The Brooklyn Nets kicked off their new era of basketball on Wednesday, as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden took the floor together for the first time against the Cavaliers but things did not go according to plan as the Cavaliers won 147-135 in double overtime.
Collin Sexton was the man of the hour, dropping a career-high 42 points to go with five rebounds and five assists.
At one point Sexton scored 20 straight points for the Cavs and also had an incredible stretch in double-overtime to put the game away.
Cedi Osman, meanwhile, went for 21 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.
As for Brooklyn who looked completely unstoppable in the first few minutes, it’s quite pathetic to see them go soft for the remainder of the match.
There were other stretches where they got it going, but for large parts of the game, they looked out of sync and very much like a team trying to figure things out on the fly.
Durant put up 38 to lead the way, while Irving had 37 and Harden had 21.
Watch the full game highlights below
Besides the final result, this pretty much went as expected as we witnessed arguably the greatest collection of offensive talent in history. There were stretches — the 10 of 10 start, and the fourth quarter comeback — where the big three was all out on the floor, the offense was flowing and they looked completely unstoppable.
Also, this is pretty much a work in progress and evidently, there were times the offense could get stagnant with too much one-on-one play, and it doesn’t look like the Nets’ role players are totally comfortable with their roles in the minutes where Harden runs the show by himself.
The Brooklyn Nets were also found wanting a couple of times, turning it over 16 times.
There’s also the defense, which as expected is not great as none of the big three are lockdown defenders Usually they’re going to have too much firepower on the offensive end and it won’t matter, but there are going to be games like this one where the defense is a real issue.
NBA results from Wednesday’s games
- Brooklyn Nets 135-147 Cleveland Cavaliers (OT)
- Washington Wizards P-P Charlotte Hornets
- Dallas Mavericks 124-112 Indiana Pacers
- Boston Celtics 109-117 Philadelphia 76ers
- Detroit Pistons 115-123 Atlanta Hawks (OT)
- Miami Heat 111-102 Toronto Raptors
- Orlando Magic 97-96 Minnesota Timberwolves
- Phoenix Suns 109-103 Houston Rockets
- Memphis Grizzlies P-P Portland Trail Blazers
- Sacramento Kings 96-115 LA Clippers
- San Antonio Spurs 99-121 Golden State Warriors
- Brooklyn Nets 135-147
Congratulations