The Nets and Wizards went down to the wire, and anytime your team can get potential game-winning shots up from Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, you’re feeling pretty good about your chances to win the game.
However, both of them couldn’t get their shots to fall, as the Wizards escaped Brooklyn with a 123-122 victory.
Irving crossed up his defender at the top of the key and got the three-pointer up with about seven seconds left, it rimmed out leading to Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to tip it back up top to Kevin Durant. Durant dribbled in and got his shot up just near the right elbow with just under three seconds left as that clanked off the rim as well.
As a Wizards player, I couldn’t even begin to imagine the nerves I’d feel to see two of the most clutch players in the NBA getting their signature looks in a very crucial moment of the game. However, Russell Westbrook, who finished with 24 points and 10 assists, seemed completely unbothered by it.
“I have no reaction,” Westbrook told FortyEightMinutes.com and other media members after the game. “They missed, we win. Game over.”
Although he didn’t say much about the moment, those few words completely show that Westbrook trusts his teammates and their ability to win tight games against teams that seem destined to compete for an NBA championship this season. It shows that he’s locked in on the only thing that really matters, and that is coming away with wins instead of the noise that comes with two superstars coming up short in the clutch.
This was Westbrook’s first win while putting on a Wizards uniform, but if you ask him, he doesn’t see it that way whatsoever.
“This is my second win, man,” Westbrook said. “If I don’t play, I’m still a part of the team.”
This is who Westbrook is. He wants to win games no matter what it takes, but he also wants to be a good leader and inspire confidence in his teammates. Based on these comments, Wizards fans should feel pretty good about their chances of putting their bad start to the season in the rearview as the season progresses.
Bradley Beal dropped 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds; Thomas Bryant contributed 21 points and 14 rebounds.
As for the Nets, there’s still a lot to like from their superstar duo, as Irving finished with 30 points and 10 assists, and Durant putting in an all-around great performance with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists.
However, the Nets struggled to hold on to the ball all night, as they committed a whopping 20 turnovers with Durant (6) and Irving (5) combing for 11 of them.
“I had too many turnovers,” Durant said. “I gotta just tone it down if our team is gonna be successful.”
This is exactly what you want to see from your superstar player, and that is taking accountability for your mistakes and realizing that you need to make adjustments in order to win at the highest level.
We all know that KD is right up there as one of the best basketball players in a world full of countless people, and he’s just coming off a significant injury, so given how he looks out there with his explosiveness and immaculate ability to score, there’s already a lot to love about him this early in the season.
You should also consider the fact that this is a completely new team that didn’t get the same type of offseason prep that they would’ve gotten in a more normal world, so it’s going to take more time throughout the season for every player to figure out each other’s tendencies on and off the court and really gel as a collective unit.
It also helps that their star point guard is embracing his role as a leader of this group and dispelling any notion that it’s time to panic.
“The greatest gift is teaching the game to others to be able to match your level or to raise their level to yours is able to be a great functional team,” Irving said.
Irving continued to stress that this is not an overnight process, so he’s not going to get frustrated after the first six or so games of the season; especially when the real goal is to win 16 games in the playoffs.
There are still plenty of things the Nets need to clean up as the season progresses, such as limiting turnovers, defensive rotations, rebounding, and knowing the proper times to call time-outs. But what’s promising is that this team loves to push the ball, and the two best players on this team are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon and seem to be fully embracing their roles as leaders of this team.
