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Washington: Brooklyn’s star guard Kyrie Irving made his long-awaited NBA season debut with 22 points, helping Nets to a 129-121 comeback win over the Indiana Pacers.
Irving’s first appearance, delayed by his COVID-19 vaccine status, was just one highlight on a night that featured the Dallas Mavericks’ 99-82 triumph over the league-leading Golden State Warriors.
The victory in Dallas set the scene perfectly for a post-game ceremony to retire the jersey No. 41 of Mavericks franchise icon Dirk Nowitzki.
In Indianapolis, all eyes were on Irving, who missed the first 35 games of the season.
He played just under 32 minutes, scoring 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to help Brooklyn erase a 19-point third-quarter deficit.
“Oh man, it was amazing,” Irving said in an on-court interview.
Irving remains ineligible to play home games in Brooklyn because of New York vaccine mandates. He is also barred from games at Madison Square Garden and in Toronto, and it wasn’t until this month that the Nets decided it would be worth having him on court part-time.
“We were going around signing a bunch of 10-day (contract players) when we have a guy who can play for us, so what’s the difference between a 10-day and a guy – those are part-time players, too,” Nets coach Steve Nash said, calling it an opportunity to “use a resource that we have and that we weren’t using.”
Irving’s return came at an opportune time for the Nets, who had lost their last three games to slip behind the Chicago Bulls for the Eastern Conference lead.
Irving was in the starting lineup but got off to a slow start as Pacers guard Lance Stephenson – playing on a 10-day contract – scored 20 points in the first quarter as the hosts took a 37-22 lead.
But Irving warmed up, and capped an 8-0 run with a jump shot at the third-quarter buzzer that pulled Brooklyn within five points heading into the final frame.
“We just wanted to come out with a resilient attitude and do the right things on both ends of the floor,” Irving said, calling the first half “horrible.”
“We came out the second half with a resolved attitude,” he said.
Kevin Durant led the Nets with 39 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. James Harden added 18 points, six assists and five rebounds.
The first look this season at Brooklyn’s “Big Three” of Irving, Durant and Harden may have been encouraging, but Irving won’t be available for their next two games – when they host the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday and San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
“It’s not ideal this situation we’re in,” Irving said. “But we’re going to battle through it and we’re going to do everything we can to stay together.”
