Kyrie Irving shot three-of-three from downtown in Sunday’s season finale against the Cavaliers. He finished the season shooting 50.6% from the field, 40.2% from three and 92.2% from the foul line, numbers that induct the Nets’ All-Star point guard into the vaunted 50-40-90 club of efficient scorers in NBA history.
Nets superstar Kevin Durant joined the club in the 2012-13 season, while head coach Steve Nash joined the club on four separate occasions: the 2005-06 season, then every season from 2007-10. Other members of the club include Stephen Curry, Malcolm Brogdon, NBA legend Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Price and WNBA superstar Elena Della Donne.
“Kyrie was incredible this year. So efficient, such a talented player who just makes incredible shots every night,” Nash said Sunday. “So to be able to make those shots, to create the space to take those shots, to convert at such an efficient rate, is incredible. So, remarkable player, remarkable accomplishment and really proud that I can see it first hand.”
Durant said that point guards who post 50-40-90 numbers are more impressive than anyone else. He is a member of the club himself, but has the luxury of having an almost seven-foot, long-armed frame that enables him to shoot over defenders as if they don’t exist.
Irving is 6-foot-2, just an inch taller than his teammate, reserve point guard Mike James. Irving did not speak with reporters after making NBA history on Sunday, but James called it special to be around him on a daily basis.
“I think people are lucky he’s his height. If he was even taller, it would be even more scary,” James said. “He’s special, and it’s nice to watch him every day.”
MR. SMOOTHIE
As the Nets opened a lead as big as 25 in their wire-to-wire win over the Cavaliers on Sunday, James Harden sat baseline, one leg folded over the other, and casually sipped on a smoothie.
First and foremost, this was not your average smoothie. The thing was massive. It’s the size of the large iced tea you get from the local takeout spot. Or an extra large wonton soup. Most smoothies come in 12- or 16-ounce containers. That thing was easily 32 ounces. My man was drinking a quart-sized smoothie through a Nets-sanctioned striped straw.
Smoothies have been a staple in the way the Nets fuel their players. Caris LeVert would rarely be seen without them during his time in Brooklyn, and players like Kyrie Irving, Jeff Green and Blake Griffin have each been seen with smoothies as they exit Barclays Center after games.
It’s unclear whether a player has secured a smoothie as massive as the one Harden wielded from the sidelines on Sunday, or what flavor “The Beard” favored. The color leads this writer to believe there’s some blueberry-banana action involved in the process.
BANG BANG
Did Kevin Durant take a shot at the Knicks? Probably not, but Knicks fans seem to think so.
Durant was asked whether the limited time the Nets’ Big Three has played together will impact them in the playoffs.
“I think we’re a Big 15,” he said. “So, yeah, we’ll be alright.”
That’s funny. Julius Randle and Reggie Bullock said something similar when asked ahead of the Knicks’ April 5 loss to the Nets how they planned to handle their Big 3: “We’ve got a Big 15,” Bullock said, echoing Randle’s sentiments, “So we’re not really concerned about their Big 3.”
Stars on star-heavy teams will always show love to the role players. What Durant did was no different.
He is one of the greatest scorers in NBA history but, with a single sentence, paid homage to the Nets stay-ready group, the reserve guards, the big men and sharpshooters who help the team function at a high level.
Even if there was just a teeny bit of inspiration from the orange and blue, his words don’t ring any less true.
KD SAVED MY CAREER
Mike James said the decision to throw the alley-oop off the backboard to Kevin Durant in Sunday’s Harlem Globetrotter-like sequence was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of his basketball life.
“If it would have [gone] bad, I think my Nets career would have been over,” he said. “But it worked out for me, you know. Kev caught it, and it worked.”
