NBA regular season, the Nets against the Pelicans, the strength gap between the two teams is huge, but the Nets have recently fluctuated in state, has slipped from the top of the Eastern Conference to the third in the East, the home team faces the weak brigade, winning has become their only goal, after four quarters of competition, the Nets 15 points victory over the Pelicans, Harden became an important contributor to the victory, but unfortunately, Durant retired from the game due to injury in the second quarter, and his injury worried many fans.
In the last game Durant, Irving was absent, Harden led the team alone, they lost to the Thunder by 21 points, this game ushered in Durant's comeback, from the beginning Durant showed a good offensive feel, the first use of mid-range shooting to open the nets, Mills three points raised his hand, Harden used defense, steal the opponent counterattack to win, the first three minutes, the Pelicans did not score a point, the Nets directly opened the point difference, Graham for the Pelicans to break the scoring drought, Durant scored 6 consecutive points, the first quarter of the Nets led by 10 points. It's time for the next verse. Nets bench players continue to exert their strength, Edwards, Thomas, Sharp have hit the shot, but Durant in defense, by teammate Brown hit the leg, helpless to withdraw from the game, Durant injured and left, the Pelicans still can not find the state, the Nets quickly expanded the point difference to more than 20 points, with Harden, Mills three points, the Nets led by 28 points to end the first half.
In the third quarter, the Pelicans seized the Nets defense lax, Ingram, Hart scored consecutively, the point difference was reduced from 28 points to 18 points, even Nash repeatedly suspended can not improve the Nets' defense, to the second half of the game, the Nets slowly state the offensive feel, Harden used to create foul scores, and then assisted teammates many times, for the Nets to stabilize the situation, to the end of the quarter, Mills, Edwards, Harden, consecutive wins, the Nets began to play a 14-6 climax, the point difference was opened again, although the Pelicans continued to chase points, However, because the point difference is really too large, coupled with Harden's good performance, the Pelicans have no hope of chasing points and can only accept the loss.
The Nets 6 people scored in double figures, three of them scored more than 20 points, Harden scored 27 points, 8 rebounds and 15 assists, it was Harden's leadership that made the Nets' offense play very smoothly, each player showed their talent, the three rookies, Sharp, Edwards and Thomas, facing the same young Pelicans, performed very strongly on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, the Halftime Nets led the Pelicans by 28 points, which was the biggest point difference between the Nets' halftime lead this season, Harden scored 13 points and 11 assists in the half, plus or minus as high as 31, His outstanding performance made up for Durant's vacancy, and more importantly, Harden's recovery also revitalized the offense of other players, but Harden also set a record, losing 3 three-point shots in this game, and his career three-point shooting to 4458 times, surpassing Ray Allen and becoming the player who has lost the most three-pointers in NBA history.
Although the Pelicans 7 people in doubles, but they relatively do not have a major offensive core, are young players, fighting for their own, Ingram scored 22 points, still a piecemeal play, can not stop the team from losing, rebounds are lower than the Nets, all the data is suppressed by the Nets in all directions, which also led to their fourth quarter to fight back, it is still difficult to narrow the point difference.
Durant's injury is a big blow to the Nets, at present his injury also needs to be exposed to the fans after undergoing an MRI examination, after the game Nets coach Nash talked about Durant's injury, he said: Durant was injured in this game, which makes him unable to play in the future for a period of time, his injury has a very big impact on the team, no one in our team wants to see this happen, but we will continue to maintain a good state to meet the next game, after Irving, Durant is absent, Harden needs to play longer.
From Nash's words, fans began to feel sorry for Harden, after all, this big victory over the Pelicans game, Harden played for more than 40 minutes, if Durant misses many games in the future, maybe Harden will play the rhythm of the whole field, Nash's tactics are single, that is, the use of superstars for a long time, but this is only the regular season, increasing Harden's playing time is easy for Harden to suffer injuries, we hope that Harden can withstand the pressure, but also hope that Durant will be fine and return to the field as soon as possible.