NEW YORK — When Kyrie Irving is good, he’s really good.
And when he’s great, you get a performance like he put on against the Utah Jazz in Brooklyn’s 130-96 win on Tuesday night.
Irving stood out against the stout Jazz defense, running up 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field. He made his first nine shots, outscoring the Jazz himself 18-7 early in the first quarter.
It was as if Irving saw Stephen Curry’s 62-point game on Monday and — at least for a quarter, said: “Hold my drink.”
The Nets needed this kind of performance from their star guard if they were going to stand a chance against the Jazz. Brooklyn was already spiraling after Spencer Dinwiddie’s ACL injury rendered him out an indefinite period of time. The Nets’ roster issues compounded on Monday, when they learned Kevin Durant would be out a week after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, requiring a seven-day quarantine that cost the Nets’ star four games.
Nets head coach Steve Nash explained before the game that there is no such thing as replacing Durant, who has averaged about 28 points, seven rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block per game so far this season.
“But how will we combat his loss? We’re going to have to play with pace, move the ball, try to make each other better, defensively, we’ve got to be locked in,” Nash explained. “As much as I’d like for us to be mistake-less and be perfect defensively, the reality is that we’ve just got to fight and try our best to compete and get as many 50-50 balls and rebounds and do all the little things against a talented team when you’re missing your big gun.”
The Nets replaced Durant’s impact and production by committee, with Nash running with his most creative starting lineup to date: He surrounded Irving with two-way playmaker Bruce Brown, sharpshooter Taurean Prince, veteran forward Jeff Green, and star center Jarrett Allen, who got the nod over DeAndre Jordan.
Allen put a stamp on his campaign to regain his standing as a starting center with his most dominant game of the early season: 19 points, 18 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. He thoroughly outplayed Jazz center Rudy Gobert, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year who recently signed a five-year deal worth north of $200 million.
One two separate occasions, Allen posterized Gobert.
One of those poster dunks came via a behind-the-back bounce pass from Irving, whose sensational night ended after the third quarter, when the Nets carried a 25-point lead into the final period. In those three quarters, he made five of his seven 3s, dished five assists and recorded three steals.
No amount of artificial fan noise could recreate the energy Nets fans would have brought to Barclays Center had they been allowed in the arena.
Tuesday night’s win represents the biggest strategic victory for Nash. The Nets coach brought usual starters Jordan, Joe Harris and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot off the bench alongside Caris LeVert and Landry Shamet. He also used Tyler Johnson as backup point guard early in minutes Irving didn’t play.
The move helped balance Brooklyn’s rotation and Brown, a two-year starter in Detroit, helped alleviate a large chunk of the ball-handling duties while Irving was on the floor. In his first set of meaningful minutes this season, the former Piston logged six points, six rebounds and five assists, while serving as the primary defender on Donovan Mitchell, often guarding the Westchester native the full 94-foot length of the floor.
The Nets outscored the Jazz by 22 in the minutes Irving played and 20 in the minutes both Brown and Allen spent on the floor.
For Brooklyn, the win is a sign of things headed in the right direction. The Nets defense rendered the Jazz largely inefficient the majority of the game. Mitchell scored 31 points on 10-of-22 shooting, but that kind of performance is expected of a star of his caliber. Brown ensured few, if any, of his looks were open.
Mike Conley shot 3 of 10 from the field, Bojan Bogdanovic shot 2 of 7, spark plug Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points on 13 shots, and Gobert finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks, but shot only 3 of 10 from the field.
Tuesday night belonged to Irving, and without Durant, the Nets are going to need more nights like this from their star guard.
They’re also going to need to start Allen, and maybe Brown, too. Brooklyn’s roster is deep and capable of pulling upsets, just like we saw against the Jazz.
