Heartbreaker doesn’t do it justice.
Kevin Durant made 62 straight free throws getting into the ultimate 10 seconds of the fourth quarter in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. His streak dated again to Oct. 26 — and it ended on the sport’s remaining possession.
Up three, the Mavericks unintentionally fouled Durant whereas he was within the taking pictures movement from behind the arc, and after making the primary free throw, Durant’s second ricocheted off the entrance of the rim, clanked again iron then fell to the bottom.
“I’ve gotta make that. That’s the game,” Durant stated in an expletive-laden rant after the sport. “I felt like I went by my complete routine. Damn, I ought to have shot it a bit stronger.
“It sucks. I tell guys all the time, ‘They’re free,’ and I went up there and missed one. It sucks. Nothing much more I can say about it.”
The Mavericks held on for a 96-94 win in Dallas.
What a chilly flip of occasions, one of the vital gifted scorers in all of basketball missed a free throw that would have prolonged Brooklyn’s successful streak to 3 and despatched the Nets again residence on prime of the world after enduring the previous week-and-a-half’s drama.
To borrow a line, nevertheless, from the Book of Nash, Monday evening wasn’t as a lot concerning the outcome because it was concerning the really feel.
For the primary time all season, the Nets really feel like a top quality basketball workforce. Even although their early-season file (4-7) would possibly recommend in any other case.
It was a troublesome method for the Nets to lose: They led 25-11 within the first quarter and trailed by 11 with beneath 4 minutes left within the fourth earlier than rallying again to make it a one-possession sport with Durant in place to drive additional time.
This was after the Nets got here again from down 12 within the fourth quarter to beat the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday, and after they set a brand new file at Capital One Arena by defeating the Washington Wizards by 42 the sport prior.
It’s turn into clear the Nets have discovered one thing throughout this three-game highway journey. They are beginning to discover an identification at each ends of the ground.
“We’re trying to establish the kind of offensive and defensive team we want to be. I think we found some things on this trip that work for all of us,” stated Durant, who completed with 26 factors on 10-of-20 taking pictures from the sphere. “Just little various things we strive to determine on the defensive aspect of the ball, and all people performs extraordinarily onerous.
“So that builds confidence, especially getting wins on the road, playing good games in a row, tight games on the road. Those fourth-quarter minutes are gonna help all our players as we move forward throughout the season.”
Even extra spectacular is that the Nets have performed their finest basketball with out two of their finest gamers — make it three, as a result of Yuta Watanabe, whose spectacular play off the bench earned him a hard and fast spot within the Nets’ rotation, needed to be helped off the ground on Monday after sustaining what the workforce is asking a sprained left ankle.
Watanabe couldn’t put any weight on his foot and was virtually instantly dominated out for the sport.
The Nets will doubtless miss him for a while. As for Brooklyn’s different two stars, uncertainty continues to loom.
There’s no telling when Kyrie Irving will meet the mandatory benchmarks to return to play after the Nets suspended him a minimal of 5 video games for failing to adequately apologize after posting the hyperlink to an antisemitic movie on his social media channels.
It additionally stays unclear how for much longer Ben Simmons wants earlier than returning to All-Star type.
Simmons performed in a restricted capability on Monday after lacking 4 straight video games with a swollen knee. He had fluid drained from his knee final week and returned to the rotation in opposition to the Mavericks however did not make an affect: In 16 minutes, Simmons tallied simply two factors, three rebounds and two assists with two turnovers.
Interim coach Jacque Vaughn went with beginning middle Nic Claxton over Simmons within the closing minutes of the fourth.
“It was good to get out there and have no pain. That was the main thing for me: to have no pain, get up and down the floor, sprint, run, jump. So that felt good,” Simmons stated postgame. “I’m my harshest critic, so I think [I played] terrible. There’s a place I want to get to, and I’ve gotta keep working and keep pushing myself and adapting, so I’ll get there.”
The Nets, at the least outwardly, stay optimistic Simmons will return to type.
Both Vaughn and Durant stated they had been happy with how Simmons pushed the tempo. For what felt like the primary time all season, Simmons pressed the turbo button, utilizing a burst of pace to get by a defender, although solely three shot makes an attempt on the evening suggests Simmons nonetheless has a strategy to go.
Yet in some way, with out Irving’s manufacturing, and not using a absolutely wholesome Simmons, with Watanabe exiting after simply 5 minutes of play, and in opposition to a participant many have tabbed because the runaway favourite for league MVP, the Nets nonetheless had an opportunity to win it on the finish.
Luka Doncic completed with a game-high 36 factors, and the Mavericks made life troublesome for Durant with what he known as a “gimmicky” protection, sending one or two further our bodies at him at totally different pickup factors all evening lengthy.
When the double-teams got here, his teammates stepped up: Cam Thomas got here off the bench and scored 19, Royce O’Neale hit 4 threes, Joe Harris scored 14 factors and Claxton completed with 10 factors and 14 boards.
If solely Durant might have that free throw again, then the Nets may be headed again to New York on a three-game successful streak earlier than defending residence courtroom in opposition to the Knicks on Wednesday.
Then once more, Monday evening wasn’t concerning the outcome, even when it was a heartbreaking, odds-defying defeat.
Monday evening was concerning the really feel, and the Nets lastly really feel like the standard basketball workforce the names on paper would point out — though it took some names being faraway from the rotation for this workforce to hit its stride.
“We settled down, we got some good looks, we executed at the end of the game,” Vaughn stated. “We put ourselves — again — in position to win.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com