It was a disappointing Saturday night for Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets. What was expected to be a tight heavyweight slugfest at Barclays Center between the Nets and the Phoenix Suns turned out to be a one-sided affair in favor of Chris Paul and company, as the Suns eked out a 113-107 victory.
The Nets played catch-up basketball the entire game. At no moment in the contest did Brooklyn hold the lead, allowing the Suns to zoom in to a 14-point lead by the end of the first quarter. Brooklyn tried to stem the bleeding by pushing Durant's body to the limit, letting him play for the final 30+ minutes of the contest, per Stat Muse.
Kevin Durant played the final 33 minutes tonight.
In a regular season game in November.
This man needs help. pic.twitter.com/uBSUlnQlNg
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 28, 2021
The Nets basically became a one-man team in the second half, with Durant carrying the big load. He scored 27 of his 39 points in the second half. James Harden, who was supposed to be the Robin to Durant's Batman, floundered with the ball. While Harden had 12 points and 14 assists, he repeatedly shot Brooklyn in the foot by turning the ball over seven times. It's not a good sign for the Nets that DeAndre' Bembry could make a sound case that he had a much better performance than Harden against a title contender.
At 33 years old and with a body that has gone through serious injuries, Durant is always faced with the threat of injuring himself whenever he plays an especially large volume of minutes in a game that they are trying to erase a big deficit.
That said, Durant will get two full days of rest before the Nets take on the New York Knicks at home on Tuesday.
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