James Harden's triple-double leads Nets rout of Pistons

Kevin Durant has carried the Nets early in the season while Kyrie Irving remains absent because he is unvaccinated, but Durant was ejected in the third period Sunday night at Barclays Center for an excessively hard foul to the head of the Pistons’ Kelly Olynyk.

But it didn’t matter for the Nets because their remaining superstar, James Harden, had a triple-double to power them to a convincing 117-91 victory over the Pistons to climb above .500 for the first time this season at 4-3.

Following Durant’s ejection, the Pistons turned that into a four-point possession to pull within 13 points. But the Nets responded with a powerful 11-0 surge to push their lead to a high of 24 points, and Harden had the assists on all five baskets in that stretch as the Nets took a 96-74 lead to the final period. By that time, Harden already had his triple-double and didn’t play in garbage time when the Nets led by as much as 30 points.

"You lose Kevin, you have a nice lead, but momentum can swing fast," Nets coach Steve Nash said. "I thought James was great. He led us in that stretch, being aggressive, making the right decisions, protecting the ball, and that was the pivotal stretch to make sure we could win tonight."

Harden totaled 18 points, including a 4-for-7 effort from three-point range and added 10 rebounds and 12 assists. After some early-season struggles while recovering from a summer spent rehabbing a severe hamstring, Harden now has put together two straight strong performances, including a 29-point show in Friday’s win over the Pacers.

Describing his mindset after Durant’s ejection, Harden said, "I feel like I was being aggressive, especially in that third quarter. We found something and we liked the play, so I just continued with the same play. It was supposed to be for Kevin out of a timeout, but whatever happened happened, so we just had to go back to what was working. We basically closed the game out."

Durant finished with 23 points, and LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 on 7-for-8 shooting as the Nets shot a franchise-record 65.3%. Cory Joseph topped the Pistons (1-5) with 13 points, but the Nets held them to 41.0% shooting in the mismatch.

The Nets were trying to put together consecutive wins for the first time in this young season against a Pistons team that was on the second night of a back-to-back after scoring their first win of the season over the Magic Saturday night in Detroit. Back-to-back threes by Harden midway through the third quarter pushed the Nets’ lead to 83-64. But a short while later, the Nets were ahead by 17 when Durant inexplicably threw a hard right elbow to the face of Olynyk.

That resulted in a flagrant foul 2 and automatic ejection for Durant with 3:23 left in the third. It was the second straight emotional outburst for Durant, who tossed a ball into the crowd Friday when the officials afterward said he should have been ejected and later was fined $25,000.

"I tried to run through the screen, and that was just a result of me trying to blow the screen up," Durant said. "From looking at the tape, it looked like I extended a little bit."

Asked about how Harden took over after his ejection, Durant smiled and said, "I want to take credit and say I ignited my team and my leadership was the reason we were able to go on that 11-0 run. I ignited the crowd and my team being kicked out. James understands the game and puts people in good positions. It’s not a surprise that he could take us on a run so fast."

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.