KYRIE-LESS NETS GET REVENGE ON CELTICS
Spencer carves up C’s
Three of the offseason’s biggest prizes were at Barclays Center on Friday afternoon.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving wore sport coats. Kemba Walker wore disgust.
Spencer Dinwiddie, meanwhile, wore the look of the biggest star in the building.
Less than 48 hours after the Nets left Boston following an 11-point loss, Dinwiddie continued carrying Brooklyn in Irving’s absence and helped salvage a home-and-home split with the Celtics by putting up 32 points and tying a season high with 11 assists in a 112107 victory.
Dinwiddie, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, bounced back from a 5-of-19 shooting effort in Boston to hit 6-of-8 3-pointers, while adding five rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
“He’s more confident,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I always felt like with Spence, in the past, he didn’t know how good he was. You’d be surprised, as talented as he is, his confidence is just growing. The kind of scenarios he’s in with running the team, I think that’s giving him more confidence.
“He’s playing as good as anybody in the NBA right now.”
With Dinwiddie playing a leading role, the Nets (10-9) have won five of their past six games. Without Durant, Irving, the injured Caris LeVert or the departed D’Angelo Russell to play beside, the former second-round pick has emerged to elevate the play of the supporting cast.
In the eight games in which Irving has been sidelined with a shoulder injury, Dinwiddie has averaged 24.5 points and 7.8 assists. He helped limit Walker to 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting Friday after the Celtics guard went off for 39 points Wednesday.
“The role is completely different, so obviously there is a change there,” Dinwiddie said. “It’s whatever the team needs to win and then the role kind of dictates what that is.”
The Nets were up nearly the entire game. They enjoyed a double-digit lead every quarter. They squandered it nearly every time.
The Nets jumped out to a 29-15 lead, but the offense went cold when Dinwiddie hit the bench, allowing the Celtics (13-5) to take their only lead, 37-36, midway through the second quarter. By halftime, Jayson Tatum (26 points) and Boston had cut an 11-point Nets lead to three.
Jarrett Allen (14 points, 11 rebounds) came out strong in the second half before Dinwiddie took over again, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and three free throws on three consecutive trips down the court to give the Nets a 83-69 lead. When the lead was trimmed to three, Dinwiddie helped stretch it to 15 with a corner 3 and an alley-oop to DeAndre Jordan midway through the fourth quarter.
“He can do that whenever he wants to,” Allen said of Dinwiddie. “He’s super-talented, super-skilled, superathletic. I think this could be a normal night for him.”
The Celtics kept coming. The deficit was four. The Nets were scrambling and on the verge of a shot-clock violation, when Joe Harris delivered a beautiful bounce pass to Allen for a dunk with 34.2 seconds left.
The Nets improved to 6-2 without Irving.
“This stretch has really helped us,” Atkinson said. “Moments like these really make your team stronger. ... I do feel good momentum. I feel like the group’s coming together from a spiritual, chemistry standpoint. I think this was important. Can you beat a really, really good team when you’re shorthanded?”