Just a night after Karl Anthony-Towns scored the most points in an NBA game this season, 60, against the Spurs, fellow Jersey native Kyrie Irving decided to join him with a 60-point masterpiece of his own in a 150-108 win over the Magic, their fourth straight.
On Tuesday night, Irving had a bonkers evening of scoring, building his high career-high on an insanely efficient 20-for-31 from the field, 8-for-12 from deep, and 12-for-13 from the free-throw line. And just for good measure, Irving added six rebounds, four assists, and four steals to his boxscore.
60.
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 16, 2022
(via @NBATV) pic.twitter.com/VKdGBfmhj4
Perhaps most impressively of all, Irving scored 41 of his points in the first half.
It's always special to see one of the league's best get in the zone like this.
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 16, 2022
(via @BrooklynNets) pic.twitter.com/v3GBWBirvA
The performance from Irving was so dominant that the opposing Magic fans gave him a standing ovation following the game.
On top of being an NBA season-best, Irving’s 60-piece is the most scored by a player in a single game in Nets’ franchise history.
After the game, Irving talked about some of the shots he chose to take throughout the night, and in response, he said that while that’ not usually how he plays on Tuesday, he had to “get in my Kobe bag.”
Irving’s teammates and coaches didn’t mind the mentality either.
“He’s just incredible. It felt like he had my career highlight reel in the first 12 minutes,” Nets çoach Steve Nash told the New York Posts’ Brian Lewis following the game. “It’s special to watch him on nights like this where he’s in total control, total command — It’s a pleasure to see it up close.”
“We seen he was well on his way to a high-scoring night so 60 — the night after Karl Towns had an incredible performance, and then to have Kyrie do it the next night, the league is in an incredible place right now,” Kevin Durant told ESPN’s Nick Friedell.
The win over the Magic was a big one for the Nets, as they work to try and play themselves out of the play-in game and into the top six seeds in the East. Currently, Brooklyn is eighth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 36-33 and are 3.5 games back of the six-seed Cleveland Cavaliers.
