Kevin Durant on Sunday erupted for 53 points to lead the Brooklyn Nets to a 110-107 victory over the New York Knicks, while teammate Kyrie Irving could not play but attended as a spectator.
New York City’s private sector COVID-19 vaccine mandates mean unvaccinated Irving still cannot play NBA games in New York, at either the Nets’ Barclays Center or the Knicks’ Madison Square Garden.
However, relaxed rules meant he could attend the game as a fan, an anomaly that frustrated NBA rival LeBron James.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It literally makes ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE!!!” James wrote on Twitter. “They say if common sense was common then we’d all have it. Ain’t that the truth.”
Durant agreed.
“It’s ridiculous,” Durant said after the game. “I don’t understand it at all. There’s a few people in our arena that’s unvaxxed, right? They lifted all of that in our arena, right?”
“It just didn’t make any sense. We got a guy who can come in the building. Are they fearing our safety? I don’t get it,” he said. “We’re all confused. Pretty much everybody in the world is confused at this point. Early on in the season people didn’t understand what was going on, but now it just looks stupid.”
Without Irving, limited to playing away games, and with new acquisition Ben Simmons yet to make his Nets debut, it was again up to Durant to carry Brooklyn.
Durant was one shy of his career-high scoring night with six rebounds and nine assists. Durant’s three-pointer with 56.3 seconds remaining put the Nets ahead to stay at 106-103.
“Kevin was unbelievable,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “Carried us. Made a lot of big plays. Rebounds, assists, the whole deal. He was Kevin Durant on full display.”
Durant posted the eighth 50-plus point game of his career and his second this season.
Only two other players, Irving and James, have reached the half-century mark in at least two games this season.
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