It takes a full roster to have a truly successful team, even if said team’s star players shine bright on a nightly basis. The Nets are watching that happen after yet another loss on Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks.
Brooklyn’s two biggest stars — Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant — did what they do best at the Barclays Center: scoring lots of buckets. Durant scored 37 and Irving collected 39 in the Nets’ 129-125 overtime loss at home. This not only drops Brooklyn to 1-4 on the young season but it’s also accompanied by some unfortunate history.
This is already the second time this season that both Irving and Durant have scored 35-plus points each in a single game. The Nets have lost both of those contests. This is a trend that started last year, too:
Tonight was the 4th time Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have scored 35+ points in the same game for the Nets in the regular season.
They are now 0-4 in those games.
The 4 such losses are the most by any pair of teammates in NBA history.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) October 28, 2022
Before securing this spot in history, Irving and Durant had been tied with Pete Maravich and Lou Hudson, who did this three times while with the Atlanta Hawks.
These are not the kinds of headlines Steve Nash was hoping his squad would be making this season. But such is life in the NBA, and it’s still early. As Irving said following a loss Wednesday in Milwaukee, Brooklyn needs time to gel as a team. It just needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Similar to that loss vs. the Bucks, the Nets watched another opposing player drop 40-plus points against them. Luka Dončić registered a triple-double with 41 points, 14 assists, and 11 rebounds in 41 minutes on the floor. He easily led the way, but the Mavs also had five other players score at least 10 points.
Outside of Kyrie and KD, there were just two other Nets players to record double-digit points on Thursday. That included Royce O’Neale and David Duke Jr. They each scored 10 points.
Brooklyn will remain home, with its next game happening Saturday night against the Indiana Pacers.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
