Nets star Kyrie Irving says his team’s struggles towards shorthanded groups isn’t merely a byproduct of overlooking or disrespecting the opponent.
Instead, after Brooklyn’s win towards the Toronto Raptors on Thanksgiving Eve, Irving steered the expertise within the NBA — significantly the younger expertise — is starting to shut the space between themselves and the league’s elite veteran gamers.
“The game of basketball is becoming a multidimensional type of performance out there,” stated Irving. “Young guys are coming at us older guys each single night time and so they’re working at a really fast tempo, threes are going up left and proper. Even should you have a look at the Philly recreation, I feel we shot round 60% and we held them to decrease than 45%, however that they had much more threes and much more alternatives on the offensive glass and so they have been simply creating extra momentum.
“So I think the game is becoming a lot younger, more athletic. Guys are getting to the three-point line, and us as quote-unquote ‘guys with 10-plus years in this league,’ we’ve got to keep up and make sure we’re playing our style of basketball, which is everyone’s touching it and everyone has the ability to score or to be aggressive.”
The Nets misplaced to a Philadelphia 76ers group with out Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey earlier than defeating an much more depleted Raptors group within the second recreation of a back-to-back on Wednesday.
“It really was a standard that we have to have for each other, and that standard is: finishing plays — you didn’t see as many breakdowns at the end of plays tonight,” stated head coach Jacque Vaughn. “The concentration level (is up), and a big piece of that is holding each other to a higher standard. I thought from the beginning of the game, you saw that.”
Irving scored 29 factors on 11-of-16 taking pictures from the sector towards the Raptors on Wednesday. He additionally scored 23 factors in 10-of-18 taking pictures within the loss to Philadelphia.
Nets star Ben Simmons famous Irving is merely settling again into his position after serving an eight-game suspension.
“[He’s] just being Kyrie,” Simmons stated. “That’s what we want him to do: be himself and have that confidence to come out and take those shots and be who he is. He’s an incredible player, incredible teammate, so I’m glad he had a night like tonight.”
Vaughn stated it didn’t take a lot of a concerted effort to get Irving rolling.
“Doesn’t take time much. He’s gifted, talented, he can score on any court,” Vaughn stated. “Got a couple to go his way, and once that happens, off you go.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com