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NEW YORK – James Harden scored 32 points and a triple-double in his Brooklyn debut, Kevin Durant scored 42 points, a season-high, in his first game with his former teammate, and the Nets have shown their mighty potential in a 122-115 victory over Orlando Magic on Saturday night.
Harden got 14 assists and 12 rebounds after being cleared to play earlier in the afternoon after all of the blockbuster players who brought him in from Houston completed their physical exams. Harden also had nine turnovers.
He didn’t have training time with the Nets and certainly didn’t need it, becoming the first player in franchise history to have a triple-double in his debut.
Durant scored five 3 points in his 10th game after an 18-month layoff following an Achilles tendon rupture in the 2019 NBA Finals. He increased his average to 30.7 points, which would be his highest since scoring 32 league-leading per game and winning NBA MVP honors for Oklahoma City in 2014.
It was a few years after he and Durant helped lead the Thunder to the NBA Finals and their new couple may have similar possibilities. The Nets could be even better when they reunite with Kyrie Irving, who missed his sixth straight game after leaving the team last week for personal reasons.
Nikola Vucevic had 34 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Magic, who lost their fifth straight. They were much more competitive than the rest, including a 124-97 loss to Boston on Friday.
Harden didn’t score until he made a pair of free throws with 6.8 seconds left in the first quarter and didn’t make his first basket before a layup with 10:07 left in the half. But his game was on track from the start, pushing the ground to find teammates rather than often dribbling the shot clock in Houston.
He threw his shot in an 11-point third quarter, capping it with a deep 3 points just before the buzzer to give Brooklyn an 84-83 lead.
TIP-INS
Magic: Steve Clifford was able to defy a whistled foul on the Magic with 8.6 seconds left and his team trailing by seven. He improved to 5 for 5 on Coach’s challenges this season. … Terrence Ross scored 23 points.
Nets: Durant has scored 25 or more points in nine straight games, setting a new franchise record. … Coach Steve Nash has said that F / C Nicolas Claxton, who has been out all season with a right knee injury, will likely not return until later in the first half of the season, possibly in February.
CLOSE ON KYRIE?
Nash said Irving is hopefully set to return, but no date has been set. He wants the leader to have time to scale up his activities accordingly after his layoff. He said Irving worked alone and could do so with a group of players on Sunday on a day off.
NEXT
Magic: Visit the New York Knicks on Monday.
Nets: Host Milwaukee Monday.
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