Even when things go wrong for the Nets — and there certainly hasn’t been any shortage of that this season — Kevin Durant has proven he can make it right.
On a night when they lost Seth Curry to a sprained ankle, and Steve Nash confirmed that Ben Simmons’ mysterious back ailment is actually a herniated disc, Durant did what he does best — which is to say dominate and dominate in such a way that shows that no one can count the Nets out. Even without Simmons. And even, often, without Kyrie Irving.
Durant had 37 points with nine rebounds and eight assists and the Nets put together a monstrous third quarter as they turned aside the Jazz, 114-106, at Barclays Center for their sixth win in seven games. What’s more, they did it mostly without Curry, who injured himself in the second quarter, and without bigs LaMarcus Aldridge (right hip impingement) and Andre Drummond (non-COVID-19 illness), whom they certainly could have used against Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside.
