No Irving, no Durant, no problem
Shorthanded Nets rip 76ers; Blazers defang T-Wolves
GAME RESULTS Denver 117, Dallas 124 (OT) Brooklyn 122, Philadelphia 109 LA Lakers 109, San Antonio 118 Portland 135, Minnesota 117 Memphis 90, Cleveland 94
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Joe Harris scored a team high 28 points as the short-handed Brooklyn Nets snapped the Philadelphia 76ers’ five-game NBA winning streak with a 122-109 victory on Thursday.
Caris LeVert scored 22 points and had 10 assists as the Nets cooled off the NBA’s hottest team despite missing their two top players Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
“We are a totally different team when those guys are out here,’’ guard LeVert said, “but I think we’ve done a great job of having a next-man-up mentality, guys stepping into those roles and fulfilling what we need as a team.”
Durant sat out due to Covid-19 protocols and Irving missed the game due to “personal reasons’’.
Nets coach Steve Nash said before the contest that Irving’s absence came as a surprise to him and he remained unsure of the exact issue.
Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons had quiet nights for the . Embiid scored 20 points on seven-of-14 shooting while Simmons had just 11 points.
Elsewhere, Damian Lillard delivered 39 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the Portland Trail Blazers breezed past the slumping Minnesota Timberwolves 135-117.
C.J. McCollum tallied 20 points and Jusuf Nurkic finished with 17 points and seven rebounds for Portland, who snapped a two-game skid and posted its highest-scoring effort of the season.
In Memphis, Andre Drummond posted game-highs of 22 points and 15 rebounds, Larry Nance Jr. added 18 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the host Memphis Grizzlies 94-90.