Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving delivered a superstar finish to cap off a night where everybody played a part for the Brooklyn Nets in their 145-141 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night at Barclays Center.
With the Nets and the Hawks blistering the scoreboard in a back-and-forth shotfest, seven different Nets scored in double figures on a night in which Brooklyn got 56 points off the bench.
But it was Irving and Durant who ultimately closed the deal, combining for 30 fourth-quarter points, including 20 of Brooklyn’s last 22.
“Their names speak for themselves,” said Jarrett Allen. “When it gets down to crunch time, we know where the ball needs to go. The ball needs to be in their hands, and they proved why that needs to happen. We kept trying to go to them. We knew they were going to make the right play, they were going to pass it to the right spot, and we put our trust in them.”
After Joe Harris broke a 120-120 tie with a 3-pointer, Irving scored seven of Brooklyn’s next nine points — lobbing to Allen for the other two — with his drive putting the Nets up 132-128 with four minutes to go. After two Durant free throws, an Irving 3-pointer made it a 137-132 Brooklyn lead.
Durant eventually scored Brooklyn’s final six points, the last four on game-icing free throws. He finished with 33 points on 11-of-22 shooting, and 11 rebounds that gave him his first double-double as a Net. With eight assists, he ended up just two shy of a triple-double.
Irving, meanwhile came up with a big finish after a rough start. Through three quarters, Irving had eight points on 3-of-16 shooting, including 0-of-7 from 3-point range. But he scored 17 in the fourth, shooting 7-of-11 overall and making 3-of-4 3-pointers.
“I think in the case of Ky, you know, he just was having an off night, up until the fourth he finally got his rhythm,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “And I think that gave him juice. And, you know, we tried to put him in situations that he could thrive with an open floor and space it out for him, and he can attack the big, and he was obviously wonderful in the fourth quarter. So, Kevin, I thought had a pretty solid game all around almost a triple-double, 33 points. He made some big plays in the fourth quarter, but I thought he was pretty strong all night. But Ky definitely brought us home.”
There was plenty of help keeping the Nets in position for Durant and Irving to make the difference down the stretch. Harris scored 23 points while making 6-of-8 3-pointers and shooting 8-of-11 overall, and Allen had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 6-of-7.
Landry Shamet scored 14 points and Taurean Prince scored 12, with both players shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3-point range. Caris LeVert had 10 points and eight assists. The Nets shot 54.0 percent overall and 46.3 percent from 3-point range.
“Joe kept us going on offensive side of the ball, TP hit some big shots in that first half, Jeff (Green) and Landry came in and picked us up,” said Durant. “And that's what we're going to need all season. Our shot is not going to be falling all year. I think we got the shots that we wanted, it just didn't go in. Fourth quarter we was able to knock a few in.”
The Nets had challenge in the Hawks, who came in 3-0 and leading the league in both points per game and offensive rating. They came out hot, shooting 65.2 percent while putting up 41 first-quarter points.
“They're energetic, they get out and run they shoot 3s they all shoot with confidence,” said Durant. “They got 46 threes and hit 18 but it felt like all of those guys, (coach) Lloyd (Pierce) is telling them to shoot those and be confident in shooting those no matter who you are. Solomon Hill knocking down shots and (Bogdan) Bogdanovic coming off the bench, even (John) Collins knocking down shots as a big. They present a nice challenge of five or six guys that could get their own shots and then you got another coach in (Rajon) Rondo on the bench, too, so they're going to be a team to be reckoned with this year.”
Brooklyn closed the opening quarter with a 9-2 burst keyed by Durant and Allen to get within three going into the second quarter and extended that into a 19-9 run and a 48-47 lead. That was the first of five lead changes in the quarter as Brooklyn’s second unit traded baskets with the Hawks before the Nets went into halftime trailing 68-67.
Atlanta led 89-83 midway through the third quarter before the Nets slipped back into the lead with a 9-2 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Shamet and LeVert. But the Hawks, who knocked down six 3-pointers in the quarter, got three in a short span to go up 103-95 before the Nets closed the quarter on a 7-1 run — a 3-pointer and two assists from Durant — to get within 104-102 going into the fourth quarter.
Durant opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, the first of five lead changes and four ties in the quarter before the Harris 3-pointer put the Nets up for good, and Durant and Irving closed out the Hawks.
“We definitely got tested tonight,” said Nash. “We came into the game No. 1 defensively and I think that went out the window. So they are a tough team. Offensively, they have shooters playing with tons of confidence. Lloyd has them playing with freedom. You know, Trae (Young) obviously is tricky, but they got you know, Collins is a dynamic roller, (Clint) Capela is a dynamic roller and shooters all around, and they do a nice job of it. So we were tested tonight.
“Our defense, you know, you could say, held up or didn't hold up at the end. But reality is it was a new look for us a new challenge. And we got to get a lot better than that on that end of the floor. So we'll take a look, we'll refine, we’ll, you know, when you're really stretched and challenged like that it you know, especially to a new young kind of situation like this. it can cause doubt. And so we got to make sure that we go in and solidify our process that wasn't tested like this thus far this year.”