Kyrie Irving fails to lead the Nets to a victory with a 27-point double-double and fans raise questions about the point guard’s capabilities.
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Sunday evening, the Brooklyn Nets were looking to put an end to their 7-game losing streak that started in the last week of January with the loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They came on to the wrong door as the Denver Nuggets were themselves looking to break a 3-game losing streak.
In what looked like a thrilling encounter in the first couple of quarters, Kyrie Irving and Co scored 40-first quarter points but also gave away 39 to Nikola Jokic’s team. The game was going back and forth until 3rd quarter until some of the Nets stopped searching for buckets.
But the Joker never stopped. He had 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, scoring his 23 points in the second and third quarters when Denver went from trailing by seven to leading by 21. While Blake Griffin scored all of his 19-points in the first half.
Nikola Jokic makes triple-doubles look easy with his league-leading 14th triple-double of the season in the @nuggets win! #MileHighBasketball
— NBA (@NBA) February 7, 2022
The Nuggets held James Harden and Kevin Durant less Brooklyn to just 29 points in the second half, gifting them their 8th straight loss.
“We’re not going to panic, there’s still plenty of games after the all-star break when Kevin gets back,” Nets head coach, Steve Nash said after the game. “Hopefully have Kevin and James. You’re talking about five guys. That’s your starting lineup, potentially.”
Kyrie Irving gets grilled by NBA Twitter
Playing without James Harden and Kevin Durant, Irving personally had an eventful outing where he had 27 points, 11 assists, 5-rebounds, 3-blocks, and a steal in the game. But he failed to lead the Brooklyn offense throughout the game when there was no particular resistance from the Denver side apart from their better rebounding.
As the game ended 124-104, experts and fans started getting on Kai’s back for his lack of leadership and self-awareness.
Kyrie Irving has to be the least self aware professional athlete of all time
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) February 7, 2022
Kyrie Irving talking about holding someone to his word is the funniest statement of 2022 https://t.co/vuzyTUI4wy
— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) February 7, 2022
Kyrie Irving might go down as the worst star teammate ever
— Roosh (@RooshWilliams) February 5, 2022
Good, so sick of Kyrie Irving. Go away.
— Dan Hayes (@DanHayes13) February 7, 2022
Look up kyrie Irving’s zodiac sign & you’ll understand why he victimizes so much. I ain’t surprised lol https://t.co/S4cK3jFDtp
— King™ (@VilleThaDeal) February 7, 2022
Harden’s hamstring issue and his trade rumors might be having a toll on both the player and the team.
But it’s apparent that there’s no way for the Nets to even make it safe to the Playoffs without KD as they slid down to seventh in the East with a slight difference in the W/L column from the Celtics and the Hornets who follow them in the pecking order.