Durant’s return amplified Nets to leave victorious against his former team
After missing the entire previous season, Kevin Durant has returned from an ACL injury and embraced the beginning of this season next to his close friend Kyrie Irving, his trainer for a couple of years and now his coach Steve Nash and his old teammate Stephen Curry with whom he won two championships.
It was a great night for Durant who scored 22 points in 25 minutes of his first official game since rupturing his Achilles tendon while playing for Golden State in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
This blowout victory was more like a test for him to see how he is feeling while on the court, to attempt shots that he used to make and realize where he is at from an offensive and defensive standpoint.
“I tried not to make too big a deal out of this whole thing and realize I’ve been playing this game since I was 8 years old, so just got to revert back to what I know,” Durant said.
Irving had a robust start making most of his shots in the first quarter and putting a lot of pressure on the opposition in every opportunity he had. He led Nets with 26 points, four rebounds and four assists (10/16 FG, 4/7 3s, 2/2 FT), their third star Caris Levert who played for 25 minutes added 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals and Brooklyn made good impressions and demonstrated their depth in a 99–125 victory over Golden State.
Stephen Curry had 20 points and 10 assists, but the rookie James Wiseman was the one who earned the spotlight after showcasing his confidence and physicality adding 19 points and six rebounds for the Warriors. Wiseman took advantage of the fact that Nets had built a 20+point lead and had the courage to attempt some difficult shots and made most of them. Definitely a great impression for the rookie who was selected as №2 in the NBA Draft.
Steve Kerr praised the seven-footer and admitted that the future will be bright for him.
“He played really well. He looked great out there. James showed exactly why we’re really excited about him. He’s got a bright future.”
Kerr was very disappointed following the Warriors’ blowout loss to open the season: “I didn’t like our level of competition. I actually thought we would compete harder and play better defense. And we didn’t do that. The lack of physicality and competition was the most disappointing thing.”
The Warriors were missing Draymond Green last night due to a foot injury. Kerr acknowledges the importance of his absence and knows that his defensive qualities would raise the competition in the game: “We need his fire. That was apparent tonight. We fell behind early and got a little discouraged.”
NEXT GAME
Warriors will visit Milwaukee on Friday, while Nets will travel to Boston where there are mixed emotions for Irving who left in bad terms a couple of years ago.