It took well over a year, but Kyrie Irving finally had the opportunity to face his old team in Boston and he did not disappoint, as the former Celtic scored 37 points to go along with eight assists and six rebounds to help lead the Nets to a 123-95 victory.
“Like I said the other night, I went to war with those guys, those young guys down there. I’ve got to stop calling them young guys, they’re growing so beautifully and I want them to continue to get better,” Irving said after the win against the Celtics (h/t NESN). “And we’re going to continue to lean on each other as brothers off the floor, but on the floor, we’re going to continue to compete.”
Irving was quiet in the first quarter, but the point guard responded with 14 points in the second quarter to help prevent the Celtics from gaining any momentum and building a lead any bigger than five going into halftime.
Irving gave Brooklyn a nice little 14-point cushion with about 6:30 left in the game with a three-pointer, as Boston went through a nearly three-minute scoreless drought after Irving’s shot that effectively took them out of the game.
Overall, the star point guard continued to show great control with the ball and knowing exactly when to get his shots up as well as knowing how to break past multiple defenders and finding just the right angles to get the ball into the basket.
Kevin Durant continued to build off his great start to the season after missing over a year and a half due to his Achilles injury, as the 6’10” forward dropped 29 points in 33 minutes of action.
Durant scored over half of his points in the third quarter including a beautiful driving dunk from the top of the key to help give Brooklyn their first double-digit lead of the game and create the momentum needed for them to put Boston away in the fourth. It was absolutely amazing to see Durant still being able to drive with that reckless abandon we’ve come to love about him throughout his career and still have that finishing ability after going through a grueling injury such as the one he suffered in the 2019 Finals.
Both Irving and Durant look extremely comfortable as a duo, and it’s apparent that while they’re going to continue to put up big individual numbers, they’re also willing to get all of their teammates involved in the flow of the game and do all of the little things to separate themselves as a serious threat to win a championship.
“I’m just grateful that we’re all healthy, and that we’re all able to play the game that we love,” Irving added.
The Nets offense is just scratching the surface of how good they’re going to be, and that’s scary for the rest of the league.
