(Basketball news) The Brooklyn Nets continued their brilliant form as they just about beat the Miami Heat 102-101. For the Nets, Irving scored 29 to lead the scoring , who have won 18 of their last 20, after winning only nine of their first 20 games as Durant had 17 points before departing and Seth Curry scored 14 points while Nic Claxton had 13 points and 11 rebounds. For the Heats, Butler scored 26 points as they got 24 from Tyler Herro. Durant left with 36.6 seconds left in the third quarter as grabbed at his right knee after Butler, who had just driven to the basket, landed with his back to Durant and fell into him. With this result the Nets improved their record to 27-13.
”Right knee, he’ll get evaluated tomorrow and then hopefully I’ll have some more info,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. ”Most likely it will include imaging, just to make sure we’re good.”
”Those plays are scary, because when someone’s not looking what’s going on, anything can happen in those moments,” Irving said. ”So I’m grateful for all that time he’s put in the weight room putting his body in a great position, and his body was able to save him from something worse.”
”You never want to see him go down like that,” Vaughn said. ”Any player, for that matter. Pretty hard collision, but you’ve got to give our group credit for staying with it.”
”Jimmy made the absolute right play,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, after the team argued for a foul to no avail.
The Oklahoma City Thunder shocked the Dallas Mavericks by beating them 120-109. For the OKC, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points while Josh Giddey finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and five foulsIt was supposed to be a showdown between two of the league’s top scorers in Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas guard Luka Doncic, but the Slovenian star who is NBA’s scoring leader with 34 points per game had to sit out the game with a sore left ankle. For the Mavericks, Spencer Dinwiddie had 21 points and eight assists as Christian Wood led scoring with 27 points and 16 rebounds. With this result the OKC improved their record to 18-22.
”It’s a testament to their maturity and their commitment level,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of his players. ”And really, it’s (a) zero and zero mindset, it’s a 48-minute game, it’s being where your feet are inside of the game.”
”He’s a great player,” Wood said. ”He’s been having a great season all year. He was getting left, getting downhill, getting to his spots, creating for others when he got to his spots, getting a lot of and-ones, getting to the free throw line.”
”Second-quarter defense was great, second-half defense was pretty good,” he said. ”I thought they earned the stuff they got in the second half.”
Also read: NBA: Lakers win 2 in a row Nets beat the Pelicans
