Coming off a very disappointing loss to the Washington Wizards on Sunday, the Brooklyn Nets bounced back in a huge way and took down the Los Angeles Clippers, who came into this matchup with the best record in the league, by a final score of 124-120.
This game was the Kyrie Irving show, as he went off for a season-high 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting from the field including 6-of-8 from 3-point land.
“They (Clippers) got two wonderful players over there with a great collection of guys,” Irving said in the postgame interview with TNT. “We know they are in contention for meeting us down the line, so we wanted to come out and make an impression. I felt like we did that.”
The superstar point guard did his most impactful damage within the last six minutes of the game, as he drilled the pull-up three in the face of Kawhi Leonard with 5:43 left in the game to tie things up at 102. After Los Angeles missed two 3-point opportunities on the other end, Irving then raced up the floor and euro-stepped past Nicolas Batum right near the rim for an amazing corkscrew layup with 4:58 left on the game clock. 21 seconds later, Irving capped off a personal 8-0 run on a pull-up three in transition which turned a three-point deficit into a five-point lead for the Nets.
From there, Brooklyn was ultimately able to build a 10-point lead with just a little under two minutes left of action, but that didn’t stop the Clippers from giving the Nets a good old scare, as the Clips then went on a 9-0 run capped by a Paul George three with just under 25 seconds left in the game.
With the Clippers having all of the momentum, shades of the collapse in Washington started to creep in. It had all of the makings of yet another disappointing loss for the Nets. However, after a good 15 seconds were shaved off the game clock, Kevin Durant, who had 28 points and nine rebounds, headed to the line and hit two free-throws to give the Nets some much-needed breathing room en route to the eventual victory.
James Harden posted a triple-double for the Nets with 23 points, 14 assists, and 11 rebounds. Joe Harris added 13 points.
Defensively, both Irving and Durant did their parts to help limit the damage that the Clippers’ powerful duo can inflict on opposing defenses on a given night, as Durant held the combination of Leonard and George to 3-of-13 shooting from the field on shot attempts he contested with Leonard going 3-of-10. Irving, on the other hand, held George to 0-of-5 shooting from the floor on shot attempts he guarded, as the 6’2″ guard really put the clamps on the 6’8″ forward on several drives to the rim which resulted in two blocks for Irving.
“I took that personal not being able to guard anyone (against Washington),” Irving said.
Of course, Leonard still finished with 33 points, five rebounds, and five assists and George also chipped in with 26 points, six assists, and four rebounds of his own, but those two players are expected to put up good numbers offensively on most nights.
Overall, if your star players show a commitment to playing good defense, then that’ll eventually set the tone for the rest of the team as they try to figure out how they can collectively hold their own on that side of the ball. The offense has a chance to be historically great, but the defense still needs to be there for the Nets as well if they want to win a championship.
