NBA Playoffs: Kevin Durant's 55 Points Not Enough to Beat Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets met for a Saturday night matchup this weekend. Last season, the Hawks and the Nets were ranked top-five in the Eastern

The Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets met for a Saturday night matchup this weekend. Last season, the Hawks and the Nets were ranked top-five in the Eastern Conference Playoff picture formed.

This season, Atlanta and Brooklyn are headed for the Play-In Tournament. Going into their Saturday night battle, the Hawks and the Nets were tied with a 40-37 record. Both teams knew that the loser of their matchup loses their chance of making the playoffs by avoiding a Play-In game.

It was clear that Kevin Durant got the memo on Saturday as the former MVP checked in for over 40 minutes and dominated from start to finish.

After chucking up nearly 30 shots, Durant drained 19 field goals. He was a spectacular 80-percent from beyond the arc off of ten attempts. At the end of the matchup, Durant finished the night with 55 points.

His co-superstar Kyrie Irving wrapped up the outing with 31 points of his own in 44 minutes. Despite the two stars dominating in Atlanta on a personal level, Trae Young and the Hawks were simply the better team overall on Saturday.

The 86 combined points from Durant and Irving weren't enough as the Hawks put the Nets down with a 122-115 victory. With that loss, the Nets fall to 40-38 on the year and drop into the tenth seed, where they are locked into a Play-In spot.

Meanwhile, the Hawks improve to 41-37 on the year and jump ahead of the Charlotte Hornets to land in the eighth seed for the time being.

From Favorites to Hopefuls

The Brooklyn Nets entered the 2021-2022 NBA season as Eastern Conference favorites. Although the Nets came up short in the playoffs last year, their inability to take out the Milwaukee Bucks had a lot to do with Kyrie Irving and James Harden batting physical setbacks in the postseason.

This year, the Nets have struggled throughout the regular season due to numerous factors. Not only did the team deal with key injuries and a significant COVID-19 outbreak, but they also didn't have Irving on board for the first half of the season.

And when Kyrie finally returned to the court, he was playing with the Nets on a part-time basis. In the midst of the Nets' issues, James Harden started to lose interest in playing in Brooklyn. Eventually, he was able to force his way out.

Brooklyn participated in a blockbuster trade with the Philadelphia 76ers to land Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, and Andre Drummond. While Curry and Drummond have shown some solid flashes for the Nets so far, Simmons has yet to play for his new team as a back injury has kept him from making his season debut. Also, Seth Curry has been on and off the floor due to minor setbacks as well.

With the Nets still dealing with injury struggles, they've been inconsistent as of late. And although Durant and Irving are still playing stellar basketball, the two superstars can't do everything alone. Therefore, Brooklyn remains inconsistent in the regular season.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.