AP
U.S
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant couldn’t wear those blue jerseys the Nets used to wear 30 years ago. Regardless, his team dominated the NBA leader.
Joe Harris scored 28 points, his highest number of the season, and Brooklyn, despite playing without its two stars, defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 122-109 on Thursday.
Irving and Durant didn’t even don the New Jersey Nets uniform of 30 years ago on a night of remembrance. However, the team got off to a good start and had a double-digit advantage for most of the second half.
Brooklyn won its second straight game without Durant.
Obviously, this team is totally different when those guys are here, said point guard Caris LeVert, who had 22 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. But I think we did a great job to get the players who were there to respond. They all played their part and did what we needed as a team.
Jarrett Allen added 15 points and 11 boards for the Nets.
Irving was ruled out last Thursday afternoon due to personal problems, although coach Steve Nash said before the game that he had not spoken with his point guard and did not know the reason for his absence, assuring that it is a private matter.
FORGOTTEN ACTION
The Nets were without Durant for the second game in a row due to NBA health and safety protocols. Nash indicated that Durant will be available next Sunday if he continues to test negative for coronavirus.
The 76ers came 7-1 after one of their best performances of the season, in which they made 61.7 percent of their field goals, the most of the season, in a 141-136 win over Washington last Wednesday.
But they couldn’t emulate that performance. Joel Embiid started slow before finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Shake Milton set his season-high 24 points in his first game as a starter this season in place of Seth Curry, who suffered an ankle pain, but Ben Simmons was limited to 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.
KNIGHTS TRIUMPHED
Andre Drummond had 22 points and 15 rebounds, while Larry Nance Jr. added 18 points by making his seven shots from the field, for the Cleveland Knights to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies 95-90.
Cedi Osman scored 16 points for Cleveland to end a two-game losing streak. JaVale McGee added 13 units.
Jonas Valanciunas led Memphis with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Brandon Clarke added 14 points. Dillon Brooks scored 11, but made just 4 of 13 shots from the field.
The Knights did not have their leading scorer Collin Sexton, who was out with a sprained left ankle. This left the rest of the Knights trying to regain the 25.1 points Sexton averages per game.
After the chaos of last Wednesday in the United States Capitol and to protest against racial and social injustices, the teams paused at the beginning of the meeting, lined up in the band, linked arms and knelt. The players were joined by coaches, staff and substitutes who filled the entire band from start to finish. The three referees knelt in the middle of the court behind the line of players.
OTHER RESULTS
A trip to Los Angeles turned out to be just what the San Antonio Spurs needed to get out of the pothole they were in at the start of the season.
Two nights after defeating the Clippers to snap a four-game losing streak, the Spurs reaped another win at Staples Center Thursday by beating the Los Angeles Lakers 118-109.
LaMarcus Aldridge led San Antonio with 28 points, his personal best of the course, and was one of five who finished in double figures. Demar DeRozan had 19 points and eight assists. The Spurs were 16 of 35 in shooting from 3s after converting 20 against the Clippers.
LeBron James finished with 27 points and Anthony Davis had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who saw their four-game winning streak snapped.
San Antonio scored the first nine points and was ahead on the board the entire game. A Lonnie Walker IV basket gave the Spurs an 84-74 lead in the third quarter, before the Lakers signed a 15-5 run to equalize the score. A shot by Montrezl Harrell after a miss by Talen Horton-Tucker left the score 89-89 with 1:04 remaining, but the Spurs took the reins again.
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