After lacking the previous three video games due to a bruised thigh, Brooklyn Nets ahead Kevin Durant returned on Sunday and erupted for 33 factors in 28 minutes in a 128-119 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns.
“It is like driving a motorbike,” Durant mentioned. “You get your footing proper and simply get your rhythm going; and I feel my teammates did an incredible job of in search of me all sport, and I simply wished to resort again to that work I put in. The pictures I work on at observe and shootaround, attempt to get to these as a lot as potential to achieve my rhythm after which begin to get just a little extra inventive as the sport progressed. It was a superb begin.
“Hopefully, I construct on this sport and hold going.”
For the third time this season, Durant got here off the bench for the Nets, checking in with eight minutes left within the second quarter. The Nets wished to backload Durant’s minutes, enjoying him extra within the second half, throughout which he spent 20 of the ultimate 24 minutes on the ground.
“I simply cope with it and adapt to the state of affairs,” Durant mentioned. “Coach requested me immediately if I wished to start out or come off the bench, and I felt like it will be a much bigger problem for me to focus in and lock in if I got here off the bench, so I wished to see how that labored. If I might’ve shot unhealthy, I most likely would’ve been pissed I got here off the bench, however I used to be in a position to knock down some pictures. But it surely was stable train for me to ease again into the swing of issues.”
Coach Steve Nash mentioned in session with the efficiency employees that the plan was to maintain Durant at round 28 minutes of enjoying time. Selecting the best way to greatest allocate the minutes led to the choice of bringing Durant off the bench.
“You assume massive image. I might reasonably fall behind and have Kevin within the again pocket than go up and need to say, ‘OK, Kevin, you are finished,’ within the third quarter,” Nash mentioned. “I feel that is form of the give-and-take with it, and he is been on board with it; so props to Kevin to being prepared to attempt one thing like this that I feel offers us an opportunity to be as versatile as we might be below these circumstances.”
Durant seamlessly match again into the Brooklyn offense, enjoying off Kyrie Irving, who cooked from tipoff, scoring 34 factors on 10-of-19 taking pictures, together with 5-of-7 from three, to go along with 12 assists.
“It is extra the norm than the extraordinary for these two,” Nash mentioned of the 2 stars’ mixed effectivity.
Certainly one of Durant’s many uncommon abilities is a capability to search out an immediate rhythm and stand up to any potential rust from an extended layoff. Durant has needed to cope with a run of accidents and different points over the previous two years, beginning together with his Achilles tendon damage two years in the past, then league COVID-19 protocols requiring him to take a seat this season, adopted by a hamstring damage that pressured him to overlook a number of weeks.
“Kevin has proven his scoring would not appear to get affected by an extended layoff, whether or not it was coming off the Achilles or coming off the hamstring,” Nash mentioned. “He appears to return proper again, and his rhythm and timing are wonderful. It’s totally spectacular, for certain.”
The Nets took management of the sport late within the third quarter and early within the fourth, as Durant heated up with a flurry of buckets. Even with out James Harden, who continues to get better from a strained hamstring, the Nets dealt with the Suns, who had simply gone on a tour in opposition to Jap Convention friends, together with the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.
“It is simply one other sport. I feel they take a look at us as a measuring stick,” Durant mentioned of the Suns. “They’re contemporary on the scene as an elite workforce, so that is fairly new to them. So we wished to gauge and take that physicality they convey, the toughness and quickness they convey, however that is all it was. One other day on the workplace.”
Because the Nets plod via the rest of the schedule, the main target is on recapturing chemistry and rhythm for his or her major rotation gamers, whereas additionally holding an eye fixed towards well being and wellness. With the win, the Nets have taken a 1.5-game lead for the East’s prime seed over the 76ers.
“Proper now, particularly this level of the season, it is about engaged on us,” Brooklyn ahead Blake Griffin mentioned. “We’ve not all been on the ground collectively, and we’re coming down the stretch right here the place we actually have to tighten issues up.”