NBA: Durant, Irving lead Nets over Pacers, Celtics take second seed

NEW YORK -- Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant combined for 55 points as the Brooklyn Nets held off a rally from the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to seal seventh place in the Eastern Conference and clinch home advantage for next week's play-in.

The Nets' final regular season game looked set to be a blowout for long periods as Brooklyn jumped out to an 18-point lead in the first half.

But a dogged Pacers unit drew level at 89-89 with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter before Brooklyn regrouped to pull clear and run out 134-126 winners.

The win means Brooklyn will face a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday where a victory will see them enter directly into the playoffs as seventh seeds.

The Nets will head into that showdown buoyed by the recent form of Irving and Durant.

Irving finished with 35 points, seven rebounds and five assists on Sunday, going 15-of-20 from the field.

Durant, meanwhile, completed a triple double of 20 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 16 assists while Brooklyn had six players finish in double figures.

"It's been an up and down last few weeks for us -- winning some games, losing some games," Durant said afterwards. 

"I think we're finding out who we are as a group and that's always a good thing." 

Durant is now looking forward eagerly to the business end of the season, starting with Tuesday's assignment against Cleveland. 

"It's been a long year and this is the perfect time of the year to play our best basketball," Durant said.

A Brooklyn victory over Cleveland on Tuesday would see the Nets face the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Tatum 'proud' of Celtics

That crunch showdown -- which would pit Irving against his former club -- was made possible after the Celtics vaulted over the Milwaukee Bucks into second place in the standings.

The Celtics clinched the second seed after a 139-110 blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies in their final game on Sunday.

Celtics star Jayson Tatum led the rout with 31 points -- making 11-of-14 from the field -- in just 26 minutes on court. Jaylen Brown added 18 points with Al Al Horford scoring 13.

The Grizzlies, who had already clinched second place in the Western Conference, rested several of their first choice starting line-up.

The Celtics rise to the second seeding is all the more remarkable given their indifferent early season form. 

As recently as February, Boston were languishing in ninth place in the East, well outside the automatic playoff places.

"It was a tough one, I'm proud of my group and proud of how we responded throughout the season," Tatum said afterwards. 

"It didn't start off well but we managed to figure it out and we've been on a roll and hopefully we'll keep it going through the playoffs."

Milwaukee meanwhile dropped to third in the Eastern Conference standings after their under-strength lineup was thumped 133-115 by the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Sunday.

The Bucks were without key players Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis for the game which was notable for a bizarre fleeting cameo by another mainstay Jrue Holiday.

Holiday came onto the court for the tipoff and promptly committed a foul after eight seconds before leaving the court without returning. 

Reports said the brief appearance allowed him to collect a $255,000 bonus included in his contract for featuring in 67 games this season.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Irving casts spell over Magic with record 60

LOS ANGELES -- Kyrie Irving scored a career-high 60 points in a dazzling display as the Brooklyn Nets stretched their NBA winning streak with a 150-108 thrashing of the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.

Nets star Irving -- who had bagged 50 points last week in a victory over Charlotte -- delivered another performance for the ages against an outclassed Magic at Orlando's Amway Center.

Irving's tour de force surpassed his previous career best of 57 points, set in 2015 while playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in a victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

"I felt good," Irving said after his epic display. "It really is a testament to the way we've been gelling as a team -- us just giving each other confidence and doing the right things. 

"When you can get 60 in the flow of the game and it doesn't seem forced, and you're not putting up a few too many bad shots, and you come to the bench and guys are supporting you, telling you to go after the record -- that makes the basketball worth it."

The 29-year-old Australian-born seven-time All-Star made 20-of-31 from the field, making eight of 12 attempts from outside the arc.

A career-high performance for Irving looked inevitable after an explosive first half from Brooklyn. 

The Nets piled on 48 points in the first quarter alone before adding 38 in the second quarter to lead 86-56 at half-time.

Irving contributed 41 points in that devastating first half, leaving him only 16 shy of his individual record.

He brought up 50 points -- the sixth half-century of his career -- with a driving layup in the third quarter, prompting appreciative chants of "Kyrie, Kyrie" from the Orlando crowd.

Two free throws saw him reach his record at 57 and then a magical three-point pull-up from 26 feet saw him hit the 60-point mark.

Irving's points haul came 24 hours after the Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns scored 60 in a victory over the Spurs. 

It is the first time different players have scored 60 points or more on consecutive nights in the NBA since 1962.

It also came two days after team-mate Kevin Durant scored 53 in a weekend win over the New York Knicks. 

Irving admitted the friendly rivalry with Durant was spurring him on.

"Across the league guys are putting up crazy numbers, but when you have two guys on the same team competing, friendly competition, brotherly competition," Irving said.

"Of course we talk about it but we really want to be savants about this. We take the game seriously, we want to be efficient with it, and make everyone feel good. And prove to every team in the league we can be efficient defensively and offensively."

Irving admitted the ovation from the Orlando crowd had been a career first.

"This is what the game is about, just bringing the love, performing well and doing it with a humble approach," he said.

Six other Nets players finished with double-digit points tallies, with Durant adding 19 points, Patty Mills 15 and Kessler Edwards 14.

Cole Anthony led the Orlando scoring with 19 points.

Brooklyn's fourth consecutive win saw the Nets improve to 36-33 to keep their hopes of an automatic playoff berth alive. The Nets are eighth in the Eastern Conference, three wins behind the sixth placed Cavaliers.

Orlando meanwhile remain rooted to the foot of the Eastern Conference with an 18-52 record.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Kyrie Irving could skip games rather than get COVID vaccine -- report

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving does not want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and his aunt suggested to Rolling Stone that the NBA should reach some sort of compromise with anti-vaccine players that would allow them to compete in a reduced number of games.

Rolling Stone's report Saturday on the anti-vax movement inside the NBA came on the heels of a different report from Fox Sports, saying Irving had yet to receive his first COVID jab. 

The NBA is not mandating that players receive a vaccine, but New York City has a mandate in place that would disallow athletes from practicing or playing in games inside city limits.

"There are so many other players outside of him who are opting out, I would like to think they would make a way," Kyrie's aunt, Tyki Irving, told Rolling Stone. "It could be like every third game. So it still gives you a full season of being interactive and being on the court, but with the limitations that they're, of course, oppressing upon you.

"There can be some sort of formula where the NBA and the players can come to some sort of agreement."

Roughly 50 to 60 NBA players have yet to receive the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, Rolling Stone reported.

The report also noted that Irving follows an Instagram account whose owner spreads baseless conspiracy theories that COVID vaccines are part of "Satan's ultimate plan to enslave the human soul." He has liked some of the account's posts.

Irving also wields power in his role as a vice president on the executive committee of the players' union.

The 2021-22 NBA regular season begins Oct. 19, when the Nets are scheduled to play the Milwaukee Bucks on the road. Their home opener is Oct. 24 against Charlotte.

Irving is no stranger to missing games for personal reasons. He took an 11-day, seven-game leave of absence from the Nets early in the 2020-21 season for what he deemed "family and personal stuff."

-reuters

Kyrie Irving officially joins Brooklyn Nets

NEW YORK – Six-time NBA all-star guard Kyrie Irving signed a contract Sunday (Monday Manila time) with the Brooklyn Nets, finalizing a deal unveiled last weekend to revamp the club that includes obtaining superstar Kevin Durant.

The Nets, who inked center DeAndre Jordan on Saturday, added top talent to a solid young playoff team and figure to be even tougher with Durant, who will miss next season after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon.

Irving, 27, averaged 23.8 points, career highs of 5.0 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.5 steals over 67 games with Boston last season.

"Kyrie is one of the NBA's elite guards and has won at the highest level," Nets general manager Sean Marks said.

"His championship pedigree, coupled with his gifted scoring and playmaking abilities, will make him an outstanding addition to our team," the first New Zealander to play in the NBA added.

Irving helped the Cleveland Cavaliers win the 2016 NBA crown and was a member of the 2016 Rio Olympics US gold medal squad.

"The entire coaching staff is excited to have the opportunity to coach a player of Kyrie's caliber," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said.

"He's as talented and accomplished as any point guard in our game and we are enthusiastic about integrating him and our other new roster additions into our returning core."

Over eight seasons with Boston and Cleveland, Irving has averaged 22.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals over 508 career games.

source: philstar.com

Big Five? Talent-rich Celtics embracing lofty expectations

CANTON, Mass. — Last summer, new Boston Celtics arrivals Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward beamed just imagining what it would be like to share the court together.

Those dreams lasted all of five minutes before Hayward was lost for the season to a gruesome leg injury on the opening night of the season.

The Celtics somehow survived it and had set themselves up to make a run at the Eastern Conference title when Irving was lost for the final stretch of the regular season and the playoffs following a pair of knee surgeries.

But four months after a season with so much potential was tossed into the "what might have been" basket and following an offseason conference shake-up that saw LeBron James head west to Los Angeles, Boston again finds itself in the spotlight heading into training camp.

Irving and Hayward are back and healthy. And they are flanked by a loaded roster of veterans and talented young players who are hungry for another shot at the franchise's 18th championship.

Irving said last season taught him not to take anything for granted.

"I missed it so much and for it to be taken away the way it did, with the timing and everything, it just wasn't ideal," Irving said. "It was hurtful, honestly, because it was an uncontrollable thing. To go through it was a learning experience, but it only helped my evolution as a person."

Hayward, who is playing without restrictions following a more than 10-month rehab process, played 5-on-5 earlier this month for the first time since his injury.

He said going through the preseason will help him feel 100 percent healthy.

"When you don't play basketball for a year, those things happen. I have to find my rhythm, find my groove a little bit," Hayward said.

Though he feels like a newcomer to this team in some ways, he said he doesn't feel any pressure.

"I don't think I necessarily have anything to prove," he said. "But internally I want to be the best version of myself."

If there was one positive thing that resulted from the absence of Irving and Hayward late last season, it was the emergence of second-year Jaylen Brown and rookie Jayson Tatum.

Thrust into starting roles late in the season, both emerged as members of the NBA's next generation of All-Star-caliber players.

Brown proved the athleticism and defensive ability he showed in his first season were no fluke. And at age 19, Tatum played fearlessly in the postseason, averaging 18.5 points per game.

What was once thought to be Boston's new Big Three of Irving, Hayward and Al Horford has quickly been recast as a Big Five.

It's left coach Brad Stevens with the enviable but delicate challenge of getting the projecting starting five of Irving, Hayward, Horford, Brown and Tatum to jell while also integrating a talented bench that includes Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes and Daniel Theis.

Rozier made the most of starter minutes when Irving was sidelined, and Smart and Morris were defensive cogs on a team that pushed the Cavaliers to seven games in the conference finals.

"We have a long way to go. That being said, we clearly have a lot of good players," Stevens said.

Morris said the first task for this group will be leaving their egos in the locker room.

"A blind person can see that we have a lot of talent," Morris said. "So obviously we all know that there is some type of sacrifice that we have to take for the betterment of this team."

Figuring out how to use the talent they have will be the fun part, Tatum said.

"Everybody's gonna have a different role, just with the loaded roster that we have," he said. "Whatever it takes to win. That's what we care about. Winning takes care of everything."

source: philstar.com