By Derrel Jazz Johnson
The Brooklyn crowd was perhaps the loudest it has ever been, but the return of Kyrie Irving was spoiled by future NBA superstar LaMelo Ball, who neared a triple-double with 33 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds. Irving referred to both Durant and Irving had poor shooting nights. Durant finished 9-24 and Irving shot a woeful 6-22. They finished with 27 and 16. Respectively. Andre Drummond had 20 points and 17 rebounds in the Sunday night 119-110 loss.
“I don’t take it for granted what happened tonight. It was historic and I’m grateful that I got a chance to be out there with my brothers and just leave it all out there. Not the result we wanted. I didn’t shoot as well as I wanted. Basically, none of the things I had hoped for going well tonight,” he said. “It just didn’t happen.”
Head coach Steve Nash talked about the team shooting woes after a night in dominating the division leading Miami Heat. “The ball’s not going to go in every night. I don’t know how much he felt that or not. It’s just not always gonna happen for you. It’s not always gonna go in. “We’ve got to find a way as a team to be better than the other team.”
In a Colin Kaepernick moment, Irving said he stands for freedom when asked what the legacy of his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. “What is understood doesn’t have to be said, “he said. I’m grateful that we can move forward. He concluded with this: “I’m standing for freedom, so that’s in all facets of my life. There’s nobody that’s enslaving me. I don’t want anyone telling me what to do with my life, and that’s just the way I am, and if I get tarnished in terms of my image and people slandering my name continually because those aren’t things that I forget.”
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.
