Durant helps Nets rally past Nuggets
NEW YORK: Kevin Durant poured in 34 points and handed out 13 assists as the Brooklyn Nets rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat the Denver Nuggets 122116 in the NBA on Tuesday.
Durant added nine rebounds and Bruce Brown chipped in 16 points in a clutch performance in place of absent Nets star Kyrie Irving.
Brown’s jump shot, off a feed from Durant, knotted the score at 113-113 with 2:16 to play. He followed with a floater that put the Nets ahead for good.
Durant scored the Nets’ next six points as Brooklyn put it away, denying the Nuggets a sweep on their threegame road trip. Nikola Jokic had 23 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for Denver, but they were outscored by the Nets 68-46 in the second half.
It was a satisfying end to the day for Brooklyn, who were without Irving for a fourth straight game for what the team has called personal reasons.
His return date remains unknown, with the team and NBA reviewing video that surfaced on social media that appeared to show the star playmaker at a family gathering without a mask — in violation of league protocols aimed at containing coronavirus.
It’s an especially sensitive topic as the league postponed two more games on because teams had too many players out due to coronavirus protocols.
That brought the total to six postponements heading into the fourth week of the season.
With a welter of players sidelined either by positive or inconclusive Covid tests or because of risk of exposure, the league and players’ union agreed on Tuesday to stricter measures on masks, team meetings and even non-basketball activities.
In Philadelphia, the Miami Heat fielded the minimum eight players — with eight absent due to health and safety protocols — in a 137-134 overtime loss to the 76ers.
Sixers centre Joel Embiid scored 45 points with 16 rebounds and five steals.
Embiid’s jump shot with 4.3 seconds remaining in regulation tied it up at 120120 and he scored the 76ers first nine points in overtime.
Danny Green drained a career-high nine three-pointers on the way to 29 points for the 76ers, bouncing back from an 0-for-9 shooting performance in a loss to Atlanta on Monday.
In Houston, LeBron James scored 26 points — and electrified his own Los Angeles Lakers bench with a nothing-but-net three-pointer — in the defending champions’ 117-100 thumping of the Rockets.
Anthony Davis scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as the Lakers notched their second big win over the Rockets in three days — after a 120-102 triumph on Sunday.
The Lakers held the Rockets — led by scoring champion James Harden — to just 14 points in the first quarter as they grabbed a 21-point lead.
RESULTS
Golden State 95, Indiana 104; Brooklyn 122, Denver 116; Cleveland 87, Utah 117; Houston 100, LA Lakers 117; Oklahoma City 102, San Antonio 112; Philadelphia 137, Miami 134 (OT)