When asked which Nets star faced the biggest threat to his team, Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said he was afraid of them all. He was right to have feared the hours of fear.
The Big Three led the Nets to a 132-128 win over overtime in Atlanta. And what they didn’t do, the reservations that Jeff Green and Bruce Brown made.
“It simply came to our notice then. It was fine margins, it made enough baskets, it made enough haste, bounces, just to cross the line, ”said coach Steve Nash. “It was not nice, but we found a way. We will take it ”.
Kevin Durant earned 32 points. Kyrie Irving added 26 points and seven assists, while James Harden has seemed more aggressive as he plays himself in better shape and more comfort with his teammates.
Harden – who said it would be Scary Hours once the big three were in sync – had 31 points, 15 assists and eight boards.
“It simply came to our notice then. We just want him to join this group and not think so much about adapting, but whoever he is. We want it to continue to progress and grow, “Irving said.” We all realize that we still have a level to reach individually and then collectively as a group. “
The Nets (12-8) are steadily advancing to this level. They came out of a 90-83 quarter-final hole to win for the seventh time in their last nine.
“Not more [proud of] our struggle. Viously, obviously, throughout the game, there are races that you just have to endure. We just want to stay resilient, “Irving said.” Just having a relentlessness to continue to withstand the storm throughout the game, no matter what happens, shooting or not. I’m definitely more proud of that. “
Trae Young scored 28 points for the Hawks (9-9), but the defense of the benches and the Nets teams, both slandered, came to play enough to improve the 5-2 since Harden acquired. It was the perfect way to start a stretch with a 10 of 13 on the road.
“It’s huge, especially when we were running businesses,” Green said. “The transfer of the last game, as I said, was there. We showed resilience and fought the whole match when things didn’t go our way. But we showed character, and that’s what will get us on the road. “
Joe Harris went without a triple for the first time in 79 games. But he defended well, while Green and Brown supported the big three. Brown scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help the Nets bounce back from the game.
In the fourth position of 90-83 after a Danilo Gallinari 3, the Nets responded with a partial 9-0.
A Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot 3 followed by Harden’s free throws reduced the deficit. Harden’s faceless pass gave Brown a couple of free throws to score, and he found Green for a John Collins poster (21 points) to get the 92-90.
The rest of the regulation was adjusted, before Harden missed a step back 3 in the final seconds. Brown pushed the ball away from Collins with 0.3 seconds to preserve overtime, where the Nets won it.
“When we needed stops, we had stops, especially that fourth quarter drive with Bruce and Joe and Jeff and TLC did an amazing job of being feisty, bouncing the ball and creating energy,” Harden said. “That was the turning point.”
After turning it around, the Nets never left him behind. Irving put them on the board first in OT with a stuttering pass, and a Harris steal resulted in a green transition and a 120-116 lead that they never gave up.
Young pushed the Hawks in a 122-121 period, but after Harden hit Green by a 3, the Nets rose again by four. Then, Green’s steal resulted in a quick Durant goal and a 127-121 lead with 2:46 to play.
In 129-126, Durant’s turnover gave Atlanta a chance; but the Networks stopped when they needed to. They forced a De’Andre Hunter (21 points) to miss at 3 points and grabbed the key rebound with half a minute to go.
Harden won a trip on the line and froze it with 4.6 seconds left.