Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets slumped to a gut-wrenching loss against the Miami Heat on Sunday night. A severely undermanned Nets team fought until the final quarter and were defeated by a Bam Adebayo buzzer-beater.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Were the only stalwarts on the side which sorely missed the presence of James Harden. Moreover, KD had to leave the court early owing to a left thigh contusion. All of these hindrances resulted in the Nets capitulating under pressure.
In the post-game press conference, Kyrie expressed how the team felt after the loss. He also talked about how the injury to Durant affected the playing style of the team during the game. He said, “The timing of everything this season has been the telltale sign for what life is right now. There is a lot of uncertainty with a lot going on. Anything can happen at any moment so we don’t want to take anything for granted.”
He continued, “Anytime one of our teammates goes down, it is definitely a hit for us. We just pray that it is not too serious and he’s able to recover. However, it definitely has a hit on our continuity at times. We don’t want to make any excuses for each other, we’re all professionals. It is all going to turn eventually. We just have to find a certain continuity and connectivity from the start of the game to the end.”
For the Nets, Landry Shamet was the top scorer as he came off the bench to finish with 30 points. Apart from him, Kyrie was back to his scoring form as he scored 20 points along with nine assists and four rebounds.
“They were playing well, hitting a lot of shots, so you’ve got to give credit, like I always say,” Irving said. “But there were definitely some preventable plays out there that I feel like just could have been better.”
The Brooklyn Nets are currently second in the Eastern Conference standings. At the moment, they are well in contention for the playoffs and will look forward to performing well in the postseason.
