Kyrie Irving has only qualified for a handful of Brooklyn Nets remaining games.
And he's making the most of them.
Patrick's High School star, the West Orange native and former St. Patrick's High School star, put up 50 points shooting 19 of 15 in Brooklyn's 132-121 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night. He scored 9-in-12 three-pointers and also made six assists and three rebounds. Irving had 20 points in the first half shooting 5-of-7 with four boundaries.
Only Adrian Dantley has ever scored 50+ on fewer shots, doing so in 17 tries with the Utah Jazz in 1980.
"He's unbelievable," Nets head coach Steve Nash said of Irving. "He's a career-highlight reel every night. We have a special player in our hands. Tonight he was incredibly skillful and tough to defend. Although we'd like to think we had the game in hand, few assets like She saved us from getting close to single digits. There were some really big shots in the second half but overall, she is just an incredible player and shot-maker."
The bucket that got Kyrie 50
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) March 9, 2022
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Every game is important for the Nets, who improved 33–33 to stabilize at .500 and remain the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. With no vaccination against COVID-19, Irving has qualified for only five of Brooklyn's remaining 16 games, including Thursday's much-anticipated game in Philadelphia against ex-Net James Harden and the 76ers.
When asked what he expects from the environment on Thursday, where Ben Simmons will return to Philadelphia and sit on the Nets bench, Irving said, "Lovely."
As for his landmark performance, Irving said: "You just have to get into that deep space where you're not distracted by anything and out there, there's a goal at hand. I just get less talkative. I just have a look on my face that I'm ready to go out there, do what we need to do to achieve this victory, and join a collective group. We're just sacrificing the outcome. All the consequences."
In historical numbers for Irving:
- He scored his third 50-point game as a net. No other player in the franchise's NBA history has had more than one player (eight players post a 50-point game as the net).
- This is Irving's fifth career 50-point game: three in Brooklyn and two in Cleveland.
- Irving has scored 40+ points nine times as a net, breaking the tie with John Williamson for the second most in franchise history. Only Vince Carter (17) had more.
Irving's running mate Kevin Durant called Irving's night a "master class."
“It is pure. Everything he does is pure,” said Durant, who scored 14 points in the win. “It looked very easy tonight. I looked up and he got 10 points, and it looked like he only took two shots in the first quarter. I said to Seth [Curry], "Hey, I didn't know he cooked like this. I looked into his eyes to start the game. He wanted to play better than the last game so he came here tonight and Wanted to impress the game from the start. He led us all night. He hit big shots when we needed him and it was just an incredible, unbelievable performance.
"Young players should watch the game and learn what it takes to score at that level as 5′10," says 5′11″ [players]. Scoring so easy for him, it was just a master class. ,