Nets drop second straight game without Kevin Durant in loss to Thunder
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander puts up a shot against the Brooklyn Nets in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Barclays Center on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Nets fans keep hearing that the Nets are a better team this season without Kevin Durant than they were last season without Kevin Durant.
Fans keep hearing that their team is deeper, more versatile and plays better defense. Fans keep hearing that there is some hope that their team won’t collapse like they did last year when Durant went down with a similar knee injury.
But the Nets haven’t proved that yet. They remained winless since Durant was diagnosed with a sprained right MCL, falling 112-102 Sunday to a young Oklahoma City team.
The Nets (27-15) led by 10 points late in the third quarter, but once again ran out of gas in the fourth. The team allowed 24 points during a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter and Oklahoma City outscored them 37-22 in the final period.
Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander each had 28 points, and Luguentz Dort added 22 for OKC (21-23).
The Nets are now 0-2 since it was revealed that Durant would likely miss a month with the knee injury he suffered in Miami. When he suffered a similar injury on his other knee last season, the Nets went 5-17 and had an 11-game losing streak.
Without Durant and Ben Simmons, who was sidelined with back soreness, Kyrie Irving struggled to find his rhythm. Irving scored just 15 points and went 1-for-7 from three-point range. Seth Curry led the Nets with 23 points off the bench.
Irving said it’s just two games and he does not think the team is going to go into a deep swoon without Durant like they did last year.
“It was all glory, glory last week when we were winning games, and now we’re answering questions about potentially struggling?” Irving said after the game. “I don’t think we are going to struggle without Kevin now. That’s not my belief. I know guys in the locker room don’t believe that. This isn’t last year at all. So the comparisons have got to stop. I’ll leave it up to you to do that. For us, we don’t have any comparison to last year, we just want to control our focus and how we prepare.”
The Nets now head out on a five-game road trip beginning in San Antonio on Tuesday.
The Nets often depend on Durant and Irving to take over at the end of games, so it may be no coincidence that the team is struggling in the fourth quarter. Jacque Vaughn, however, said he is not worried they are going to fall apart like last year.
“I think that’s the challenge for us as a group to be able to sustain. That is harder, mentally and physically because Kevin does save you at times and give you a bucket and so now your defense is set,” Vaughn said. “That’s the challenge for this group. They have to dig in and have a mental fortitude greater than before. Every possession does matter and that’s what we talked about yesterday. So that 50-50 ball, that loose ball, that foul for free throws, they do matter. First quarter, third quarter and obviously we’re seeing in the fourth quarter.”
Irving said there are some big differences between that team and this one. First, he noted that he is consistently in the lineup since the vaccination rules are no longer in play. He also noted that the team doesn’t have anyone in the locker room who is halfway in, which was a not-so-veiled shot at James Harden, who wanted to a trade last year.
Said Irving: “There’s a primary focus on the big picture.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
