NEW YORK – With a two-figure lead that was reduced to just one point in the last quarter of the Brooklyn Nets’ Saturday night game against Miami Heat, Kyrie Irving took over. He splattered in 3-pointers off the clutch, had lay-ups and made important free throws to take the Nets to a 128-124 victory.
On the way, Irving said his mentality was, “It’s time to gain.”
“I’ve always said that throughout my career,” said Irving. “When it comes to that, of course you just want to stick to the defensive end, make stops, and I felt like we did.”
The win led to a two-game loss for the Nets, who dropped a few games earlier this week in the Cleveland Cavaliers. Irving’s 18 points in the fourth quarter were the highest points he has scored in a last quarter since joining Brooklyn.
“We had two defeats where we had to learn a lot very quickly,” said Irving. “And we just moved on to the next night. And I feel like we’ve put in the effort in spurts, and of course we want to have more consistency in that – and it will take time. I’m happy with the effort tonight. “
Irving finished with 28 points. Kevin Durant had 31 points for the team for the Nets, while Joe Harris added 23 points, including seven 3’s. James Harden added 12 points and 11 assists.
Bam Adebayo finished with 41 points, five rebounds and nine assists for the Heat.
“It was about time Bam had 40 in terms of getting a lot of those moves he worked on in the off season,” said Irving. “Just watching him grow since high school, to take over for some kind of understaffed Miami team at this point, it’s good to see.”
The Nets entered the game on Saturday with the goal of improving defensively. While they couldn’t fully comprehend Adebayo, there were glimpses of improvement.
After beating 50-29 in Cleveland on Friday, the Nets nodded in defense against the Heat. Brooklyn had a defensive rebound rate of 81.3% on Saturday – the third highest in a game this season – compared to just 58.1% the night before.
Nets coach Steve Nash continued to experiment with lineups with the team’s three All-Stars. Harden played 11 minutes with both Durant and Irving on the bench. And while Harden’s 12 points were the lowest since January 2020, his five consecutive games with double-digit assists are already tied for the fourth longest of this streak in Nets history.
“It feels good not to have to score so much to give ourselves a chance to win a game,” said Harden. “I can go out and just be a playmaker and shoot my shot when it’s available, and still involve guys – and still have a shot at winning the game.”
“That’s a change,” added Harden. “But to me I’m just the player that I am, influencing the game in ways other than by scoring.”
After the game, Irving and Adebayo tried to swap jerseys on the field, before a guard from Heat led Adebayo away. This season, swapping jerseys in court is a violation of the NBA’s health and safety rules on the coronavirus.
“I just want to follow NBA protocol,” Irving said with a smile, before adding, “I have the jersey, by the way.”