Kevin Durant  scores 32 points, Nets shut down Young to top Hawks

The Nets won their third straight game to reach 5-3 and showed signs of finally building some early-season momentum with a 117-108 victory over the Hawks Wednesday night at Barclays Center. But even though they got a terrific 32-point performance from Kevin Durant, the real key was the defensive job they did on Hawks star Trae Young.

Young totaled 21 points, shooting a poor 6-for-22. He scored only 10 points over the final three periods and often looked lost. Bruce Brown was the primary defender most of the night on Young.

"I think we did a good job fighting over screens," Durant said of the Nets’ outstanding second half-defense. "Trae Young is dangerous in that pick and roll, but I thought we did a solid job of playing him tough all night and making him shoot over guys. When you take a lot of shots, that is really what we want… 21 points on 22 shots for their best player, we can live with that. For the most part we were connected tonight."

The Nets' lead reached 17 points early in the fourth period after consecutive threes by Patty Mills. The Hawks cut their deficit to 10 midway through the quarter, but James Harden hit consecutive three-pointers, the last of which turned into a four-point play when he was fouled, to restore a 113-96 lead at the 5:50 mark. Young’s struggles continued down the stretch as the Nets maintained a comfortable cushion to the end.

Harden had just three points at halftime but showed up big-time when the Nets took control in the third quarter.

"I thought it was in a sense a tale of two halves," Nets coach Steve Nash said of Harden. "I think it shows his character. He made some defensive errors in the first half. He held the ball when they unloaded the defense in the first half a couple times. We watched some tape at halftime and he showed an incredible willingness to step in and make a catch and shoot threes, to get off when he drew a crowd, to make plays defensively. So I’m incredibly proud of him on a night where it didn't go well to start he hung in there, and showed a winning mentality and made some incredible plays in the second half, very big plays as well.

Duran shot 13-for-20, Joe Harris added 18 points on 6 of 8 shooting from three-point range, Harden totaled 16 points and 11 assists, and Mills added 14 off the bench. The Nets shot 22-of-48 (45.8%) from three-point range, which was a season-high in makes. De'Andre Hunter topped the Hawks with 26 points, including 6 of 6 from three-point range.

Brown did a solid job early on Young, who had 11 first-quarter points but only shot 3-for-9. He totaled only four points in the second and third quarters.

Late in the third quarter, the Hawks were up three when the Nets put together a 13-3 surge that ended with seven straight points from Durant to regain an 82-75 advantage. The Hawks pulled within four, but then the Nets finished the period with 12 straight points, including five from Durant, whose three before the buzzer pushed their lead to a game-high 95-79.

"It was our pace," Harden said of that game-breaking stretch. "Obviously, Kevin made some shots. But just everybody putting a foot in the paint. Our defense really helped us a lot as well, create turnovers, getting out of transition and getting easy wins for us. Collectively, I think everybody who touched the floor played extremely well on both ends of the ball, just smart basketball. We're starting to feel comfortable with each other and it's showing on the court."

The Hawks matchup was the final one of a season-high six-game homestand, and it came just before the start of a season-high six-game road trip Friday night in Detroit.

By Greg Logan

Gregory.Logan@newsday.comGregLogan1

Greg Logan has worked for Newsday since 1982 covering a wide array of sports and events, currently including the Brooklyn Nets beat.