Kevin Durant stays hot, Nets cool off in the Windy City

The Chicago Bulls snapped the Brooklyn Nets’ five-game winning streak in a fourth-quarter blowout

The Brooklyn Nets were never going to 79-3 this year. Despite revving the engine on this high-powered offense during their recent five-game winning streak, another loss was inevitable.

The Chicago Bulls rode big nights from Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Ayo Dosunmu to the victory. The trio combined for 67 of Chicago’s 118 points.

The Nets didn’t have enough firepower to keep up with that trio of Bulls. Kevin Durant dropped 38 points on 24 shots, but the rest of the starters were ice cold. LaMarcus Aldridge dropped 15 first-half points off the bench with a flurry of mid-range jumpers.

Durant and Aldridge carried the Nets through three chaotic quarters as they clung to a two-point lead.

Most of the Nets looked a step slow amidst the chaos and it was never more evident than the fourth quarter. Chicago outscored the Nets 45-17 in the final 12 minutes and the offense devolved into the Kevin Durant show.

It’s not a bad idea to lean heavily on the guy who has a strong case as the best player in the world. Unfortunately for Brooklyn, he can’t be the only one scoring. And in fact, he was — outside of four free throws and a garbage time bucket — the only one scoring.

Aldridge had two points to Durant’s 11. Jevon Carter and Day’Ron Sharpe added two apiece in the final two minutes.

Chalk up the dismal offense to tired legs after three consecutive road games. Sometimes, even NBA players, just fall out of rhythm. Maybe there was a breeze in the United Center. After all, it’s the Windy City.

Whatever the reason for the off night, it’s not something that seems to be worrying to Durant or the Nets. The Bulls were the better team on Monday night, but the Nets can learn from this loss. They plan on doing exactly that.

"It's a good feeling of being frustrated but understanding how we can get better from this and move on from this and realize we got 3 more games on this trip" – Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/UFiEJFygNa

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) November 9, 2021

“Yeah, we’re frustrated. I mean we want to win every game,” Durant told reporters after the game. “It’s a good feeling of being frustrated but understanding how we can get better from this, move on from this, realize that we’ve got three more games on this trip.

“I know we want to get better after each game and reflect after each game. But we’ve gotta start moving forward. We understand why we lost. That’s the good part. We’ve got veterans in that locker room that understand why we took the L. We just take that into next game and try to get a win.”

Brooklyn’s Road Trip Continues

Opportunity knocks for the Nets with three more games on the road. Brooklyn is heading to Orlando to take on the Magic and then looping back out west for games with the Pelicans and Thunder.

All winnable games.

In a dream scenario for the Nets, they win all three games before meeting with the hottest team in the NBA — the Golden State Warriors — in their first game back at “The Clays” as Durant would say.