Nets: 'No More Pressure' On Kyrie Irving with Kevin Durant Out
The Brooklyn Nets will play their first game without superstar forward Kevin Durant vs. the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
The mood around the Nets has been a confident one with no sliver of confidence being visibly hindered. Despite the body language, hosting the Celtics for the first game is certainly a warm welcome to the hardest test of adversity Brooklyn has faced this season.
“It’s really been our mentality; whoever is next on the schedule. So, it just so happens, it’s the No. 1 team in the league right now," Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said pregame. "So great challenge for us. I think it puts us in a great mental state where we know if we are not prepared, we’ll get embarrassed. We know if we don’t have the maximum effort, we'll get embarrassed. If we know we don’t have maximum effort, we’ll get embarrassed. If we know you don’t play harder than the dude that’s next to you, you will get embarrassed. So great entrance into the Kevin-less games that we’ll play. I’m excited to see our group compete.”
While Durant will be watching the Nets from the bench, Kyrie Irving will return as the No. 1 option against the last team he was the full-time star. Despite getting the star boost, don't expect to see anything drastically different.
Irving, who has played in handfuls of stints serving as the top guy with Brooklyn across his tenure, isn't expected to carry a heavier load. In Vaughn's eyes, it's about a collective effort, the team being tighter on both ends and Irving doing what he does best on the hardwood.
"Really, we want to not put more pressure on Kyrie than he had three games ago. It’s the same approach with this group," Vaughn stated. "Is it going to be more of a discipline from the rest of the group to do things – Kevin bailed us out a lot of times. A bad possession ends up being a good possession. So we’re going to have to be tight on both ends of the floor, but no more pressure should be on 11.
"His ability to create double teams, which will happen, and create for other guys. His ability to play one-on-one at times is going to be there. But we added nothing to the playbook yesterday to put any more on his plate.”
Irving is averaging 26.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 36.5 minutes per game through Brooklyn's 40 games played. He's bordering an elite 50/40/90 shooting campaign, registering 48.8 percent from the field, 36.6 percent from 3-point range, and 90.7 percent from the foul line.