Brooklyn Nets: Blocking Out The Suns

From the desk: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

Nets defeat Suns; 2-0

I - BKN 128; PHX 124

II - BKN 128; PHX 119

Another Great Performance by Kevin Durant, But Was Keeping Him In That Late Necessary?

No team has any business taking the Phoenix Suns lightly.  Despite Sunday's loss at Flatbush, Chris Paul and the Suns still remain tied for second place in the Western Conference standings.  

At one point in this game, the Suns lead Brooklyn by 13 points but only take a two-point advantage into the half.  As is their habit, the Nets pour it on during the final 24 minutes, outscoring Phoenix in the second half by a 69-58 spread en route to a nine-point margin of victory.

The Nets open the fourth quarter staked to a seven-point lead.  With 8:36 left, Blake Griffin ups the lead to twelve.  Kevin Durant's two free throws at 7:50 further extend the lead to 14 points.  Then at 7:25, Durant stakes Flatbush to a game-high 16 point lead.  By 5:28, Blake Griffin still keeps the Nets up by 13 points.  But Joe Harris steps in to give the Nets a 15 point lead with 4:39 left to go.

By this point, I'm wondering why Kevin Durant is still on the floor.  In fact, he plays right through the final buzzer.  I'm not saying you send in the B-Squad when up by 15 points with less than five minutes to go, but the question remains ...

The Nets were still leading by 16 points with less than 2:30 left to go.  Did KD really need to be on the floor, say, in the final three and two minutes?

With Durant on the floor, from the five through one-minute marks, the Suns outscored the Nets 10-7 in four minutes, during which Durant accounted for two points.  But Phoenix was still trailing by nine with just a minute left.  At the 0:31 mark, Durant scores on a drive through the lane, and one.

Durant finished 12/21 from the field and 7/8 from the line for 33 points in 28 questionably managed minutes off the bench.  

Kyrie Irving was 10/19 from the field, including 5/7 from behind the arc and a perfect 9/9 from the line for a team-high 34 points and a game-high twelve assists in 35 minutes.  DeAndre Jordan secured a team-high twelve rebounds with six points in 21 minutes.  Jeff Green and Joe Harris quietly score ten points each.  Blake Griffin is somewhat louder with 16 points in 27 minutes off the bench.

Brooklyn owns the top spot in the Eastern Conference by 1.5 games over the idle Philadelphia Sixers.  They're the first Eastern Conference team to reach 40 victories, and their 25 home wins are most in the conference and second-most in the NBA behind the Utah Jazz.  They also own the second-highest point differential in the conference behind the Milwaukee Bucks.