Their are losses, and then losses that “sting”, and that one did pretty bad for the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, in Charlotte.
Kevin Durant put up 29 points, while Kyrie Irving erupted in the second half, upping his total to 26, but in the end it wasn’t enough, as a late KD miss sealed the Nets fate, in a 106-104 heartbreaking loss to the Hornets, who nabbed their first win of the season.
After a tightly contested first half, which saw the Nets take a 50-48 lead into the break, the Hornets took over the beginning third of the third Quater , as a 19-10 run, capped by a Terry Rozier dunk over KD, gave Charlotte a 67-60 lead. However, led by their trio of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and Caris Levert(Who was only on the floor, because Spencer Dinwidee left the game due to injury), brought Brooklyn back by raining some three-pointers, and after the dust settled on a 12-4 run, the Nets had the lead at 72-71.
But unlike Boston, this Hornets team wouldn’t fold, and kept up the physicality with their toughness in the paint, where they outscored Brooklyn 64-26, in this contest.
The third frame, would end with an 11-5 run by the hosts, to gain back the edge at 82-77, with 12 minutes left to play.
This past offseason, we saw the Hornets acquire star point-guard Gordon Hayward, from the Celtics, and it was for this reason, as he began the fourth by taking over the game, leading his team on a 15-4 run, extending the Charlotte lead to 97-81 lead with 7:45 remaining. However, this Nets team was constructed for comebacks like this, and it showed, as five unanswered Durant points, a Jarret Allen dunk, a Timothy Luwawu-Cabarrot three, and a Joe Harris layup from KD, brought the visitors within 97-93, 4:45 remaining now.
The teams would trade buckets, but it became “Kyrie time” for Brooklyn, as a pull-up jumper, and a Trey brought the Nets to within 101-98, with 2:44 to go.
It would come to down to the final seconds, with the Nets not opting to call timeout down 104-102, and let their stars draw up their own play. Kyrie brought the ball up, and found KD on the right side, with Durant walking in, stopping in front of the defender, and pulling up for a shot he would 9/10 times. The problem here, would be that the shot rolled off the rim with eight seconds to go, and after some foul shots, and a meaningless TLC layup, the Nets suffered their first lost of the season 106-104.
UP NEXT: Back in Brooklyn on Monday Night, against the 0-2 JA Morant led Memphis Grizzlies. Tip-off is at 7:30PMET.
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