The NBA regular season continues, with the East and West facing a strong and weak confrontation, with the Nets sitting at home against the Pelicans.
The Nets have lost the second place in the East due to poor performances in the last 6 games, and are currently in third place in the East, so against the Pelicans, the Nets urgently need a victory to turn the situation around.
As soon as the game began, the Nets established a double-digit lead under the leadership of Harden and Durant.
As a result, the Nets suffered a blow in the second quarter, and Durant was accidentally injured by teammate Brown, and then confirmed that he would not return to the game.
Wooj also followed up and pointed out that Durant will undergo an MRI examination on Sunday local time to determine the specific injury problem.
Although Durant left the court due to injury, it did not prevent the Nets from becoming more courageous, and under Harden's leadership, the Nets exploded in full force, and by the end of the half, the team had established a huge lead of 28 points.
Yi Bian fought again, and the Pelicans played a wave of counterattacks with tactical adjustments, directly reducing the point difference to within 20 points.
But the Nets didn't give the Pelicans any chance, always able to respond in time, and maintained a double-digit lead.
In the final quarter, the Nets once again exerted their strength, directly taking away the game in a wave, but because the Pelicans never gave up, the Nets could only use the main force to be present, and finally the team easily defeated the opponent 120-105.
Throughout the game, in the case of Durant's injury, Harden naturally became the team's anchor.
Despite consistently leading the Pelicans, Harden played 40 minutes, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 2-of-5 from three-point range, with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 15 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.
The personal plus-minus is as high as +21, leading the whole field, and Harden also activated the Three New Stars of the Nets with this performance.
Among them, Edwards played 37 minutes, 6 of 10 shots, 4 of 5 three-pointers, and efficiently bombed 16 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block, with a personal plus-minus of +16.
In the second quarter of the game, Edwards was extremely good, shooting 5-of-7 in a single quarter and scoring 13 points by one man.
After the game, Edwards also said that he had always been full of confidence, knew that he was a goalscorer, and now finally entered the rhythm of the game, knew what he should do on the court, and felt very interesting to play for the Nets.
Thomas, another rising star who was reused earlier, also delivered an excellent performance in this game.
Throughout the game, Thomas played 35 minutes, shooting 9-of-13, and efficiently blasted down 20 points, 6 rebounds and 1 steal.
Thomas first talked about Durant's injury after the game, bluntly saying that it was really unfortunate, Durant is his brother, and he will call Durant in a moment.
The third rising star is Sharp, who has performed well before, and this game took off again next to Harden.
Sharp played 26 minutes, shooting 6-of-14, delivering 12 points, 10 rebounds and 1 block, which was the first time in his career that he had a double-double stat so far.
That makes Sharp the fourth youngest player in Nets history to have a double-double (20 years and 70 days), behind derrick Favors, Cliff T. Robinson and Jarrett Allen.
Although the three new stars have performed well, and Mills, Griffin and Brown have also done their own jobs, Harden is undoubtedly the brain of the team.
Especially after Durant came off, Harden's role was vividly displayed, so after the game, Nash also showed Harden in advance.
Nash said durant's injury is a very difficult thing for the team, and with Irving and Harris not on the floor, Harden needs to play longer.