Kyrie Irving, Nets React To Tough Loss To Grizzlies On The Road

The Brooklyn Nets received explosive scoring performances from Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in their 132-120 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. It proved to not be enough in the end.

After allowing the Grizzlies to score 40 points in the first quarter, the Nets faced an uphill climb for most of the night. Memphis continued to pile on before halftime by posting a six-point scoring differential in the second period, which put Brooklyn behind by 14 points at the break.

“When you give up close to 40 points in the first quarter, and you feel like you’re playing from behind most of the game, the energy was shifted, the momentum was shifted on their side,” said Irving. “They were doing to us what we try to do to other teams, which is beat them in the first half and then be able to coast or manage the game in the second half, and they did that.”

There was a strong effort from the Nets in the third quarter to rally back. Durant (14) and Irving (11) combined for 25 of the team’s 42 points within the frame, which helped Brooklyn to gain a 102-99 lead with 1:34 left to play within the third.

“We made a good run in the third quarter, but in that fourth quarter they just hit us in the mouth again and we just couldn’t recover,” Irving said.

After mounting such a significant comeback effort, the Nets “ran out of gas” to be able to maintain it and pull off a win. The Grizzlies used an 18-2 run in the fourth quarter to ultimately separate enough for a victory. In the fourth quarter, Memphis contained Brooklyn to just 16 points on shooting clips of 7-17 (41.2 percent) from the floor with six turnovers.

“We ran out of gas. We dug ourselves a hole. The first half was the game,” Steve Nash said. “I didn’t think we had the requisite physicality in the first half, dug ourselves a hole, came out and played a really good third quarter, but ran out of gas.”

Durant, in particular, had slowed down in the final period as he was limited to two points while shooting 1-5 (20.0 percent) overall. Meanwhile, Irving, who last played on Mar. 15 when he finished with 60 points against the Orlando Magic, still had plenty left to offer with an efficient 10 points.

With Irving now having full-time status once again, Durant will perhaps have enough help to stay fresher to help close out games going forward. However, the superstar duo combined for 78 points as is with the main problem being the team’s defense giving up 132 in the end.