On January 6, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, Irving fans have long been waiting at the Pacers home to see the return of the hero, this game Irving ushered in the debut, the vaccine incident finally came to an end. Before the game, the Nets suffered a two-game losing streak, and Irving's comeback injected a booster into his teammates. Because Sabonis and Stephenson were in great form, the Pacers took a 13-point lead in the first half, which surprised fans, and the championship-winning and rebuilding teams actually played like this. The key moment is still to see Irving, in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter, he led the team to play a wave of 17-5 big counter-attack to surpass the score, and finally the Nets completed the reversal. In this game, Irving's performance was so outstanding that Durant's highlight of 39 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists was lost. A player who missed 40 games and got an all-around statistic of 22 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block on his first comeback only proves that he is in good shape, as Harden said, Irving looks like he has been playing all season.
Speaking of Harden, his performance in this game can only be regarded as a pass, shooting 5 of 12, including 4 of 0 three-pointers, with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. To be sure, without Irving's return, this game is destined to break out. Durant told the truth after the game, saying: "It's great to have Irving, everyone on the team feels a lot more relaxed. When Harden returned, he didn't see Durant say such a thing. Of course, this can also be seen from the passionate embrace of Durant and Irving after the game, he is excited! In addition to Irving, Stephenson also played the strongest game of his career, scoring 20 points in a single quarter and 30 points in the whole game, and Irving said to him, I never saw you score 20 points in a single quarter. The Liaoning team finally found a team that suited him. Coach Carlisle also said That Stephenson has made a magical connection with the fans.
However, a sentence in Harden's post-game interview caused a heated discussion among fans, who said: "The biggest problem with the Nets is the internal problem!" When you think about it, the bearded man is not unreasonable. Irving missed for almost a season before the team had its most difficult period, with Harden and Durant ranking at the top of the league in average playing time per game. It is worth mentioning that this game is also the big three playing at the same time since the 2020 Eastern Conference semifinals, and people have very high expectations for the big three, but they have only played less than 30 games for various personal reasons, and whether the Nets have won the championship has also been drawn with a big question mark. After the game, Owen said that the problem of the epidemic could not come in a hurry, and could only take it slowly, and at the moment only enjoyed the joy of fighting side by side with his teammates. For the Nets, there is not much time left for the Big Three to cooperate, and it is reported that the three of them have renewed their contracts at the same time, and the Nets will spend $7.03 for this, which is higher than the Warriors' total salary.