NBA: Kyrie Irving’s 27 points help Nets defeat Raptors for 6th straight home win
Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets reacts with teammate Kevin Durant #7 against the Toronto Raptors during the second half at Barclays Center on December 2, 2022 in New York City. Adam Hunger/Getty Images/AFP
Kyrie Irving scored 27 points as the Brooklyn Nets took control early and recorded a wire-to-wire 114-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors Friday night.
Brooklyn won its sixth straight home game, improved to 4-0 on its season-long seven-game homestand that continues with Sunday’s visit against the NBA-best Boston Celtics. The Nets also won for the 11th time in 16 games after losing six of their first eight contests.
Brooklyn survived a shaky second half to record its third win this season against Toronto by setting season highs for points in an opening quarter (41) and first half (72). The Nets led by double-digits for most of the final 42-plus minutes before letting the lead slip to seven in the final minute.
Irving, who scored at least 20 points for the seventh straight game, made 10 of 17 shots in 39 minutes.
Kevin Durant added 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the Nets needed to play him for 38 minutes because of their shaky final 24 minutes. Joe Harris also contributed 17 and Nic Claxton finished with 15 and nine rebounds as the Nets shot 53.7 percent.
Special delivery! @KyrieIrving ➡️ @_claxton33 pic.twitter.com/8jwTC43HYK
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 3, 2022
Royce O’Neale added 11 points and eight rebounds and reserve T.J. Warren chipped in 10 during his first appearance since Dec. 29, 2020 due to foot injuries.
Pascal Siakam, who recorded a triple-double in his last trip to Brooklyn Oct. 21, scored 24 points but the Raptors could not overcome missing 14 of their first 16 shots and fell to .500 for the sixth time this year. O.G. Anunoby added 21 and Scottie Barnes contributed 17 for the Raptors, who shot 43.7 percent.
Claxton’s layup gave the Nets their first double-digit lead at 21-10 with 6:38 remaining and Brooklyn opened a 30-10 lead on a basket by Durant with 4:10 left and held a 41-17 after one. Brooklyn took its largest lead when Warren’s jumper made it 67-31 with about 5 1/2 minutes left and the Nets held a 72-49 lead by halftime.
Toronto got the lead under 20 when Barnes hit a layup to make it 74-55 with 9:19 remaining. The Nets carried a 93-72 lead into the fourth and sank four free throws in the final 37.8 seconds after a dunk by Barnes got Toronto within 110-103.
