Even the Nets players themselves found it hard to solely focus on what happened on the court Friday night as Kevin Durant was yo-yoed around by the NBA due to health and safety protocols. With all the Nets were dealing with on their sideline throughout the night, it’s no shock Brooklyn wound up losing in 123-117 to the Toronto Raptors.
Durant’s rhythm was so thrown off in his unplanned, first NBA appearance off the bench that wasn’t even able to score 10 points on the night, finishing with eight in 18 minutes. But he was far from the only one with scoring issues.
No Nets player scored 20 points on Friday — which seems impossible with James Harden (17 points), Kyrie Irving (15) and Joe Harris (19) all playing regular minutes. All three of Harden, Irving and Harris shot over 50% from the floor, but it was impossible for Brooklyn to find a flow with the Durant fiasco.
Still Harden managed to log a double-double, dishing out 12 assists. In doing so, he became the first player to record 10 assists in nine of his first 10 games with a team since Mark Jackson did so with the Denver Nuggets in 1996-97, per Elias Sports (via ESPN). Norm Nixon is the only other player to accomplish the same feat, doing so with the Los Angeles Clippers in 1983-84.
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