Basketball: Nets run winning streak to 11 by beating Hornets again
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P. J. Washington of the Charlotte Hornets (right) guarding Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets in the first quarter on Dec 31, 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
Charlotte – Kyrie Irving poured in 28 points and Kevin Durant had 23, as the Brooklyn Nets won their 11th game in a row by routing hosts Charlotte Hornets 123-106 on Saturday night.
Durant warned that the Nets, who lost in the first round of the 2022 National Basketball Association play-offs, are “looking for bigger and better things in 2023”.
He told ESPN: “It was one of those years you reflect on and you see the turning points in the organisation. We’ve seen different moments that brought us together as a group...
“So we went through a lot in this calendar year, but we’re looking for bigger and better things in 2023.”
Elaborating on some of those difficult moments, he said: “Guys out the line-up, Kyrie out the line-up, James Harden demanded a trade, there was a lot of stuff that we went through.
“How we started from an outside perspective, the noise around our team, it’s good that we can be about ball going into this new year.”
Brooklyn broke out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and rode 60-per cent shooting from the field for the game to cruise to the win.
Said Hornets centre Mason Plumlee: ‘’Coach said they were the hottest team in the league right now. So we knew that.
“And I thought we did pretty well after that first quarter.’‘
The Nets began their winning streak by beating the Hornets 122-116 in Brooklyn on Dec 7, but Saturday’s meeting had a more comfortable margin. It was only the fourth game in the streak where the Nets won by double digits.
Brooklyn’s high-scoring duo had plenty of help as Nic Claxton and Royce O’Neale both racked up 14 points, Yuta Watanabe had 11 and T.J. Warren added 10.
The Nets made 13 shots from three-point range, so it did not matter that Charlotte outscored them 19-14 on free throws. Irving shot 11 for 19 from the field with four treys, and Durant was nine for 15.
LaMelo Ball’s 23 points and 11 assists and Plumlee’s 22 points and 10 rebounds led the Hornets. They also received 16 points from Terry Rozier, 12 from P.J. Washington and 10 from Jalen McDaniels.
The Hornets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday to begin a four-game homestand, but they have lost six of their last seven home games.
Ball accounted for five of their 11 baskets from three-point range.
Several statistical categories were pretty much even – Charlotte’s 45-41 rebounding edge and Brooklyn’s 14 turnovers to Charlotte’s 12 – other than shooting percentages. The Hornets made 39.6 per cent of their shots from the field.
Brooklyn outscored the Hornets 13-5 in the last 3½ minutes of the third quarter to build a 97-79 advantage. Watanabe drained two treys in the last 67 seconds of the quarter.
The Nets held a 10-point lead by the end of the first quarter and extended it to 61-49 by half-time.
The Hornets made just two of 18 attempts from three-point range in the first half. REUTERS
