Kevin Durant scored 36 points on a milestone night to help the Brooklyn Nets fend off the Indiana Pacers 116-109 and claim a badly needed second win of the NBA season.
Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and Nic Claxton chipped in 19 for the Nets, who led by as many as 24 points but were tied at 100-100 with 6:54 to play.
Circled in a controversy of his own making after promoting a link to an anti-Semitic film, Irving was back in the Nets starting lineup.
Steve Nash was vague when asked about the prospect of any disciplinary action. And The Post spoke with at least one fan who’d give up his season tickets if such action weren’t forthcoming.
“I was expecting that. Look at who you’re dealing with. But [the shirt] was really not for him. It was really for the Nets. They should not keep a guy like that around,” Jungreis told The Post.
Asked if he’d cancel his season tickets, he replied “Oh, definitely. A lot of people are going to cancel, a lot of people.
“I think they have to discipline him in some way, and make it sincere for him hopefully, if it’s not sincere, I guess that’s the second best thing.”
That remains to be seen.
The Nets and NBA made statements last week clearly directed at Irving, albeit not by name. Tsai publicly rebuked the point guard Friday night. Two nights later, Irving finally deleted the tweet.
Asked if the organisation were satisfied with Irving’s handling of the situation, Nash offered a vague answer that implied it was both above his pay grade and still up in the air.
“That’s an ongoing conversation,” Nash said. “I haven’t been a part of those internal talks, to be honest; I’ve been coaching, preparing the team. But I know they’re looking at that constantly.”
Both Tsai and Brooklyn GM Sean Marks declined comment when asked about the situation. But it stands to reason any talks on the subject would be at the highest level of the organisation.
Neither the NBA nor Brooklyn suspended or (publicly) fined Irving, either of which would’ve assuredly drawn a strong response from the NBA players’ association, of which Irving has been a vice president since 2020.
When Nash was pressed on whether the organisation had ever considered any sort of discipline whatsoever against Irving, and if finally relenting and taking down the tweet worked in Irving’s favour, he admitted it had.
“I think it certainly helps,” Nash said. “Like I said, I wasn’t in on all those conversations, so I can’t comment on them.”
The organisation did have a talk with Irving over the promotion of the movie, and while both the team’s and league’s statements conspicuously left out Irving’s name, Tsai directly rebuked him on Twitter. When asked if anyone in the organisation directly ordered Irving to take down the link, Nash demurred.
Simmons: We’ve had an honest chat | 01:18
“I’m not sure about that,” he said. “I knew there was a process in place so I allowed that process to take place.
“I just hope that we all grow through this together. There’s always an opportunity for us to grow and understand new perspectives. I think the organisation is trying to take that stance that we [need to] communicate through this and all come out in a better position with more understanding and wanting to have empathy for every side of this debate and situation.”
MORANT PUSHES MVP CLAIMS AS DELLY TAKES HIS CHANCE
The Milwaukee Bucks remain the only unbeaten team in the league, improving to 6-0 with a hard-fought 110-108 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
The Bucks, led by 31 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo, led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, but were pushed to the wire by the Pistons.
Cade Cunningham, who led Detroit with 27 points, was off-target twice in the final minute — with the Bucks’ lead down to three — and two free throws from Milwaukee center Brook Lopez proved to be enough.
Lopez finished with 24 points and Jrue Holiday added a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Bucks, who play the Pistons again on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Sacramento’s Davion Mitchell produced two clutch jump shots in the final 1:26 as the Kings rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat the Hornets 115-108 in Charlotte.
Kevin Huerter scored 26 points and Mitchell came off the bench to add 23 for the Kings, who notched their second straight win after starting the season 0-4.
– ‘Mental toughness’ –
Sacramento out-scored Charlotte 37-18 in the third period, taking the lead for the first time on Matthew Dellavedova’s three-pointer with 3:43 left in the quarter — his first bucket in the NBA in 553 days.
Charlotte, coming off an overtime victory over the NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Saturday, battled back to regain the lead in the fourth, and it was tied up after Charlotte’s Jalen McDaniels drained a three-pointer with 1:39 remaining.
Mitchell responded with a three-pointer and a jump shot and the Kings held on for the victory, despite seeing De’Aaron Fox depart early with a knee injury.
“What a game from our guys,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “When you go on the road, a lot of times to get a win it’s just about mental toughness.”
P.J. Washington led the Hornets with 28 points and Kelly Oubre added 16.
In Washington, James Harden scored 23 points and handed out 17 assists to fuel the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers in a 118-111 victory over the Wizards.
Tyrese Maxey added 28 points for the Sixers and Georges Niang made four three-pointers on the way to 12 points as Philadelphia won despite the absence of star center Joel Embiid, who was sidelined by illness.
In Salt Lake City, the Utah Jazz withstood a 37-point performance from Memphis star Ja Morant in a 121-105 victory over the Grizzlies.
Lauri Markkanen scored 31 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Jazz, whose 6-2 record is a surprise of the early season.
