Kyrie Irving was not eligible to play in Toronto last season. This year, two of the seven-time All-Star’s best performances have come north of the border.
Irving drilled a step-back three as time expired Friday night to lift the Nets to a 119-116 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Incredibly, the shot was the first game-winning buzzer-beater of the guard’s 11-year career.
KYRIE IRVING FOR THE WIN
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And Irving’s opportunity was a product of Kevin Durant’s late-game awareness.
“We drew it up for Kevin. He communicated that they were probably going to trap him, and so we switched Kevin and Kai,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said of the final play. “Kai was ready for it, he said he wanted it, we zipped him to the top and he did what he does. It’s unbelievable. Great shot.”
“I felt like Kyrie could get whatever he wanted there,” Durant said of the decision. “I also felt like they weren’t going to run and double him at the top of the key because he obviously could just beat that. So they let him play one-on-one and it was a special, special shot.”
The final sequence from Irving was as decisive as you could imagine in that spot. The fourth-year Net grabbed the inbounds pass from Ben Simmons, spun quickly, drove, stepped back and let it fly. Nothing but net.
“Once you got that ball in your hands at the end of the game, that’s what you dream about,” Irving shared.
The guard finished with a team-high 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting. Irving–a near 40 percent career three-point shooter–has struggled from deep this season, shooting a career-worst 32.7 percent. You would have never known it given the confidence of his stroke in the final seconds. Irving said his dad offered him some advice that came in handy in the big spot.
“I talked to my dad before I came on this trip. He told me to get my balance underneath me every time I shoot my threes,” he said postgame. “I haven’t been shooting as great as I want on the season, but just gotta keep repping it out.”
Kevin Durant paced Kyrie Irving with 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting. The former MVP has continued his historically-efficient scoring during the Nets’ recent success. But it was Yuta Watanabe, Brooklyn’s breakout minimum signing, that once again came up huge down the stretch.
With the game tied with 2:49 remaining, Watanabe collected a pass in the corner from Ben Simmons. He calmly pump faked, drove and snuck a pass back to Simmons for a dunk.
Brooklyn would later get the ball down one with 30 seconds left. Toronto doubled the red-hot Irving, who drove and kicked to Watanabe in the corner. The former Raptor caught the pass in rhythm, elevated into his shot, and delivered once again.
Friday marks the third win this season Watanabe has made multiple clutch plays down the stretch. The Japanese product propelled Brooklyn to late victories twice earlier this year, scoring nine points on 3-of-3 shooting from three in the fourth quarter at Portland and 12 points on 4-of-5 from deep in the final frame vs. Memphis.
Watanabe has been among the breakout stories of the NBA this season, shooting a career-best 53.8 percent from three. The 28-year-old said Durant and Irving’s isolation prowess has made his life easy when asked about his go-ahead shot.
“Everything is easier for me,” Watanabe said of playing with Durant and Irving. “All of the corner threes I made tonight, I was just standing there. Like I wasn’t moving or finding spots. When those other guys got the ball, I just run to the corner. I just wait, wait, wait, and then they gave me great passes. I’m just glad they are my teammates.”
“That’s what I do,” he continued. “We have so many guys that can create one on one. So if I can stay (in the) corner, the (defense) knows I’m a good shooter, so they’re not gonna leave me. So that creates space for them. If they don’t leave, they can just attack. If they do leave me, I’m wide open, and I just make (the) shot. Simple. Simple basketball.”
The 28-year-old spent the last two seasons with Toronto before signing with Brooklyn on a non-guaranteed contract this summer. Raptors head coach Nick Nurse alluded to Watanabe’s inconsistencies when asked postgame about the team’s decision not to re-sign the forward.
“We did our best with him,” Nurse said via Doug Smith of Toronto Star. “I keep saying it was hard; he was really good and then not so good, and dealt with a lot of injuries and sickness. So it was hard to decide if we were going to continue on. We didn’t.”
Watanabe got his revenge Friday. The first-year Net is one of several role players who have elevated their play during a recent hot stretch for Brooklyn.
Nic Claxton turned in one of the best performances of his career Friday. The center scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while blocking a career-high six shots.
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T.J. Warren continued to provide a scoring lift off the bench, posting 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting. Warren has averaged 8.3 points per game on 22 of 40 (55 percent) shooting in six appearances since returning from a two-year layoff. Ben Simmons added 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in his third game after returning from a calf strain.
Friday’s win marks Brooklyn’s fifth straight. After a 2-7 start, the Nets have posted the league’s best record (12-3) over their last 15 games. The recent surge has Brooklyn just three games behind Milwaukee for second place in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Simmons said of the recent stretch. “Just seeing this team come together and build. Each game has been great. We’ve got a lot more to go and I’m looking forward to it.”
The post ‘That’s what you dream about’: Nets star Kyrie Irving gets real after first game-winning buzzer-beater of career appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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