On January 16, Beijing time, in the case of Durant only playing 12 minutes and 22 seconds before the early injury, Harden bombed 27 points, 8 rebounds and 15 assists, plus 6 mistakes of quasi-triple-double data, activated the Nets 6-man scoring double-double offensive attack to defeat the Pelicans to win, helping the Nets refuse to lose consecutive defeats to stop the decline.
Harden set several records in this game:
First, Harden's total three-point hits in his career officially surpassed Ray Allen's three-point record of 4456 three-point strikes, and was crowned the NBA's all-time three-pointers.
Second, Harden's career total free throw shooting officially surpassed Hall of Famer Adrian Dantley's 6832 free throws to rise to the 10th place in NBA history, and the next place will chase Pierce record.
With Irving still unable to play in the home game, Harden joined forces with the returning Durant to lead the Pelicans at halftime and even took a 30-point lead at most. Only in the middle of the second quarter, Durant suffered a knee injury that caused him to retire early, and Durant's specific injury needs to wait for tomorrow's MRI results.
In the case of Durant's injury, Harden exploded a double-double of 13 points, 5 rebounds and 11 assists at halftime, leading the Nets to continue to suppress the Pelicans, and the Nets led by 28 points 69-41 in the first half, setting the nets' largest half-time lead record this season, and the second-largest half-game lead record at Barclays Center since the 2012-13 season, second only to the 32-point lead record against the Pacers on February 10, 2021.
The lack of Durant to let the Nets' combat effectiveness decline, the Pelicans launched a crazy counterattack in the second half, but Harden continued to shoot and combine the team to consolidate the advantage, especially to activate the Nets to score 6 people in double figures, and 3 of them scored 20+, and finally won the big victory over the Pelicans, refusing to narrow the gap with the Eastern Conference leader Bulls.
(Text/Drunken Floating Life)