Kevin Durant leads Nets’ laugher over Wizards amid Kyrie Irving drama

WASHINGTON — Amid all the Kyrie Irving drama, Kevin Durant said the Nets wanted to focus on basketball, be the best version of themselves they could be. 

Friday, the Nets were the best version of themselves for the first time this season. 

In their first game without the suspended Irving, the Nets dominated the Wizards for a 128-86 victory at Capital One Arena. 

“It’s an unfortunate situation for people that are impacted by this situation. I mean it just sucks all around for everybody. Hopefully we can move past it,” Durant said of Irving’s promotion of a movie with anti-Semitic tropes for which he refused to apologize, leading to a subsequent suspension by the Nets on Thursday. 

“Once the balls start bouncing and we get into practice none of that stuff seeps into the gym. So that’s the cool part about being in the league. Once you step off the court everyone got the microphones out and the microscopes looking at you asking you what you feel about it. That’s been difficult, but the game is the constant for us. 

“[We have to] just get ready for the game. Keep playing, just being you. I think guys know that our job is to come to work and be the best version of us that we can. That’s the only thing we can control.” 

Durant did it all for the Nets, narrowly missing a brilliant triple-double with 28 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. He finished a game-high plus-35 in 33:11, and frankly didn’t need to even play that long. 

But unlike so many of their early season losses, this time the Nets actually gave their franchise player some help. Robbed of Irving, the Nets pushed the pace more, looking to push the ball at every opportunity. And even when the Nets didn’t score on the break, they feasted on early offense and shot 55.6 percent, going 14-for-28 from behind the 3-point arc. 

Center Nic Claxton finished with 18 points, tied the team high with nine boards and had a team-high three blocked shots. Royce O’Neale and Cam Thomas stepped up their playmaking duties, with eight and six assists respectively. With interim coach Jacque Vaughn digging deeper into his rotation, the Nets had seven players in double-figures. 

But the Nets’ energy and defense was the key. They swarmed, they rotated, they helped. And in the end they held Washington to 36.6 percent from the field. 

Best version indeed. 

Thomas had 17 points, and Durant had the highlight when he sent the Wizards’ Daniel Gafford into a split and canned a pull-up jumper to cap a 29-11 run. 

That put the Nets up 38-26 with 27.2 seconds left in the first quarter. 

That lead shrank to one at 58-57 in the second quarter, but the Nets closed the half on an 11-0 run. Then they blew it open in the second half.