Nets React to Kyrie Irving's Return
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The Brooklyn Nets welcomed Kyrie Irving back after an eight-game team-imposed suspension Sunday night. The superstar guard had a quiet return to the Barclays Center hardwood but it wasn't about the numbers on the final box score.
"It felt good. I just missed my teammates, missed the coaching staff, and getting prepared with them in the morning," Irving said postgame. "Carrying that over to the game felt good."
Irving concluded his return with 14 points (5-of-12 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from 3-Point territory) to pair with five boards, a steal, and four turnovers in 26 minutes.
“It was great to have him out there," said Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn on Irving's return performance in Brooklyn's 127-115 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. "You know, trying to see what units was best for him; playing with the second and the first unit and just getting the feel of how are we going to piece this thing together. So great to have him get some minutes out there and for us to get a win while he's doing it.”
Before Irving took the hardwood in his return game, the Nets' head coach wanted his superstar guard to primarily focus on hooping and the coaching staff will monitor his conditioning and him during the contest. After the contest, Vaughn explained how he wants the focus to be strictly on what occurs on the hardwood rather than off the hardwood moving forward.
“That at the end of the day, now it's about hooping," Vaughn said postgame. "And I use that word right there that from this day on, that's what we're going to be about. Basketball is factual. You get the rebound. That's the fact. You box out that's a fact. You make the shot, that’s a fact. And so we're gonna make this thing factual. It's gonna be about basketball. And we'll live in that space.”
Ben Simmons, who also started in Irving's return game, had his best performance in a Nets uniform. Simmons recorded a season-high 22 points (11-of-13 shooting from the field) to pair with eight boards, five assists, and three steals in 34 minutes.
After the home win, Simmons acknowledged that it's going to take Irving some time to get reacclimated with his teammates but in his mind, adjusting to Irving back in the lineup isn't a hard task.
“It’s Kyrie. He's so talented," said Simmons on Irving's return. "Obviously, you know, he's been working on that handle and trying to get a feel for the ball but he's so talented. It's just it's easy to play with. It’s gonna take a little bit of time to get adjusted but we’re happy to have him back.”
Now that Irving will be available for Brooklyn moving forward, Kevin Durant is glad that the primary focus will be aimed purely at basketball after weeks of off-the-court distractions.
"It's always nice to just focus on the game," Durant said. "We understand the circumstances around our game. Our league is getting bigger and so much attention on it, so every little thing might get blown up nowadays. As much as we can focus on playing ball and keep growing as a team, I think our fans can get behind that. I think you guys [media] can get behind that as well. We just want to keep stacking up good days and see what happens."
