CLEVELAND/ DENVER – Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant each scored 32 points and the Nets extended their longest winning streak since moving to Brooklyn to nine games with a 125-117 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Nets withstood a sensational 46-point performance by Darius Garland, who single-handedly kept the Cavs close in the fourth.
Brooklyn has won 13 of 14 and is beginning to look like an NBA title contender.
T.J. Warren added a season-high 23 points for the Nets, who handled one of the teams they´re chasing in the Eastern Conference standings after beating Milwaukee by 18 last Friday.
Durant moved past Tim Duncan (26,496) into 15th place on the career scoring list.
Irving made a season-high seven 3-pointers – and two key free throws with 41.1 seconds left – while being booed nearly every time he touched the ball by fans who cheered him during six seasons with Cleveland.
Elsewhere, Nikola Jokic had another monster triple-double, Aaron Gordon threw down a pivotal dunk that stood up after a review in overtime and the Denver Nuggets rallied for a 128-125 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Jokic had 41 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists for his 83rd career triple-double. The two-time reigning NBA MVP had a 40-point, 27-rebound, 10-assist outing a week ago.
Phoenix star Devin Booker lasted only 4:20 in his return from a groin injury, scoring two points after getting 58 against New Orleans in his previous start.
Jamal Murray tied it in regulation for Denver on a dunk with 10.7 seconds left. But it was Gordon´s OT dunk that propelled the Nuggets to the victory.
At first, he was called for an offensive foul, but a review determined that Landry Shamet – who matched his career high with 31 points for Phoenix – was moving, awarding Gordon the basket and a free throw.
Gordon finished with 28 points and Murray 26.
Best in-game dunk he’s ever had? “Yeah,” Gordon said according to AP. “Because of the time and score.”
Meanwhile, Jusuf Nurkic scored 27 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, to go with 14 rebounds and six assists as the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 124-113.
Jerami Grant led all scorers with 32 points for Portland. Damian Lillard had 17 points and nine assists on a night when he was honored for becoming the leading scorer in Trail Blazers history.
“I don´t know how to describe it. It made me feel old a little bit,” Lillard said. “Just the appreciation from my teammates. I don´t big bro them even though a lot of them are much younger than me and probably grew up watching me in the NBA when they were in high school.
“But tonight to hear them say congratulations, it was almost admiration in their voice and respect. I knew it was there but tonight I felt it even more.”
Also, Devin Vassell had 24 points; Keldon Johnson added 21 points and the San Antonio Spurs fended off the Utah Jazz in the final minutes for a 126-122 victory.
“We just stayed together. We persevered and came out on top,” Johnson said. “I feel like they are a good team and good teams make runs. We withstood that run and won the game.”
The Spurs led 121-110 with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. The Jazz scored seven points in 33 seconds, but they could not complete the rally.
Jakob Poeltl added 16 points for San Antonio.
Lauri Markkanen had 32 points and Jordan Clarkson added 25 points for Utah, which had won two straight.
Clarkson´s 3-pointer pulled Utah within 123-120 with 30.1 seconds remaining but Tre Jones tossed in a floater 23 seconds later as San Antonio snapped a two-game skid.
“I think we came into this year knowing we were going to be in a lot of close games,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “We weren´t going to be a team necessarily that was built to blow people out, so we needed to be clutch in those situations.”
Jones, who finished with 11 points, made the Spurs´ final two field goal attempts.
The game started 40 minutes later than scheduled due to what the Spurs termed “a potential security threat, which has impacted fans entering the AT&T Center.”
“We were just about to run out of the tunnel to come out for warmups, but they told us to go back to the locker room,” Markkanen said.
“It´s a weird thing. That´s the first time I´ve experienced that, but I think guys did a great job of just staying locked in and controlling what we can control.”
The delay or a weekend holiday break for both teams likely contributed to a sluggish start that resulted in a combined 19 points in the opening six minutes.
