Nets win Brooklyn-best ninth straight

Bury Cleveland, 125-117, to extend longest streak since 2006

December 27, 2022 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Jacque Vaughn celebrates the Nets' longest winning streak since they moved to Brooklyn Monday night in Cleveland. AP Photo by Ron Schwane

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The Nets made a bit of Brooklyn history Monday night in Cleveland.

Kyrie Irving scored 14 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and Kevin Durant also had 32 before fouling out, lifting the Nets to their Brooklyn-best ninth consecutive win, a 125-117 victory over the Cavaliers in front of a sellout crowd of 19,342 fans at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“Just playing some great basketball and trusting each other,” Irving said.

The Nets (22-12) haven’t had a winning streak this long since reeling off a franchise-record 14 in a row from March 12-April 6, 2006, when the team was still based in New Jersey.

Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn was a player on that Nets squad, which reached the Eastern Conference semifinals.

His current team hasn’t lost since a 103-92 setback to Boston at Downtown’s Barclays Center on Dec. 4.

That remains the Nets’ only defeat in the last 14 contests, a run that followed a tumultuous start to the campaign, which featured an eight-game suspension for Irving after Durant voiced his wishes to be traded last summer.

Kyrie Irving and the Nets have been the hottest team in the NBA since he returned from his eight-game suspension last month. AP Photo by Ron Schwane

“When we came back as a group, we kind of pledged to each other that it was going to be about basketball,” noted Vaughn, who has guided the Nets to an NBA-best 16-3 record since Nov. 17.

“Our guys have done a great job of protecting each other and making this thing about basketball,” he added.

Irving both started and finished strong, putting up eight of Brooklyn’s first 11 points before draining his season-high seventh 3-pointer to give the Nets a 121-111 cushion with 2:06 remaining.

Durant, who fouled out for the first time since arriving in our borough in 2019, went 10-of-18 from the floor, 5-of-8 from 3-point range and 7-of-8 at the line.

The Most Valuable Player candidate went to the bench with 1:54 remaining, but Irving and T.J. Warren closed the contest out with two free throws apiece.

“To be honest, I think we’ve always been about ball,” Durant emphasized. “So many voices, everybody has a platform, but they don’t really have an idea. For us, we’ve always been focused on playing basketball.”

Warren scored 23 points off the bench and Royce O’Neale, Nic Claxton and Yuta Watanabe added 10 points apiece for Brooklyn, which will try to make it 10 straight wins Wednesday night in Atlanta.

“We gotta approach every game the same way, the same mentality, the same unity,” said Warren, who finished 9-of-14 from the floor.

Darius Garland poured in 46 points and Donovan Mitchell, guarded fiercely by Ben Simmons, finished with 15 for the Cavaliers (22-13), who watched the Nets climb over them for third place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Brooklyn used a furious 19-4 run over the final three minutes of the first half to build a 64-49 cushion, marking its largest halftime lead on the road this year.

Though Cleveland closed within single digits several times in the second half, the Nets found a way to hold the Cavs off, finishing an eye-popping 18-for-30 from beyond the arc.

“It’s great to see from the group,” said Vaughn. “They were gonna make runs, but our shot-making tonight was exceptional, especially from (3-point range).”

Fouling out for the first time as a Net didn’t slow down Kevin Durant or Brooklyn’s ongoing winning streak. AP Photo by Ron Schwane

NOTHING BUT NET: After visiting the Hawks Wednesday, the Nets will wrap up this three-game homestand on New Year’s Eve in Charlotte. … Durant moved past Tim Duncan (26,496) for 15th place on the NBA’s al-time scoring list, leaving him behind Dominique Wilkins (26,668) for 14th. Irving and Durant have scored at least 30 points in the same game in an NBA-best five games this year. … Seth Curry (non-COVID illness) and Joe Harris (left knee) sat out Monday. Harris is back in Brooklyn with what Vaughn described as “soreness and swelling” following an MRI exam.