Kyrie Irving was courtside but not eligible. Ben Simmons was injured. But Kevin Durant dominated. That’s all the Nets need.
Durant led Brooklyn to a 110-107 win over the Knicks on Sunday, chanting “MVP! Best player!” at the Barclays Center.
Durant scored 53 points, the second most in a career likely to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He shot 19 of 37 from the floor, handed out nine assists and grabbed six rebounds. Durant even played a harassing defense when needed against Julius Randle and R.J. Barrett, picking up missing Irving, Simmons, LaMarcus Aldridge, Joe Harris and Seth Curry, who came late, to the Nets.
“I didn’t know Seth wasn’t home. [until late],” Durant said in a post-match TV interview. “I felt like we were missing a powerful scoring shot, so I had to rebound him.”
Kevin Durant tries to drive past Knicks center Mitchell Robinson during the first half of a game at the Barclays Center on Sunday. Robert Szabo/New York Post
Durant’s 16-foot jumper gave Brooklyn a 101-94 lead with 4:54 left. But moments later, Randle knocked him out (team record 26), kicked his butt and walked away, dazed, waiting for a call, while Randle went the other way with the ball. Goran Dragic was whistled for a foul on a clear path on Randle while Durant protested to the referee.
This game seemed to inspire the Knicks and devastate Brooklyn. The Nets allowed nine unanswered points, capped by R. J. Barrett (24 points) leading the Knicks to a 103–101 victory with 2:52 left.
But center Andre Drummond dunked to close the game with 2:12 left. And after the Knicks predictably beat Durant, he passed the ball, returned it, and hit a huge three-pointer with 56.3 seconds left.
After Randle’s dunk and Durant’s miss, the Knicks, one point behind, had one last chance. But when Evan Fournier tried to make an inside pass, Bruce Brown got up and made an interception. Nick Claxton picked up a loose ball, and after a Nets timeout, Alec Burks had to intentionally foul Durant at the entrance.
Duran calmly swamped both on the lane with 6.6 seconds left. And after Barrett hit the first free throw and seemingly missed the second but only hit the net, Brooklyn still held the lead with 2.6 seconds remaining in regulation.
Julius Randle scores a pair of Nets defensemen. Robert Szabo/New York Post
There would be no overtime.
“I hope our guys are locked in and have a sense of desperation and a sense of opportunity,” said Steve Nash. “Finally, most of our guys are back in the roster, so I think that having this opportunity to play and play together and have a more established team should be interesting for our guys. Though it was an emotional victory Thursday night [in Philadelphia] I hope they had time to get over it and prepare for today’s game.”
The Nets (35-33) are 2.5 games behind the seventh-seeded Toronto and two ahead of the Hornets and Hawks.
The Knicks (28-40) were five games behind the last pair outside of the play-in.
“When you have a guy like Durant and then you add Curry and Patty Mills, Dragica to that,” Tom Thibodeau said. “And then if you lose sight of Bruce Brown, you will make a huge mistake and Drummond will become a monster on the board. So this is a very talented team. And then when you add Kairi into the mix, and eventually you add Simmons into the mix¸ when you talk about top notch talent, they got it.