In what has been the game of the year to date, the “7-11 duo” in Kevin Durant, and KYrie Irving led the way, as the Nets ousted the Now previously undefeated Hawks in an offensive bonanza at Barclays Center, 145-141 on Wednesday(12/30).
A slow start by KD, and Kyrie meant someone else needed to step up, and once again that’s where “TLC”, and Joe Harris came in, hitting a few 3’s each to get Brooklyn going. Irving was the one doing the damage towards the end of the frame, with Deandre Hunter(23 points) doing it for the Hawks, who led 41-38 after just 12 minutes of action.
The second quarter saw Caris Levert wake up for the Nets, and Cam Reddish(20 points) for Atlanta. After the two gave out exchanging haymakers, KD and John Collins (30 points) took over, as the two teams continued to trade blows right up into the half, where the Hawks maintained a slight 67-66 advantage.
In the third, it was mainly KD and Trae Young(30 points) providing the fireworks, with Jarret Allen, Taurean Prince, and others putting points on the board for Brooklyn. However, Kris Dunn, Rajon Rondo, and Bogdan Bogdanovic(22 points) did the same for the Hawks, who took a 103-102 lead into the final quarter. But the real astonishing part was, the blistering pace of buckets (As evident by the score lines) all game long.
The last 12 minutes, was “Kyrie time”, as he put up a 16 point fourth, to keep his team in it, and put his team in the drivers seat as well. Up 137-136 in the final minute, Brooklyn let Irving do his thing, which he did, getting the “shooters touch” role on a mid-range juniper to extend the lead to three, and cap off an overall 25 point performance out of number 11.
After a Collins missed trey, a Jarret Allen rebound led to a thunderous KD dunk, and a few free throws out of Durant(33 points) later, had the Nets in the winners circle 145-141, in a classic.
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