Getty Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets.
The Brooklyn Nets entered their December 21 matchup with the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors looking to extend a six-game win streak and close the gap between themselves and the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference.
Moments before the final buzzer in Brooklyn’s 143-113 win, the Nets’ Kyrie Irving, who was not in uniform, and Kevin Durant were caught on video exchanging words with a heckler who suggested that the Nets were winning only because Golden State was without their best player, Steph Curry. The Courtside Nets Twitter account tweeted out the video.
“Let’s see what happens when Steph plays,” the fan shouted at Irving as he roamed the baseline.
“It don’t matter ’cause he gotta guard me, and I gotta guard him, so it’s even,” Irving responded.
Durant, who was out of the game at that point, walked toward the fan and said, “Congrats on that championship you won last year man. I’m proud of you.”
A fan yells at Kyrie “let’s see what happens when Steph plays” Kyrie tells him. It don’t matter cause he gotta guard me so it’s even. Then KD gets into it with him #netsworld
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Kevin Durant Shows Respect to the Warriors
The Warriors were without three of their starters — Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson — so the outcome of their game against the Nets wasn’t unexpected.
Still, Durant paid respect to Golden State.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s the Warriors,” Durant said to reporters after the win. “You always respect them no matter who is on the floor. They have a championship system and championship players. Even though Steph, Klay and Wiggins are out, those guys had a next-up mentality. Just come out there and play so you can’t take them lightly, and I think we did a good job of staying focused to start.”
Jacque Vaughan Sounds Off on Nets’ Approach
Durant must have spoken those exact words to his Nets teammates during pregame because Brooklyn came out swinging hard, scored a whopping 91 points in the first half as they waltzed to their seventh-straight victory.
The Nets have long held a reputation for letting up against undermanned opponents and then getting bitten in the end. But against the Warriors, the Nets showed no letup, treating a depleted Golden State roster as though it had a clean injury report.
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughan said the team had a “mature” approach.
“That’s what happens when you come to work and you’re ready to work from the beginning. I think we used the word professionalism and being mature to play the game tonight, and I think that was the first piece of it,” Vaughan said after the game.
“Our approach was pretty good, especially the first quarter after the last two games, and 42 assists. Being able to spray the ball around, share that thing, play for each other, find each other early really carried us through the rest of the game.”
The Nets continue to string together wins but have been fortunate to play several teams missing key players. But they have a real test coming up December 23 when they host the first-place Milwaukee Bucks.