The Brooklyn Nets hosted the Atlanta Hawks on Friday and won 120-116. This was the first of four meetings between the two teams this season.
Kevin Durant had 34 points and five assists for the Nets and Kyrie Irving had 33 points and 11 rebounds. TJ Warren had 14 points off the bench and Seth Curry scored 11 points off the pine.
Trae Young had 33 points and nine assists for the Hawks and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 31 points off the bench. Clint Capel had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Neither team played much defense, as expected, but the Nets made more shots when the game mattered. Brooklyn had its offense flowing all night and they did a good job of staying competitive on the boards despite being undersized compared to Atlanta.
The Nets turned the ball over too much and they still struggle with defending the paint. Brooklyn led by as much as 12 points in this game despite the Hawks missing Dejounte Murray, John Collins, and De’Andre Hunter.
In the end, Brooklyn did a good job of limiting Young in the second half and Durant and Irving carried the team offensively. This was a good win for the Nets, albeit underwhelming, without Yuta Watanabe and Nic Claxton.
Here are the Nets’ player grades: