NBA: Nets hold off Pacers for second win of season
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Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant (right) shooting during the first half at Barclays Centre in New York on Oct 31, 2022.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – Kevin Durant scored 36 points on a milestone night on Monday to help the Brooklyn Nets fend off the Indiana Pacers 116-109 – arresting a four-game slide and claiming a badly needed second win of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season.
Durant’s tally for the night at the Barclays Centre also moved him to 19th spot on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, with his 25,754 points pushing him ahead of his idol Vince Carter (25,728).
“Vince Carter is the first player I watched and idolised as a kid, so it’s pretty cool to pass him up,” said the 34-year-old.
Teammate Nic Claxton was thoroughly impressed by the NBA veteran star.
“You definitely can’t take him for granted,” he said on ESPN. “Seeing him work his way back from the Achilles injury, went to rehab and how serious he took every single step.
“And now these past few years, he’s doing his thing. Definitely you don’t take that for granted. It’s a pleasure to watch.”
Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and Claxton chipped in 19 for the Nets, who led by as many as 24 points but were tied at 100-100 with 6min 54sec to play.
“We stayed poised,” Durant said in an on-court, post-game interview.
“They threw a lot of junk in the game, running and jumping us at half-court, pressuring us, trying to speed the game up. We took our time, guys made shots down the stretch, got stops as well.”
Brooklyn took a 92-85 lead into the final quarter but Indiana tied it up on Chris Duarte’s driving lay-up.
The Nets answered with a two-handed dunk from Claxton off a miss by Irving and a pull-up jump shot from Durant – who finally clinched the victory with a pair of free-throws.
After watching his star-studded team get off to a struggling start this season, Nets coach Steve Nash said he liked what he saw from them.
“It was very important for us to get a response,” he said. “The win is nice but I care much more about the process.
“I thought our process was great, our spirit was great. We were connected. We played hard.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, meanwhile, admitted that his team were not as desperate as the Nets to win and, as a result, deserved their defeat.
He said on ESPN: “Their level of desperation was really there, I thought.” AFP, REUTERS
