On January 14, Beijing time, the NBA regular season, the Nets played back-to-back against the Thunder at home. With Irving unable to play in home games, Durant and Mills are on leave, and Harden will lead the team alone to meet opponents, which is also the second time this season that he has led the team alone.
After the two teams entangled in the opening game, the Thunder, under Alexander's leadership, successfully opened the point difference. Alexander scored 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the first quarter to give the Thunder a 38-26 single-quarter lead. In the second quarter, the Nets continued to attack unfavorably, and it was difficult to find the next scoring point except for Harden. The Thunder continued to dominate the initiative on the court, widening the point difference to 19 points at most. At the end of the half, the Nets trailed the Thunder 51-70.
Easy side to fight again. The Nets recovered in form this quarter, and under Harden's resurgence, the team gradually found an offensive rhythm. Thomas scored 10 points in a single quarter and Duke scored 8 points in a single quarter, and the two helped the Nets narrow the gap to less than 10 points at one point. Alexander stepped forward again, using his personal ability to help the team reject the Nets' further tightening of the point difference. In the third quarter, the Thunder still led the Nets 100-83. In the final quarter of the game, the Nets showed a tenacious posture and were still unwilling to give up the game. But Gidey and Dort still helped the Thunder get an absolute lead. The game went to 5 minutes and 21 seconds, and seeing that the difference between the two teams was still hovering around 20 points, Harden went off the court and the Nets announced that they would abandon the game. In the end, the Nets lost 109-130 at home to the Thunder.
Harden played nearly 37 minutes in the game, 7 of 22, 3 of 11 three-pointers, and 9-of-9 from the free throw line for 26 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. With the two biggest stars absent from the game, Harden has done everything he can to do his best to win the team. But harden is ultimately a two-fisted opponent, unable to lead the team to win by one person, and set a record for the highest points conceded this season. He has failed twice this season, losing 104-114 to the Rockets in his last solo game on the road.
With the Nets losing today, the team's record has reached 26-15, tied with the Heat. As the two teams met each other in the season, the Nets were at a disadvantage, so the Nets were overtaken by the Heat after this game, slipping to no. 3 in the East, and there was only a 0.5-win gap between them and the No. 4 Nets.
Although the Nets won the game against the Bulls yesterday with a big win, the first win of the season in the top 4 of the East and West, breaking the spell of the team's always invincible team. However, that doesn't hide the fact that the team has lost 6 of their last nine games, and the situation with the Nets is still very grim. Irving's inability to play for the team is still one of their main problems.
According to the schedule, the Nets' next game will be at home to the Pelicans this morning Beijing time.
(Text/Yuwen Basketball)