Against ex-team, Irving's hot again
He nets 40pts in Brooklyn's win over Boston as long-distance shooting pays off once more
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Nets guard Kyrie Irving taking a shot as Boston centre Robert Williams III defends at Barclays Centre in New York. His team were missing Kevin Durant for a 10th straight game while James Harden finished with 22 points.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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NEW YORK • Kyrie Irving scored 40 points as the red-hot Brooklyn Nets picked up where they left off before the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star break by beating the Boston Celtics 121-109 on Thursday.
With Kevin Durant sitting out his 10th straight game with an injury and James Harden struggling early on with turnovers, Irving seized control in the second quarter in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of 1,300 at Barclays Centre.
The former Celtics star has made a point this season of raising his level of play against his former team, having also exploded for 37 points against Boston on Christmas Day.
"We are a resilient team," said Irving. "It is a collective effort. We got to have each other's backs on defence. When you get stops and then you take the ball up the floor in transition, there is nothing better.
"We have lots of offensive talent but we have to stay committed on defence."
The Nets kicked off the first full day of NBA games in the second half of the season by scoring at least 120 points for the 23rd time this season.
Harden flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, while Landry Shamet scored 18 points as Brooklyn made a total of 19 three-pointers.
Despite newly acquired Blake Griffin not playing, this was the 24th time the Nets, who are second in the Eastern Conference with a 25-13 record, have sank at least 15 attempts from beyond the arc this term.
"We have a multitude of guys who can take us home and we trust in them," Shamet said.
"It's just a matter of us putting an entire game together and putting us in the best position possible."
Jayson Tatum paced Boston, fourth in the East (18-18) with 31 points but after seeing the end of their four-game winning streak, he admitted their opponents were the real deal.
23 Times this season that the Brooklyn Nets have scored at least 120 points.
"That's a really good team," he said. "A couple of us didn't shoot it well so obviously there's some things we could do better."
In Los Angeles, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George combined for 45 points as the Los Angeles Clippers clobbered the Golden State Warriors 130-104 in the first game for both teams since the All-Star break.
Leonard shot 10 of 17 from the floor for 28 points and George tallied 17 points for the Clippers, who ended a three-game losing streak with the blowout win.
The Warriors' Stephen Curry was held to 14 points on six-of-16 shooting.
"Nobody likes the feeling of getting smacked," he said. "We had an opportunity to set the tone for the second half of the season and obviously we didn't do it."
Meanwhile, the league revealed that LeBron James and the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers were the top sellers in NBA jerseys and merchandise, with the Nets also rising to team-record sales levels.
The results were based upon NBA store website sales for the first half of the 2020-21 NBA season, which concluded last week.
Only rankings and not sales figures were released.
James topped the list individually, with Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and Durant rounding out the top three.
The Nets were second on the team list after the Lakers, while the Warriors were third.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
