Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant propel Nets to play-in win over Cavaliers
After an entire regular season of questions about whether the Nets could just flip the switch, they answered with a wire-to-wire 115-108 play-in win over Cleveland.
Now they’ll have to do it against a contender.
Tuesday’s win before a sellout crowd of 17,732 — including Jay-Z seated courtside — that chanted “We want Boston! We want Boston!” earned Brooklyn the No. 7 seed in the East, and a first-round date against the second-seeded Celtics.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant led the way and made their teammates better. Irving poured in a game-high 34 points with a dozen assists on efficient 12 of 15 shooting. Durant continued to play a complete game against defenses designed to stop him, putting up 25 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and three blocks.
“That’s as advertised,” coach Steve Nash said. “They’re superstars: That’s what top players do.”
They’re the first Nets teammates with 20 and 10 since Derrick Coleman and Rumeal Robinson on April 15, 1993, against Boston. Brooklyn could need more of that against the Celtics, who have had the NBA’s best defense in the second half of the season.
Irving hit his first dozen shots — the most in his career to open a game — before finally missing with 10:09 to play. By then the Nets had already built a 40-20 cushion after one, seen it balloon to 22 in the third quarter and still led 87-75.
The fact Irving did it while fasting for Ramadan — not eating or drinking from sunup to sundown — made it all the more stunning.
“It’s a blessing to be able to do it and still be able to perform. It’s not easy by any stretch of the imagination,” Irving said. “So, you can’t really take any moment for granted during the day. I don’t really have time or the attention to give [to distractions].
“I come in here and I just pay attention to the details and remind myself that I’m breathing, and that’s enough. It really simplifies life, and puts it in a greater perspective. … You can’t really think about being hungry or anything like that. It’s just a fun journey. I’m enjoying it.”
The Nets certainly enjoyed it. Durant, who saw the Cavs blitz and double-team him early, left impressed.
“Everybody who does Ramadan, that’s tough to do, especially when you have a job like this,” Durant said. “To play an NBA game like that? The last week or shows he’s a different human being. Hopefully he keeps it up. He was great.”
Darius Garland led Cleveland with 34 points, but the Nets’ much-maligned defense harassed the Cavs in building a big early lead.
With Jarrett Allen injured (finger) and not there to protect the Cavaliers’ rim, coach J.B. Bickerstaff tossed out an early 3-2 zone. But it didn’t work.
Bruce Brown had 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. And Durant did it on both ends, blocking Lauri Markkanen on one end and finding Andre Drummond (16 points, eight boards) for a dunk.
That made it 17-9, and moments later Durant threw a bounce pass to Irving on the fast break. It put the Nets up 23-14 with 3:52 in the first quarter.
A jumper from center Nic Claxton (13 points, nine boards and five blocks) doubled up Cleveland 40-20 to close the first.
Irving beat the halftime buzzer to make it 57-43 at intermission, and later found Drummond for a cutting layup that padded the cushion to 69-47.
Brooklyn saw its lead trimmed to 99-93, but Durant responded with back-to-back buckets to end the threat. And the Cavs.
Now Boston beckons, with Game 1 on Sunday at TD Garden.
“It’s another challenge for us and another test. We’ve answered a few questions toward the end of the season where we were in the No. 10 spot and one day later we were in the seventh spot,” Irving said. “Now it’s time to focus in on what the goal is, and that’s to be in that winners circle in the next two months or so and keep playing until June.”
