KD SAVES THE DAY
The Nets, struggling and sans Kyrie Irving, needed something positive in the worst way. What they got was a sublime performance from Kevin Durant.
The former MVP looked like one, lifting the Nets back from a huge deficit to a come-frombehind 122-116 win over the Nuggets on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
The Nets trailed by 18 points in the third quarter before rallying to take a lead. Trailing again, 113-111, late in the fourth quarter, they reeled off 10 unanswered points to knock off the Nuggets.
“It was definitely needed, especially after a bad loss last game and especially starting off down 18,” Durant said. “You’ve seen guys have pride and they want to come out and compete. And everybody came with it.”
Durant had a game-high 34 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds. Fourteen of his points came during a 32-7 third-quarter run that turned an 18-point hole into a seven-point lead. He and defensive ace Bruce Brown led the rally down the stretch.
Brown finished with 16 points and six boards while Caris LeVert added 20 points, six assists and five boards off the bench.
“That man is different,” Brown said of Durant. “I think I stole rebounds and he didn’t get a triple-double. I didn’t even know; I would’ve let him get it. But that man’s different.
“He’s just a walking bucket. … I’ve never seen a player like this before.”
The Nets, who evened their record at 6-6, play the Knicks at the Garden on Wednesday.
“It was a great win. We needed it, I think, for our soul. A lot’s been thrown at us, a lot of new things,” said coach Steve Nash, who challenged his team at halftime. “We asked them to compete in the second half, to up their level physically, demand and compete and win little battles. That’s what they did, and they got a victory.”
Denver’s Nikola Jokic (23 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds) and Jamal Murray (20 points) gave the Nets fits early.
A pair of Murray baskets gave the Nuggets a pair of 18
point leads early in the third quarter, first at 74-56, and then again at 76-58 with 10:32 left in the period.
That’s when the Nets strung together an eight-minute, 32-7 run to retake control of the game. A team that couldn’t buy a stop in the first half forced the Nuggets to shoot just 3 of 12 with four turnovers in that stretch.
That fed the fast break and Durant had 14 points in the spurt, along with four assists — the last a feed to Taurean Prince for a finger roll that made it 90-83 with 2:36 left in the third.
The Nuggets got back in front at 111-109 before the Nets tied it at 111 on an offensive rebound and Brown’s strong drive.
Jokic put Denver back ahead at 113-111 before the Nets used a 10-0 run to seal it. Brown got a bounce to knot it, and — after a Will Barton offensive foul — added a baseline floater for a 115-113 lead on one end, and a defensive board on the other.
Durant’s jumper made it 117113 with 1:14 to play, and the Nets forced a miss from Murray. Durant’s dagger 3-pointer iced it.
“I feel like I feel like I’ve been in a good groove and knocking down shots,” said Durant, who passed Adrian Dantley, Elgin Baylor and Dwyane Wade on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. “I mean, I feel good, man.”
Coming back from a horrific ruptured Achilles, Kevin Durant was supposed to be the star the Nets were coddling. But Kyrie Irving’s indefinite absence for personal reasons is putting even more burden on his 32-year-old teammate.
After logging a season-high 37:40 in Sunday’s loss to Oklahoma City, Durant poured in 34 points with 13 assists and nine rebounds in 36 minutes of Tuesday’s rally past Denver. Now he says he plans to play the tail end of a back-to-back Wednesday against the Knicks.
“I plan on it,” said Durant, who hasn’t played in a back-to-back yet this season.
Coming into the season Steve Nash had said building up to playing consecutive games was the goal for Durant, and with his Nets clearly struggling, he could use the fourtime scoring champ Wednesday in the Garden.
“I really hope Kevin plays,” Nash said with a wan grimace. “But we’ll see. We have to judge these things day-to-day and moment-to-moment. I can come in here with a template, but who knows what happens [Tuesday]? We have to be really fluid and adaptable like I continually say and see how [Tuesday] goes and then address [Wednesday] when it comes.”
Robbed of Irving’s scoring, the Nets are going to have to find ways to concoct both added scoring punch and also tighter defense. Nash is still experimenting, juggling with the lineups trying to find both.
Tuesday Nash tweaked the lineup, returning Caris LeVert to the sixthman role, where he scored 20 points, and inserted defensive-minded Bruce Brown to deal with Jamal Murray. Brown ended up with 16 points including huge plays in the game-deciding 10-0 fourth-quarter run.
“Bruce Brown was incredible tonight, geez. Floaters looked timely, playing in the pick-and-roll, picking up full court. I’m just so proud of that dude,” Durant said. “He’s a true pro. Man hasn’t played at all, comes in the starting lineup and makes an impact.”
The move had the added bonus of protecting LeVert’s minutes, with Nash acknowledging the young wing’s injury history.
“Bruce was great. Unbelievable. Played his butt off, played hard, made some tough shots and timely baskets and guarded his man,” Nash said. “The second unit needs Caris as a ball-handler, creator. I also need to protect Caris. When he starts, he ends up playing 30-plus minutes almost without a doubt. Five games in seven nights, let alone 17 games in 31 days, Caris is a guy you have to protect with his injury history.”