The Brooklyn Nets clinched the No. 7 seed on Sunday and will gear up for a showdown vs. Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament on Tuesday. The Nets finished up their roller-coaster season at 44-38, the same record as Cleveland, making the victory over the Cavs last week imperative for home-court advantage for Tuesday's game.

The No. 7 seed was on the line in the Nets' last game of the season when they hosted the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. Unlike when the Nets defeated the Cavs and Kevin Durant dropped 36 points last Friday, on Sunday it was a different defense. Durant was facing a Pacers team selling out a bit more to stop him, and he responded by dishing out a career-high 16 dimes. KD certainly didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary for him givenĀ he says he has been an elite passer since 2013.Ā 

Since the Nets love how Kyrie Irving plays off the ball, they've had to evolve as a team following the James Harden-Ben Simmons trade. Harden was theirĀ de factoĀ point guard. Now they deploy more of a point-by-committee approach.

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On Sunday, it was Durant's turn to make the right reads and share the ball. Kyrie had a pretty funny way to hype up his star running mate:

ā€œPG from PG County man, I told him that in the locker room just to get a good laugh out of him,ā€ Irving shared. ā€œWhen he's a playmaker like that, he's allowing the game to come to him. As you see, he didn't particularly shoot the ball as well as he wanted tonight, but when you have 16 assists, 10 rebounds, another triple double tonight, it just shows you how special he is when he allows the game to just flow and he's not overthinking or anything like that.ā€

Irving finished with 35 points, five dimes, and seven boards. He carried the bulk of the scoring burden and Durant was the ā€œPG from PG County,ā€ or the point guard from Prince Georges County, Maryland.

ā€œHe's just being himself. The other night when we had him up here talking, you could hear he just has a poise about him,ā€ Irving continued. ā€œ14 years in this league he's seen almost everything, all the adjustments, so nights like tonight happen for him because he just plays the game the right way,ā€ Irving said.

Now the Nets will gear up for the biggest single game of the season. Steve Nash said Monday that Seth Curry (ankle soreness) is probable and Goran Dragic has a chance (health and safety protocols), but we won't bank on The Dragon:

There was some footage of Ben Simmons continuing to ramp up physically as well:

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But the Cavaliers will not be at full strength either. Former Net and All-Star Jarrett Allen is unlikely to play, still recovering from his finger injury:

There were reports that there's renewed optimism for Ben Simmons returning at some point in the first round, but we'll see. For now against the Cavs in Tuesday's play-in game, the Nets will rely on Kevin Durant to let the game come to him, assess the defense, and make the determination if he's going to play the role of Slim Reaper or the PG from PG County.