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The Brooklyn Nets unveiled their new three-headed monster on Wednesday night, as Kyrie Irving returned from a spell away from the team and joined up with Kevin Durant and new addition James Harden.
It was the league’s first chance to see how the three All Stars would come together and undoubtedly storm to an NBA Finals.
And it was all undone by … Collin Sexton.
Collin Sexton! The second-year guard for the Cavaliers dropped 42 points in a double-overtime win over the Nets, completely out-dueling the juggernaut roster that Brooklyn has assembled.
Did the Cavaliers take advantage of a Nets team that is clearly just beginning to learn to play together? Absolutely. Will Harden, Durant, and Irving figure it out eventually and turn into a juggernaut? More than likely.
But for one night at least, it was delightful to watch Collin Sexton of all people torch them. It was a wonderful reminder that even the smaller names in the NBA are all unbelievably talented, and if one of them gets hot, he can take down any team on a given night.
This doesn’t mean all that much in the long term, and that’s totally fine. For one night, it was fun to watch the young Cavaliers team punch above their weight and for Sexton to go electric. At one point he scored 20 (!) consecutive points in overtime, capped off by a 3-pointer over Kevin Durant that sent his bench into hysterics. (Kevin Love, in street clothes, I thought was going to run out of the gym he was so excited.)
The Nets will be fine. The Cavaliers probably aren’t going to beat them regularly. Collin Sexton probably isn’t going to keep being prime Oscar Robertson. That’s all OK. For one night, it was a blast.
Quick Hits: Goodbye to Philip Rivers
* Philip Rivers announced his retirement from the NFL, and our own Steven Ruiz made the case that he’s a clear Hall of Famer.
* We also got this wonderful story from J.J. Watt about Rivers and his on-field dissection of Watt’s defense
* And we can’t say goodbye to Rivers without his best mic’d up moments.