Kevin Durant, key this Thursday in the beating of the Brooklyn Nets to the Sixers (100-129)ironized in the post-game press conference about how they managed to silence the constant whistles of the Sixers fans to their former player Ben Simmons.
“All of us (the Nets) look up to Ben as our brother. We knew it was a hostile environment. We knew he didn’t get a chance to play so we wanted to come out here and make the fans focus more on what was happening on the court than on him.“, said. “The fans focused on the game tonight. It’s hard to boo Ben Simmons when you’re losing so much.“, he added.
In the most morbid game of the NBA season so far, the Nets swept the Sixers at home in the first matchup between the two teams since the much talked about trade of James Harden for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond.
Although all eyes were on Simmons, that came out with a lot of controversy from the Philadelphia franchisethe Australian did not get to play because he is injured, although he did participate in the warm-up.
Durant (25 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists) said it was “funny“playing with that great night atmosphere of the NBA but continued to draw irony.”There was a great atmosphere at the beginning. It didn’t end like this. It wasn’t like that in the end“, he joked in reference to the fact that the Sixers fans gradually deflated when they saw their team being destroyed on the court.
The Nets star pointed out that his team liked the concentration with which they approached the game and the physical waste of all the players. However, and despite all the media attention gathered around this match, Durant downplayed the importance of the win.
“It’s a regular season win. Have we won a championship tonight? No. Have we achieved a playoff spot? No. For you (the journalists), with the whole Harden situation, just the entertainment aspect of itI’m sure it was something big. But we already think about the next game“, he assured.
Kyrie moves in the same line
The other great star of the Nets, Kyrie Irving, also came out in defense of Simmons: “I think playing for Ben means something to Ben and not just Ben, but Seth (Curry) as well. When you get traded in this League… it’s not easy to deal with it. And you collect your things that you have made a home out of; you are in a city and then you have to move to another city, it is not always easy, so we have tried to welcome you with open arms”, assured the point guard, who finished the game with 22 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.
“When we played tonight, we definitely felt that Ben was in our hearts. You could see it, he was using it, and we just wanted to go out there and play for him and play well. If you come to Ben, you come to us. If they’re going after anyone else on our team, they’re going after all of us. that’s the mindsetKyrie added.
Harden: “They kicked us in the ass”
Facing the wonderful night of the Nets, Harden and the Sixers had a terrifying evening. Harden finished the match with only 11 points after a terrible 3 of 17 shooting, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. However, Harden tried to look for the positive side of this resounding loss, which was the first for him with the Sixers after five straight wins. “Tonight was good for us. we got kicked in the ass“, he opined.
“Since I have arrived here everything has been sweet and winning games, but tonight was a good thing for us to have a chance to come down to realityreview the video of the match and continue improving“, he added.
