Kyrie Irving struggled to find any sort of rhythm throughout the first three quarters of this game, but the artist found his touch late in the game and put together 17 of his 25 points in the fourth to help lead the Nets to a 145-141 victory against the Hawks.
Irving turned what would’ve been a poor performance into a masterpiece in the final period, as the star point guard was getting back to drilling deep three-pointers, breaking down defenders with the dribble and finding his spots in the mid-range.
The most beautiful part of the crafty guard’s masterpiece was when he took a Jarrett Allen screen up top and then accelerated past two defenders right down the middle while keeping the ball very low to the ground which caused one defender to collapse to the floor and then finishing the contested layup at the rim.
When you put the ball in Uncle Drew’s hands, he’s going to create magic. It’s that simple.
Kevin Durant is continuing to look great in the early portion of his Nets career, as the 6’10” forward finished with 33 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in this game.
Durant did most of his damage in the fourth, as he put up about half of his point total and came up with six points in the final minute alone including a powerful slam in transition with just a little over 15 seconds left in the game to help the Nets hold off this gritty young Hawks squad.
“I definitely need a beer after this one,” Steve Nash said after the game (Brian Lewis of the New York Post).
Nets Get Contributions From Supporting Cast
Joe Harris stepped up for the Nets big time in this one, as the sharpshooter connected on six of his eight attempts from behind-the-arc; finishing with 23 points in total. Allen contributed a double-double: 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Landry Shamet and Taurean Prince chipped in 14 and 12 points, respectively, as they were both a perfect 5-for-5 from the field tonight including two three-pointers apiece.
Caris LeVert continues to struggle to find his rhythm as his team’s sixth man after a great opening performance against the Warriors, as he was only able to score 10 points in this one on 4-of-13 shooting. The shooting guard struggled to find his shot in the mid-range as well despite creating some good looks, as most of his looks were either coming up short or just rimming out.
The good news is that LeVert got his looks, and he has shown that he can put up stellar performances. However, those stellar performances usually come when he’s the top option, so some early questions are that can he only succeed in a role where he’s the top option, or will he be able to adjust to the Manu Ginobili type of role Nash was referring to before the season began? I personally think he’ll eventually be able to adjust to his new role and hit his shots with more efficiency, but the adjustment period might not be as smooth as most people thought it was going to be.
When LeVert gets hot, he is unstoppable. He has the ability to hit the pull-up jumper, post up smaller defenders and shoot with consistency from beyond-the-arc, but he is going to need to learn how to do it with fewer shot attempts. LeVert is the type of personality who is willing to sacrifice for the betterment of his team, but sometimes, it takes a little while for the success to follow.
All in all, this victory was a very good one for the Nets, and the scary thing about this team is that they haven’t even scratched the surface of how great this team is going to be later on this season.
