Not Kevin Durant? No problem.
After the Nets talked about stealing a game with their star resting forward, it wasn’t stolen: it was deserved.
The Nets continued to build momentum with a 147-125 victory Friday in Oklahoma City, keeping their highest-scoring regulatory output in team history level.
“Every time you can win, they give a lot of satisfaction. But every time the whole team has played well, we can do great things because one group is absolutely different from the rest, ”said Kyrie Irving. “Absolutely proud of our boys for competing on both ends of the floor and not letting the foot take off the accelerator.”
Irving had 25 points and seven assists, while James Harden dominated with 25 points, 11 assists and 10 boards. He has three triple doubles and a 6-2 record like Net.
“They were both incredible. James manages the game so well, spreads the floor, scores, assists, rebounds, gets hold of the ball defensively, ”said coach Steve Nash. “Kyrie was just unbelievably good shooting. He’s capable of making great plays with the basketball and it’s such a threat out there that it’s hard to master defense. “
Clearly. Harden’s game made everyone around him better, the Nets’ nine players in double figures matched a team record set on April 8, 1984.
Joe Harris added 20 points to 5 of 9 from deep. With Landry Shamet (3 of 7) and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (4 of 8) finally hitting from the outside, the Nets shot 57 percent and had a 25 percent lead in winning their fourth straight.
“Very, very good. The ball moved. We were active on both ends of the floor. Coaches drew up a great game plan and we executed on both ends of the ball, ”said Harden. “We would like to see a handover, and we have transferred these last few games. We played well – especially in defense – and it shows. We just have to keep it up. “
The Nets (13-8) have won eight of their past 10 to jump Milwaukee to second place in the east.
Nash juggled his rotations, giving Harden only his second career in the frontcourt and defensive Bruce Brown the unprepared nod to slow Shaw Gilgeous-Alexander. It all yielded aces.
The Nets came in after dropping five consecutive times against OKC, but got payback for an earlier loss at Barclays Center on Jan. 10.
“They came to Brooklyn and blew us out, so we had something to prove,” said Brown, who had 19 points in 9-for-11 shootings with five rebounds. ‘We just communicated on the floor. We were all on a string. We knew what we wanted to do, try to limit Shai’s touch. We knew the game plan and stuck to it. “
The Nets trailed 19-18 after an Al Horford 3-pointer with 4:43 left in the first quarter. That’s when they pulled off an extended run of 33-8 and held OKC bucketless for 8:08 spread over the first and second fifteen minutes.
The Nets forced seven consecutive misses and four turnovers during that period, taking full control and never giving back.
The Nets scored the first 15 unanswered runs to open the second quarter. Jeff Green’s strong drive from a Harden feed brought the lead to 51-27 with 8:53 in the half.
By the time Luguentz Dort broke the skid, the game was over.
Kissing the Nets was 76-59 at the break, the second highest number they had scored in a first half in their Brooklyn era. And their 115-94 fourth-quarter lead was their second to three in team history, behind the 120 they hung in San Antonio on March 6, 2020.
Brown’s alley-oop of Chris Chiozza with 1:39 across, filled the pillow to 145-120.
“We’re slowly coming forward at both ends of the floor,” Nash said. “We struggled defensively at times, but we’re getting firmer defensively with our game plan, which is important. Offensively, you start to see a little more power. “
‘We are challenged every night. We’re going to have everyone’s best shot, ”Irving said. “But what we are doing now is just finding continuity to exploit the strengths we have.”