NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 22: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles during the second ... [+]
Load management may be coming for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but there was no immediate talk of it after they looked dominant in the Nets’ Christmas Night win over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
Irving went for a Nets Christmas Day-record 37 points along with 8 assists and 6 rebounds and and Durant took over the game for much of the third quarter en route to 29 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in an emphatic 123-95 win over the Celtics.
Durant plans to play Sunday night when the Nets visit the Hornets, but left open the possibility that he could sit out Monday’s home game with Memphis, which will mark the team’s third game in four nights.
“I don’t know, we haven’t talked about it yet,” Durant said on a Zoom with reporters. “I will talk about it with our training staff and coach and just see what we come up with. Obviously, I want to play as much as I can but I definitely want to trust in the training staff and the organization and do what’s best, and consult with them on it as well. So we’ll see, but I plan on playing next game.”
Before the season, head coach Steve Nash said he would be “surprised” if Durant and Irving played all 72 games as they return from injuries, Durant from an Achilles rupture that kept him out of a real game for 561 days before Tuesday’s debut against his former team, the Warriors, and Irving from shoulder surgery last winter.
For the time being, Irving and Durant are cooking on all cylinders and appear virtually unstoppable.
Through two games, the new-look Nets have scored 248 points, outscored Boston and Golden State by a combined 54 and become the first team since the Lakers in 2008-9 to win their first two games by 20+ points. Oh, and Irving and Durant have combined for 46 percent of the team’s offense.
“These guys are superstar players, they carry the torch for the rest of the team,” said Joe Harris, who scored 9 points. “We have two of the most talented offensive players that have ever played in the NBA.”
With the Nets trailing 54-51 at the half, Durant took over in the third, keying a 35-23 quarter. With the shot clock winding on one possession, he drove to the rim and dunked it for an 80-70 lead late in the third. He looks as spry, bouncy and athletic as he did prior to Achilles surgery, and the Celtics had no answer for him. Irving (20) and Durant (20) nearly outscored the Celtics (41) in the second half.
Asked his mentality on the play, Durant said, “I’m just trying to get a good shot. I’m not expecting me to get a driving dunk at the end of every shot clock, but just don’t turn the ball over and let them get an open layup or two-on-one-break. So just try to get the ball up on the rim and get back on defense.”
“Isolation defense on Kevin Durant is a problem for every person in the world,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens told reporters.
Irving, meantime, turned in his second masterful game in a row on the floor where he used to play with the Celtics. His 37 points was the third 30-point outing by a Nets player ever on Christmas Day and the most since Micheal Ray Richardson scored 36 against the Nets in 1984.
After saying following the Golden State game that he no longer wants to play “hero ball,” the former St. Patrick High School and Duke star emphasized that he wants to enjoy the regular season and not fast-forward in his mind to the playoffs.
“No, there’s no reason to be content, we got 70 more games to go and then it’s a free for all after that,” Irving said. “So we have to utilize this time to see different looks from different teams, see different things that will challenge us in the playoffs throughout the regular season, just getting a feel for what the Eastern Conference is going to stack up and be like. There are so many great players, and so many moves that are happening in the Eastern and Western Conference.
“We gotta get through the regular season, seeding and we don’t want to rush that. In the past, I’ve had such a rushing mentality to get through the season, to get into the playoffs and right now I’m just grounded and balanced and not taking any day for granted with these guys.”
It’s early but the Nets are so potent offensively, so deep and so hungry to prove themselves, it’s easy to see why many are touting them to challenge for supremacy in the Eastern Conference — and maybe the NBA as a whole.
"I think it's the deepest team in the NBA,” Stevens told reporters of the Nets.
In order to get where they want, there will need to be some load management nights for Durant and Irving. And those nights are coming.
“I felt good but it’s only game two, you know, and it’s a long season,” Durant said. “I know each game may be a little different so I felt solid, I felt good. I made some shots in that third and If I can continue to be aggressive, it’s only good for our team. I just gotta keep plugging away. I’ll see how I feel after the next game and the game after that and just keep building.”
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2020-12-26 02:07:34Z
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