Kevin Durant injures knee, but youngsters step up as Nets rout Pelicans

The Nets were tantalizingly close to having their full complement of players after Saturday night. They were going on the road, which meant Kyrie Irving would be back in the picture. LaMarcus Aldridge and Nic Claxton were making significant progress and were expected to return soon. And though Joe Harris’ return is still down the line, they had Patty Mills back in the lineup after he missed the previous game to rest.

But nothing comes easy to this apparently snake-bitten team. That became quite evident in the second quarter of Saturday’s 120-105 drubbing of the Pelicans at Barclays Center when Kevin Durant injured his left knee.

Durant, who had scored 12 points in a little more than 12 minutes, was hurt when teammate Bruce Brown bumped into a driving Herbert Jones and fell backward into him. Durant fell awkwardly and held his knee as he limped to the locker room with what the Nets called a sprain. He’ll have an MRI on Sunday, Steve Nash said.

Nash, who didn’t speak to Durant after he got hurt, had no further update.

"Of course it’ll be tough to lose him," he said. "No one wants to see that and we’ll obviously hope for the best outcome, but regardless of the outcome, we have to continue to work, build and grow and get better and compete."

And more often than not this season, that’s meant other players stepping up and into more prominent roles. That certainly happened Saturday. The Nets had themselves a junior version of the Big 3, with three of their four rookies playing well.

Cam Thomas scored 20 points, Kessler Edwards had 16 and Day’Ron Sharpe added 12 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double. At 20 years and 70 days, it makes him the fourth-youngest Net to achieve the feat. Edwards, Thomas and Sharpe are the first three Nets rookies to reach double-digits in the same game since 2013.

"They’re getting better," said James Harden, who had 27 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds.

"Every game they’re learning, and I think one thing that they bring consistently is their effort. That’s all that matters.

"Obviously, Day’Ron is very skilled, got really good hands at finishing and rebounding the basketball, and then Kess defensively on the wing is active, and him knocking down the three is huge for us. But they bring that energy and that effort for us every single night. It’s contagious and it rubs off on each and every individual on the team."

The Nets (27-15, 12-11 at home) put together a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter, capped by Durant’s three with 5:25 to go for a 21-10 lead. They went up by 13 with 1:20 left and led 32-22 after a quarter, making it only their fourth double-digit lead after one quarter this season.

The Nets were up by 28 at the break, propelled by Edwards, who scored 13 points in the second quarter. He shot 3-for-4 from three-point range in that quarter, showing a versatility that Nash said the Nets knew was there.

Though his defense was a big draw when he was drafted in the second round, Edwards shot nearly 40% from the perimeter in his three years at Pepperdine.

"We know that he shot the ball well in college," Nash said before the game. "It feels like he’s refined his mechanics. That’s what my eye says. It had quite a pronounced motion to it and now he seems to have really streamlined the motion and taken a lot of that out.

"Most importantly, he looks confident. He steps in and shoots the ball when he’s open and is eager to shoot it, and that’s the way it’s got to be if you want to make shots, if you want to improve as a shooter."

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.