Durant’s skill decides the top – Al-Ittihad newspaper

Miami (AFP)

Veteran Kevin Durant led his Brooklyn Nets team to the top spot, with his host New Orleans Pelicans 108-102, on Friday in the NBA.
The Nets, whose streak ended at 12 on Wednesday, lost to the Chicago Bulls, trailing 53-64 at halftime, but rallied the game in the third quarter.
Durant also grabbed 10 rebounds, marking the 111th time he has collected 30 or more points with ten rebounds.
On the other hand, the Pelicans missed its stars, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, through injury, but put up a dogged performance in front of its host.
New Orleans got off to a good start, with a ten-point lead in the first quarter, after a nice three by Nagy Marshall. But the Nets got into the game mood and took a lead in the third quarter, 35-21.
And for Durant, fellow star Kyrie Irving (19 points) emerged at the defining moment, scoring a long-playing hat-trick with 43 seconds left in the half to put his team ahead 106-100, before setting up two free throws that they secured victory.
“It was a story of two halves,” said 34-year-old Durant. “Even though we weren’t able to react at the start of the match, we kept pressing and scored a solid victory.”
Brooklyn raised its tally to 26 wins against 13 losses, placing it second in the Eastern Province behind the league leaders Boston Celtics (27-12).
As for New Orleans, which lost for the fifth time at home this season, its mark became 24-15 in third place in the West Region behind the Denver Nuggets (26-13) and Memphis Grizzlies (25-13).
The Charlotte Hornets matched the first quarter scoring record, when they scored 51 points against the hosts, the Milwaukee Bucks, to then beat them 138-109.
The Golden State Warriors achieved this feat in 2019 on the Denver Nuggets basket.
Thierry Rozier was the leading scorer for Charlotte, which has a modest Eastern Province record (11-29), scoring 39 points, and distributor LaMelo Paul added 24 points and 12 assists, BJ Washington 23 points and center player Mason Plumley 17 points and 15 rebounds.
On the other side, Greek star Yannis Antetokounmpo scored 9 points in 22 minutes with Pax, third in the eastern region (25-14).
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer expressed his concern about the common mistakes that have been repeated in his team’s losses earlier this season: “We have not yet reached the level of a team capable of competing in the NBA, in more than one occasion, and that is worrying.”
For the first time this season, the Los Angeles Lakers had a four-game hitting streak, beating the Atlanta Hawks 130-114.
Veteran star LeBron James had 25 points, as well as 7 rebounds and 10 assists, while fellow star Anthony Davis continued to be sidelined with injury.
Kendrick Nan added 23 points after coming off the bench and Germany’s Dennis Schroeder added 21, while Tray Young was the best of the underdogs with 32 points.
In Denver, Serbian giant Nikola Jokic had his tenth “Triple Double” this season, posting 28 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, as he led the Nuggets to a victory over their hosts, the Cleveland Cavaliers, fourth in the Eastern Province, 121- 108.
The Nuggets, the leaders in the West Region, have won nine times in their last ten games.
In the underdog, which he lost after 3 straight and still missed by his star Donovan Mitchell, Karis Lover scored 22 points and distributor Darius Garland 21.
And the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers’ 11-game home hitting streak ended as they lost to the Chicago Bulls 112-126.
Distributor Zach Lavin was the man of the match, having scored 41 points, including 11 from three-point range, and Montenegrin center forward Nikola Vucevich added a triple-double (ten or more in three statistical categories) as he scored 19 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists.
And Philadelphia missed Cameroonian giants Joel Embiid for the second consecutive time, with pain in his left foot. Philadelphia’s 12-game hitting streak over the Chicago Bulls also came to an end.
The New York Knicks earned their fourth consecutive victory, 112-108, against the Toronto Raptors, in a game in which Julius Randle emerged with 32 points and 11 rebounds.
Knicks forward Jaylen Branson, with 26 points and 8 assists, said of him: “He plays well and with confidence. It’s good to see him come back so strong. He has a lot to prove, not to others but to himself because he has so much energy which he must draw”.