The Brooklyn Nets led by Kevin Durant got the better of the Philadelphia 76ers in a recent clash. The Nets registered a dominant 129-100 win over the Sixers as KD led the charge with 25 points where Kyrie Irving and Seth Curry also dropped great performances on a fiery night against James Harden and Joel Embiid’s Philadelphia.
It was the first time KD and Kyrie came up against their former teammates James Harden. So they knew that they would get a very hostile reception from the Sixers fans. But KD made sure that the Nets flourish under pressure rather than getting bogged down.
It was a pretty one sided affair as Durantula and Kyrie ran the show, stealing the thunder from Embiid and Harden. The Nets led the game right from the start and never looked under any pressure whatsoever.
Speaking after the great win, Kevin Durant downplayed it a little bit as he highlighted that it was mostly media building up the hype around the game. “It’s a regular-season win. Did we win a championship tonight? No. Did we get to clinch a playoff spot? No. For you guys on the outside, with the whole James [Harden] situation, just the entertainment aspect of it, I’m sure, was big, but for us we move on to the next one,” Kevin Durant stated at post match interview.
The Sixers fans were constantly booing Ben Simmons who was with them earlier before joining the Nets. Durant showed his utmost support to the Australian point guard and called him a brother. He felt that the fans should focus on the game and for that, they needed to perform and that’s what they did.
“Most definitely. I think all of us, we look at Ben as our brother. We knew that this was a hostile environment. We knew that he didn’t have an opportunity to play, so we wanted to come out there [and] had them [the Philly fans] focus on the court more so than just always focusing on him. So they focused on the court tonight. It’s hard for you to chant at Ben Simmons when you’re losing by that much,” Durant added.
Despite the win, the Brooklyn Nets are eighth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 34-33. So KD needs to help his team rake up more wins on the trot to help them get up the ladder. Meanwhile, Philadelphia 76ers are third in the East with a record of 40-25.
