don’t take lightly.”
It also didn’t scuttle the big trade though Houston and Cleveland, the fourth team involved, agreed to throw in future, unspecified second-round picks to keep the deal intact.