Irving shines as Nets punch playoff ticket over Cavs
Sports
Irving produced a near-flawless display of shooting to fire the Brooklyn Nets into the NBA playoffs
NEW YORK (AFP) - Kyrie Irving produced a near-flawless display of shooting to fire the Brooklyn Nets into the NBA playoffs on Tuesday with a 115-108 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Irving drained 12 of 15 from the field to finish with 34 points and 12 assists for a victory that sees Brooklyn into a best-of-seven series against the second-seeded Boston Celtics, starting Sunday.
On the evidence of Tuesday’s performance, Irving will be brimming with confidence as he prepares to face his former club in Boston this weekend.
The 30-year-old seven-time All-Star was perfect from the field through the first three quarters, only missing his first shot early in the fourth quarter.
It was the latest in a series of impressive displays from the unvaccinated Irving, who was ruled out of the vast majority of Brooklyn’s home games this season due to Covid-19 regulations in New York.
"We only speak positivity on this entire journey thus far," Irving said after Tuesday’s win. "It’s been ups and it’s been downs, but we’ve stayed together, remained resilient.
"We’ve been through a lot of changes and we’ve evolved since we came out of the All-Star break. It feels good but we know that the job isn’t finished."
Irving was backed by another commanding display from Kevin Durant, who finished with 25 points, 11 assists and five rebounds.
Durant was a composed presence throughout, notably helping Brooklyn re-establish a 10-point cushion with back-to-back buckets after Cleveland - who at one stage had trailed by 22 points - cut the Nets’ lead to just six points late in the fourth quarter.
Brooklyn led from start to finish, exploding out of the blocks to score 40 points in the first quarter to open up a 20-point lead that Cleveland never managed to recover from.
Darius Garland led the Cleveland scoring with 34 points, while Evan Mobley finished with 19 points and Kevin Love 14.
While the Nets look forward to the playoffs, the Cavaliers will face the winner of the other Eastern Conference play-in game between the Charlotte Hornets and Atlanta Hawks for a place in the first round of the postseason.
Tuesday’s other play-in game sees the Minnesota Timberwolves host the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference.
