Not Kevin Durant? No problem.
After the Nets talked about stealing a game with their star resting, it was not stolen: it was won.
The Nets continued to boost momentum with a 147-125 victory Friday in Oklahoma City, tying their highest regulation output in team history.
“They are very satisfying every time you can win. But every time the whole team plays well we can do great things, as one group definitely stands out from the rest, “said Kyrie Irving.” We’re definitely proud of our guys to compete at both ends of the floor and not let the foot of the gas pedal “.
Irving added 25 points and seven assists, while James Harden dominated with 25 points, 11 assists and 10 boards. He has three triple-doubles and a 6-2 record as a net.
“It simply came to our notice then. James manages the game so well, distributes the field, scores, assists, bounces, puts his hands on the ball defensively, “said coach Steve Nash.” Kyrie was an amazing shot. He’s able to make amazing plays with the basketball and it is so threatening that it is difficult to contain the defenses ”.
Clearly. Harden’s game made everyone around him better, the Nets’ nine double-digit players matched the team record set on April 8, 1984.
Joe Harris added 20 points on 5 of 9 from deep. With Landry Shamet (3 of 7) and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (4 of 8) finally hitting from outside, the Nets shot up 57% and led up to 25 in winning their fourth straight.
“Very, very good. The ball was moving. We were active at both ends of the floor. The coaches came up with a beautiful game plan and we executed at both ends of the ball, ”said Harden. “We like to see the relief, and these last games we have been playing. We’ve been playing well, especially on the defensive side, and it shows. We just have to keep it that way. ”
The Nets (13-8) have won eight of their last 10 to jump Milwaukee into second place in the east.
Nash juggled his rotations, giving Harden only his second start on the front court and Bruce Brown, defensively, with his head off guard to stop Shaw Gilgeous-Alexander. Everything arose aces.
The Nets went on to fall five straight against OKC, but got the return by a defeat from the previous season’s Barclays Center on January 10th.
“They came to Brooklyn and made us fly, so we had something to prove,” said Brown, who had 19 points on the 9-on-11 shootout with five rebounds. “It simply came to our notice then. We were all on a rope. We knew what we wanted to do, try to limit Shai’s touches. We knew the game plan and we stayed. “
The Nets scored 19-18 after an Al Horford triple with 4:43 left in the first quarter. That’s when they started a 33-8 run, keeping OKC without a bucket during 8:08 of the first and second quarters.
The Nets forced seven straight fouls and four losses in that interval, taking full control and never returning it.
The Nets scored the first 15 unanswered points to open the second quarter. Jeff Green’s strong push against a Harden feed made it 51-27 with 8:53 at halftime.
By the time Luguentz Dort launched the court, the game was over.
The Nets ’pillow was 76-59 at halftime, the second most they had scored in a first half in their Brooklyn era. And their 115-94 lead in the fourth quarter was their second plus three in team history, behind the 120 they hung in San Antonio on March 6, 2020.
Chris Chiozza’s Brown’s alley-oop with 1:39 left padded the cushion to 145-120.
“We’re slowly moving towards both ends of the floor,” Nash said. “Sometimes we have fought defensively, but we feel stronger with our defensive game plan, which is important. Offensively, you start to see a little more flow.
“They will challenge us every night. “We’re going to get the best shot of all,” Irving said. “But what we’re doing now is just finding continuity so we can use the strengths we have.”