On a night that seemed hopeless for the Nets entering the game and for much of the first half, Kevin Durant stepped up and put those feelings to the side. The 6’10” forward went off for 34 points, 13 assists, and nine rebounds. KD did most of his damage in the second half, as he put up 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field, which helped the Nets outscore the Nuggets 68-46 on 69.2 percent shooting from the field in the final 24 minutes of play.
Durant looked particularly explosive on several drives to the rim on a night in which he passed the likes of Adrian Dantley, Elgin Baylor, and Dwyane Wade for 29th on the all-time scoring list, but where he really made his mark on his second game back from quarantine was when he took his defender well behind the top of the key, drove to the right elbow and crossed up his defender and the help defender to shake them off and then stepped behind the arc to give the Nets a seven-point cushion with a tick under 28 seconds left in the game.
“It’s always been my goal to be amongst the best & to experience what those guys experienced.. three guys I’ve followed, researched, did so much work on & emulated at certain points in my career,” Durant said.
The humility KD has shown throughout his career is one of the reasons why he has been able to establish himself as arguably the greatest scorer this game has ever seen. If he continues to look like this on a nightly basis and leads Brooklyn to a top record in the league, then there’ll be no question he’ll be among the favorites to come away with the MVP this season.
Bruce Brown was the unsung hero in this one, as he came up with three straight baskets within 10 feet of the rim to help the Nets either tie up the score or take the lead from the 3:02 mark to the 1:44 mark in the fourth. Outside of that, the 6’4″ guard had 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three blocks on the night.
Caris LeVert continued to look good as well, as the Michigan product dropped 20 points, dished out six assists, and grabbed five rebounds. Joe Harris contributed 15 points, four assists, and three steals.
Although Denver shot just 19-of-44 in the second half, they were in this game right to the very end thanks to the big lead they built in the first half. Will Barton kept his team within one possession in the game at a time when the Nets could’ve pulled away, as he countered three straight Nets buckets from the 8:30 mark to the 6:00 mark in the final period of play with three three-pointers. That set the tone for the Nuggets to continue to fight until the final minute of play where the Nets finally pulled away.
Barton finished with 22 points. Nikola Jokic chipped in a great all-around effort with 23 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds, and seven steals. Jamal Murray added 20 points.
