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      Boston Celtics Buzzer-Beater Takes Down Kyrie Irving and the Nets

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      Irving, the Nets guard, had a brilliant Game 1 against Boston on Sunday, but the Celtics, led by Jayson Tatum and his buzzer-beater, ended up on top.BOSTON — There was a time when Celtics fans were excited about Kyrie Irving. They can recall the summer of 2017, when Irving forced his way out of Cleveland and landed in Boston, where he delighted in the Celtics’ illustrious past and pledged to do what he could to help the team win.But over Irving’s two seasons with the Celtics, all that communal excitement morphed into a bunch of different stuff: tolerance as he struggled with injuries, then impatience as he criticized teammates, then something that resembled rage as it became clear that he and Boston were bound for a divorce.On Sunday afternoon, Irving was back in Boston, where a fervent crowd at TD Garden christened Game 1 of the Celtics’ first-round playoff series with the Nets by booing Irving at every opportunity. They booed him when he emerged from the visitors’ tunnel for warm-ups. They booed him during introductions. They booed him whenever he touched the ball. And he nearly silenced them with another tour de force in a career full of them.But in the opener of a best-of-seven-game clash between teams with outsize goals, Jayson Tatum sent the arena into a state of pandemonium with a layup at the buzzer that gave the Celtics a 115-114 win. Game 2 is in Boston on Wednesday.“It was fulfilling for us, especially the way we started this year off,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “The resilience we have, the approach we have, the work we put in and learning — we had a lot of games to learn from early in the year.”As the series continues, the Celtics will need to put all that knowledge to use against Irving, who was spectacular in Game 1. He finished with 39 points and 6 assists, and his 3-pointer with 45.9 seconds left put the Nets ahead by 3. In the process, he reminded Boston why the city wanted him in the first place, while underscoring all the bitterness that has followed.Those feelings resurfaced at various points of the game. On at least two occasions, Irving appeared to raise his middle fingers at fans sitting near the court. He said in his postgame news conference that people in the crowd were swearing at him and referring to him using explicit terms.“It’s nothing new when I come into this building, what it’s going to be like,” he said. “But the same energy they have for me, I’m going to have the same energy for them.”He added: “There’s only so much you take as a competitor. We’re the ones expected to be docile and humble and take a humble approach. Nah.”For most of the game, Irving let his play do the talking. The Celtics were undaunted in the final minute, though, and after Jaylen Brown drove for a layup, the Nets’ Kevin Durant missed a long 3-pointer. At the other end, Smart found Tatum, who spun past Irving for a layup with the clock winding down. It was his easiest bucket of the night.“I think that’s kind of a microcosm of our season: guys moving the ball, playing unselfish,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said. “It all came together on the last possession.”Tatum finished with 31 points, and Brown had 23. Smart had an astounding all-around game, collecting 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Durant had 23 points and shot just 9 of 24.For the second straight postseason, the Nets and the Celtics are meeting in the first round. Last year, the Nets advanced in five games in a series that only inflamed the dynamic between Irving, who appeared to stomp on the Celtics’ logo at midcourt, and Boston fans, one of whom chucked a water bottle at him.Irving shooting over Boston guard Marcus Smart, a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year Award. The Boston fans booed Irving, a former Celtic, throughout the game.David Butler Ii/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThat series also helped spur significant change in the Celtics’ organization. Brad Stevens moved to the front office after eight seasons as the team’s head coach. His job was filled by Udoka, a longtime N.B.A. assistant and Gregg Popovich disciple who seems to have unlocked the collaborative potential of Tatum and Brown. Remember when the Celtics had a losing record, 23-24, in late January? They closed the regular season by going 28-7.Udoka entered the series uniquely familiar with the Nets. Last season, as one of Coach Steve Nash’s assistants, Udoka got to know Irving and Durant — and their gifts.Amid a sloppy, foul-marred start, the Celtics’ top-ranked defense gave the Nets fits, forcing seven first-quarter turnovers. The game’s assembled stars — Irving, Durant, Brown and Tatum — combined to miss 12 of their first 14 field-goal attempts.Irving got going early in the second quarter with a pair of 3-pointers, the second on a pull-up in transition. The game was tied at 61 at halftime before the Celtics began to roll — a jolt that was predictably predicated on their defense. Late in the third quarter, Jaylen Brown blocked the Nets’ Bruce Brown at the rim, then raced away to convert a layup at the other end. Then the Nets took their turn, but Tatum blocked a jump shot by Durant, then hit a 3-pointer to extend Boston’s lead to 11.Irving was virtually unstoppable in the fourth quarter, scoring 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting, which set the stage for the game’s dramatic conclusion.“I don’t know that there’s any atmospheres that are going to rattle him,” Nash said, adding: “The guy’s done about all you can do in the game.”The Nets secured the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the play-in tournament on Tuesday. The Celtics had an even longer layoff, with a full week to prepare, since they closed their regular season on April 10 as the No. 2 seed.Boston’s Jaylen Brown, left, driving against Kevin Durant. Brown had 23 points on 9 of 19 shooting.Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesThe Celtics were without Robert Williams, their rim-protecting, fourth-year center. Williams was having a breakout season when he tore the meniscus in his left knee last month and had surgery. Udoka said the Celtics were preparing as if Williams would not be available for the series, though Udoka did not rule out the possibility — however remote — of Williams returning. “He’s progressing nicely,” Udoka said.Before the game, the Celtics’ game operations crew spiced things up a bit on the arena’s video board by flashing a quote from Bruce Brown about how the Nets could “attack” Al Horford and Daniel Theis in Williams’s absence. (The crowd booed.) Horford was terrific on Sunday, finishing with 20 points and 15 rebounds, and he was animated throughout the game. Having Williams, of course, would only enhance the team’s championship hopes.The Nets are used to waiting, too. They waited for Irving to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, and when he was unwilling to do so, they waited for New York City to lift its vaccine mandates so that he could play in home games. Now, the Nets are waiting — still waiting — for Ben Simmons to take the court for the first time since they acquired him in a midseason trade with the Philadelphia 76ers.Simmons, who has not played since last postseason, has been dealing with a balky back since arriving in Brooklyn, and no one has any idea what he would look like if he were actually to take the floor against the Celtics. On Saturday, apparently for the benefit of reporters who were monitoring his progress, Simmons dunked at practice.“Make sure you get this,” he said to those who were filming him with their cellphones.On Sunday, Simmons wore mirrored sunglasses on the visitors’ bench as Irving and the rest of the Nets went about their business in a hostile environment. For one afternoon, at least, and by the slimmest of margins, the Celtics were the more complete team. More

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      Nets Beat Cavaliers in Play-In and Will Face Celtics Next

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      For three quarters, the Nets again showed their best side. A matchup against the Celtics in the playoffs will require a more complete effort.For much of their N.B.A. play-in game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, the Nets looked like the fearsome team that many observers had long said lay hidden behind their mediocre record. Kevin Durant was magnificent. Kyrie Irving didn’t miss a shot until the fourth quarter. Multiple teammates made significant contributions well above what was usually expected of them.And yet, the game still came down to the final minutes after Cleveland, which had trailed by 20 points after the first quarter and then by 22 in the third, cut its deficit to 6 with a just over a minute left.The job got done in the end: The Nets pulled out a 115-108 victory to claim the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, and a matchup with the Boston Celtics in the first round. But the game was the latest example of a Nets performance that could be quantified as a head-scratching mix of world-beating talent and worrisome lethargy.For the glass-half-full crowd, the Nets stars Irving and Durant combined for 59 points on 31 shots while handing out 23 assists, another stat-sheet-filling display from one of the most talented tandems in the N.B.A. It was, again, a tantalizing glimpse into what their partnership could be at its peak — a summit that has been a rare sighting in their time together in Brooklyn.Kevin Durant scored 25 points against the Cavaliers, but needed 42 minutes to do it.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesBut it wasn’t just them. Bruce Brown, the team’s consummate role player, had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, often offering himself as a crucial release valve on offense when Durant and Irving would get blitzed by defenders. Andre Drummond punished Cleveland on the boards, scoring 16 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in only 19 minutes. Nic Claxton, the spry reserve center, added 13 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks off the bench.But the glass-half-empty set had evidence, too, after the Nets nearly blew yet another lead down the stretch against a lesser team. On Sunday at home against the Indiana Pacers, one of the worst teams in the N.B.A., the Nets endured a similar ending that became uncomfortably close. In the game before that — also against Cleveland — the Nets blew a double-digit, third-quarter lead. Before that was a game against the Knicks, another less talented team playing out the string; the Nets trailed by 21 points in the first half that time.All three of those games required fourth-quarter rallies to win, but all three repeated a pattern that has played out for much of the season: The Nets, while supremely talented in a couple of spots, are a squad that struggles to put together wire-to-wire performances. And in the playoffs, against the best teams in the league, that may be their Achilles’ heel.“That’s a part of our journey too,” Nets Coach Steve Nash said Tuesday of trying to find a way to change his team’s penchant for flirting with disaster. “It’s not just go out there and build 20-point leads. Turn it into 30.”In the opening game of their first-round series on Sunday, the Nets will travel to Boston and find a Celtics squad that is not the same team the Nets easily dispatched last season. And, thanks to the Nets’ Brown, the Celtics now will have some bulletin board material as motivation.Asked about the Celtics on Tuesday, Brown suggested the absence of Robert Williams III, Boston’s starting center and one of the league’s best defenders, would mean that “they have less of a presence in the paint.”Nets forward Bruce Brown drew a rebuke from Durant for some comments about the Celtics. Vincent Carchietta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe comments did not sit well with Durant, who dismissed them as “caffeine pride talking.” Brown had said that, with Williams out, the Nets “could attack” Boston’s Al Horford and Daniel Theis, who round out the Celtics’ big man rotation. Durant grimaced and noted, “Them two dudes can do the same stuff.”Durant’s fitness is another lingering concern for the Nets entering the Celtics series. Just getting into the play-in tournament required a heavy workload for Durant, who played 42 minutes on Tuesday night. Since the All-Star break, Durant has averaged 38.6 minutes a game. While other stars around the league were able to manage their minutes — and save their legs — during the stretch run, the 33-year-old Durant had to expend more energy than usual just to drag his team into the playoffs.One way or another, the Nets will enter the playoffs much as they did last season: With high expectations and little time together. Last year, that was a result of injuries and a trade for James Harden. This year, it is a result of injuries and the decision to trade Harden away (not to mention Irving’s extended absence over his refusal to be vaccinated against the coronavirus).“We’re just such a new group,” Nash said. “I think that was like the seventh game those nine players tonight have played together. So every day is a day for us to learn about ourselves.”All season, though, the Nets have bet that talent trumps cohesion. It is why they shuffled players in and out of the rotation with frequency, why they were willing to trade Harden. Tuesday night’s victory showed a tease of the championship potential in the group.In the first three quarters, anyway. More

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      Playoff Makeovers May Upend the N.B.A. Championship Chase

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      Injured stars could return for the postseason, creating an undercurrent of unpredictability for their opponents.Stephen Curry appeared at a recent practice for the Golden State Warriors without a walking boot on his sprained left foot. In Los Angeles, the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, who has not played all season, was spotted by local reporters participating in shooting drills. And the Denver Nuggets’ Jamal Murray, also sidelined since last season, is again soaring for dunks, according to some impeccable sources: his own teammates.“Just a matter of time, I guess,” Nuggets guard Monte Morris told reporters recently, “so hopefully we can get him back and make that push.”Ahead of the start of the N.B.A. playoffs on Saturday, a slew of teams, many of them contenders, could be primed for makeovers. Golden State could stage an on-court reunion of its Big Three — Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — for the first time in the playoffs since 2019. The Nuggets have left the door ajar for Murray’s long-awaited return from knee surgery. The Clippers only recently reintroduced Paul George to their starting lineup after he had been absent since December with a torn ligament in his elbow, and is it possible that Leonard, who injured his right knee last June, could make a surprise appearance in the coming weeks?The list goes on. Ja Morant, the All-Star point guard of the Memphis Grizzlies, just returned from injury over the weekend. And there are teams like the Nets, who now have the luxury of playing Kyrie Irving in home games, and the Milwaukee Bucks, the defending champions, who have been building Brook Lopez’s minutes after he missed 67 games with a bad back. Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns is getting back into rhythm after missing a month with a thumb injury.What does it all mean? Potential headaches for opponents, and an undercurrent of unpredictability that will run through the early rounds of the postseason.Suns guard Chris Paul missed a month down the stretch because of a thumb injury. He averaged 12.7 points and 11.2 assists per game in his first six games back.Joe Rondone/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I think it’s unusual that we’re waiting to hear about that from so many teams,” Stan Van Gundy, the former N.B.A. coach, said in a telephone interview, “and that guys could come back in the playoffs who either haven’t played all year or for a good part of the year.”Facing teams with stars who may or may not play creates a unique set of challenges for opposing coaches, said Eric Musselman, a former coach of the Warriors and the Sacramento Kings who now coaches the men’s basketball team at Arkansas. On the one hand, he said, you want to relay to your team that the injured player will be a threat if he actually appears in uniform.“I’ll never say, ‘This guy might be out of sync,’ or, ‘He’s going to be rusty,’” Musselman said. “It’s always: ‘This guy is an All-Star, he’s been working out, and he’s in playoff shape.’ You need to be ready for anything.”On the other hand, Musselman said, you need to guard against a letdown in focus and intensity if that player winds up sitting out. Uncertainty, in its own way, can create a competitive advantage.So even if the Nuggets decide not to play Murray in the playoffs, or the Nets officially pull the plug on Ben Simmons and his balky back, it might behoove those teams to keep that information to themselves, Van Gundy said. There is no harm, he said, in leaving opponents guessing. Force them to concoct multiple game plans. Make them plan for something that will never happen.“I’m going to want to add to your preparation time,” said Van Gundy, now an analyst for TNT and Turner Sports.Van Gundy cited the Orlando Magic’s 2009 playoff run when they faced the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Kevin Garnett, the Celtics’ star center, had been sidelined for several weeks with an injured knee, and Van Gundy, who was the Magic’s coach at the time, said he knew there was “virtually no chance” that Garnett would make an appearance in the series. But Garnett was still a presence on Orlando’s scouting report, and the team still studied film of him.Jamal Murray has yet to play this season after injuring his knee last year, but he could be a difference-maker for the Nuggets in the playoffs.Ethan Mito/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images“If he came back, we didn’t want to lose a game in a seven-game series because we got caught by surprise,” Van Gundy said.Over the coming days and weeks, opposing coaches will overprepare for the possibility that long-injured stars could return, said Brendan Suhr, a former longtime N.B.A. assistant. And if one does?“I’m immediately going to trap him,” Suhr said. “I’m going to try to do stuff he’s not used to seeing. I would make it very difficult for him. Because his workouts, especially his noncontact workouts, were very soft — coming off pick-and-rolls, getting into rhythm, making shots. And now I’m going to force him to make very tough, under-pressure decisions.”At the other end of the court, make that player defend. “Especially if he’s coming back from a leg injury,” Suhr said.With all that in mind, teams with stars on the mend must weigh the delicate calculus about whether to bring them back at all — and if so, when. Will they be ineffective? Susceptible to further harm? Van Gundy recalled a conversation he had with Tyronn Lue, the coach of the Clippers, last month, before George returned to the team’s lineup on March 29.“He was talking about how there would be a cutoff point in terms of bringing Paul George back,” Van Gundy said. “If he couldn’t get in X amount of regular-season games, he wouldn’t want to play him in the playoffs.”There are, of course, cautionary tales from playoffs past. Consider Golden State’s tortured postseason experience in 2019, when Kevin Durant, who was then one of the team’s stars, strained his right calf in the Western Conference semifinals. After missing nine straight games, he returned for Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals against the Toronto Raptors and ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon. The Warriors lost the series, and Durant missed the entire 2019-20 season after signing with the Nets.Michael Malone, the coach of the Nuggets, told reporters this month that Murray “wants to be back” and that the team was “keeping hope alive.” Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets’ do-everything center and a favorite to repeat as the league’s most valuable player, sounded more cautious about the situation.The Grizzlies have been fearsome with and without Ja Morant, center, who is expected to return for the playoffs.Petre Thomas/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I told him, ‘If you’re not 100 percent ready to go, don’t come back,’” Jokic said. “It’s stupid. You’re going to get injured. I mean, if you’re not 100 percent ready to go, especially for the playoffs …”His voice trailed off.After getting past the Garnett-less Celtics in 2009, the Magic advanced to the N.B.A. finals that year against the Los Angeles Lakers. Ahead of Game 1, Van Gundy decided to activate Jameer Nelson, his starting point guard. Nelson had missed the previous four months with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Van Gundy opted to bring him off the bench against the Lakers.“He was our leader, and he was having an All-Star year until he got hurt,” Van Gundy recalled.And because Nelson was returning from a shoulder injury, that meant that he had been able to run and stay in relatively decent shape during his long layoff.“That’s a little different than if you’ve got a knee injury and you’re limited in what you can do,” Van Gundy said.Still, even with Nelson back in the rotation, the Magic lost the series in five games. Van Gundy has never regretted the move.“You want to go into the biggest games with your best people,” he said. More

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      Herb Turetzky, Nets’ Official Scorer for 54 Years, Dies at 76

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      He recorded the statistics of more than 2,200 home games for the team in both New York and New Jersey, and in both the American and National Basketball Associations.Herb Turetzky, a passionate basketball fan who was the official scorer for nearly every home game played by the nomadic Brooklyn Nets franchise from its inception in 1967 until his retirement last year, died on Monday at his home in Whitestone, Queens. He was 76.His wife, Jane, said the cause was primary lateral sclerosis, which causes nerve cells in the brain that control movement to fail. In recent years, he attended games in a wheelchair.Over 54 years of meticulously keeping statistics, Mr. Turetzky recorded the field goals, rebounds, assists, fouls and free throws of Nets stars like Julius Erving, Rick Barry, Buck Williams, Jason Kidd and Kevin Durant. He became a forever Net, the team’s de facto historian and a gregarious friend to players and the news media.He took his seat at center court with his scorebook for more than 2,200 Nets home games, first when the team was in the American Basketball Association and later in the National Basketball Association, after the leagues merged.“He brought so much class and care to the scorer’s table, not a place where you necessarily look for that,” said Mr. Erving, who led the New York Nets to A.B.A. championships in 1974 and 1976. “The job is drudgery for some people, but not for Herb. He cared so much for it, and his reputation preceded him everywhere.”Mr. Turetzky was a senior at Long Island University in Brooklyn in 1967 when he took his future wife, Jane Jacobs, to the Teaneck Armory in New Jersey to see the first game in the team’s history. Then called the New Jersey Americans, they were playing the Pittsburgh Pipers in a matchup of two storied forwards from Brooklyn: the Pipers’ Connie Hawkins and New Jersey’s Tony Jackson, who, like Mr. Turetzky, was from the Brownsville neighborhood.“We had no money and he had free tickets, and we were going to watch the game,” Mrs. Turetzky said by phone.Before the tip-off, Max Zaslofsky, the Americans’ coach and general manager, noticed that the scorer’s table was empty and spotted Mr. Turetzky. He knew Mr. Turetzky from his attending games of an Amateur Athletic Union team that Mr. Zaslofsky had coached. He asked him if he could keep score.“Max, I’d love to,” Mr. Turetzky recalled saying, as quoted in a Sports Illustrated profile last year. “I’m here, so why not?” He added, “I’ve never left that seat since.”After one season in Teaneck, Mr. Turetzky followed the Nets to Long Island, where they played in three arenas, including the Nassau Coliseum; then to three homes back in New Jersey, including the Prudential Center in Newark; and finally to Barclays Center in Brooklyn.Between 1984 and 2018, he scored 1,465 consecutive games.“When I did my 900th straight game, they covered it on NBA TV,” he told the New Jersey newspaper The Record in 2012. “Charles Barkley was on, and when they made that comment to Barkley, all he said was: ‘Nine hundred straight Nets games? Boy, that man’s seen a lot of bad basketball.’”“I have seen some bad games,” he added, “but I’ve seen some great ones.”In 2020, when all the bad and great games — and those in between — added up to 2,206, Guinness World Records certified them as the most by an official scorer in N.B.A. history.Mr. Turetzky was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.Herbert Stephen Turetzky was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 19, 1945. His mother, Rose (Pearl) Turetzky, was a bookkeeper for the maker of Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup. His father, Sam, was a plumber. Herb played basketball at the Brownsville Boys’ Club (now the Brownsville Recreation Center), where he also learned how to run a scoreboard and maintain a scorebook.After he graduated from L.I.U. in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, he was a teacher and then a principal at a Brooklyn elementary school. After that, he worked as a grants writer for the New York City Board of Education and owned a trophy business. He earned two master’s degrees, in education and in administration and supervision.All the while, Mr. Turetzky was traveling to Nets home games. His longest break from his scoring duties began in November 1968, when he was driving to a game in Commack, on Long Island. He lost control of his car on the Long Island Expressway, crossed a grass divider and crashed into an oncoming car. The driver was killed.“I was in a coma for about six weeks and broke my entire left side up, creating some muscular damage, had a concussion, broke my jaw,” he told The Asbury Park Press in 2005.He returned to the Nets the next season and rarely missed a game after that. Along the way, he and his family became part of the fabric of the team.He was pushed, fully clothed, into the showers at Nassau Coliseum and doused with champagne as the team celebrated its 1976 title. His family hosted the guard Levern Tart, known as Jelly, at their Thanksgiving dinners. The team’s mascot, Duncan the Dragon, was a guest at the bat mitzvah of Mr. Turetzky’s daughter, Jennifer. His son, David, was a Nets ball boy.In addition to his wife, Mr. Turetzky is survived by his daughter, his son and two grandchildren.Jennifer Turetzky recalled listening to her father call in the box scores of Nets games to the Elias Sports Bureau, the N.B.A.’s longtime official statistician.“A box score has a certain direction, and he delivered it in the same cadence, with each player on both teams, starting with minutes — say, 37 — then 5-for-12 and 6-for-9,” she said by phone, describing the field-goal and free-throw statistics. “Then the big number at the end, 45 points. He did it all through my childhood.” More

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      Kyrie Irving Makes His Brooklyn Return

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      With new vaccine rules in place, the Nets can finally play their star guard at Barclays Center.Kyrie Irving basked in it — a crowd eager for his return, and his belief that he had won the battle he fought this season against vaccine mandates. When asked about the game, after Sunday night’s 119-110 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, he smiled.He called it “historic” — being able to play for the Nets in Brooklyn. He said he had tried to stay grounded as he prepared for the warm reception he would receive.“I don’t take for granted what happened tonight,” Irving said.Just in time for baseball season, and for the N.B.A. playoffs, New York City created an exception to its private-sector coronavirus vaccine mandate that allows local athletes and performers to work in the city regardless of their vaccination status. That announcement on Thursday meant that Irving, who has declined to be vaccinated against Covid-19, could finally play at home.“Now we can move on,” Irving said. “Now that everybody can move on, especially in the locker room. Limited distractions, no fear. Next game we’ll be better.”His team, which began the season with championship expectations, is now fighting for a playoff berth. Irving’s return might give the Nets some stability, finally, after a season mostly without it. But in his first game back at Barclays Center, the Nets lost, and time is running out for them to develop the cohesion they will need to make a run this postseason.“This is the situation that we’re in,” forward Kevin Durant said. “Put our heads down and go to work. I mean, you know, it’s a challenge. Everybody’s going through challenges this season as a team. This is what we’ve got in front of us.”It had been nearly 10 months since Irving played in the Nets’ home arena. On Sunday night, the crowd of 18,166 people — a record number for a Nets game at Barclays Center — hailed him.Before the game, a fan shown on the video board simply yelled, “Kyrie,” stretching out the final vowel. Irving got the loudest cheer of any player when the starting lineups were introduced.Just before tipoff, he stood on the Nets’ logo at midcourt with the scoreboard camera fixed on him. The fans roared and Irving pointed up at them, turning to acknowledge each side of the arena.“It was great to see him out there,” Durant said. “Good to see the fans excited for him.”When Covid-19 vaccines became available, the N.B.A. created separate protocols, making it significantly easier for players who got a vaccine to stay active and participate in team activities. Although New York City’s law, and the N.B.A.’s insistence that teams follow local guidelines, had prevented Irving from playing at home, he was allowed to play on the road while observing stricter testing protocols.The Nets at first said they weren’t interested in a part-time participant, but then changed their mind. Since Jan. 5, Irving has been a part-time player, suiting up for road games.His stance against getting a coronavirus vaccine is unusual in the league. The N.B.A. and its players’ union now say 97 percent of players have been vaccinated and 75 percent have received a booster shot against the illness that has led to more than 40,000 reported deaths in New York City.Recently, as the city began loosening restrictions, Irving’s teammates began itching for his return for home games. Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, said the law didn’t make sense because it allowed unvaccinated players on visiting teams to play.On Thursday, suspiciously close to the start of baseball season, Mayor Eric Adams of New York announced an exception for local athletes and performers, setting up Irving’s Barclays debut.“It’s not just the talent that Kyrie has, the continuity he provides playing at home,” Coach Steve Nash said. “But the amount of minutes and the amount of burden in the roles that guys have to assume when he’s not here.”The date of his debut was not ideal. The Nets got home shortly before dawn on Sunday after playing Saturday night in Miami.Irving missed his first five shots and was 6 for 22, but that didn’t quiet the crowd’s vocal appreciation for him.“You feel the, kind of, anticipation,” Irving said.Irving missed his first five shots and was 6 for 22 in his return to Barclays Center.John Minchillo/Associated PressHe made only two of his first 17 shots, but was more efficient in the fourth quarter, making three shots in a row to tie the game at 104. He was fouled on his next attempt, and when he stood at the line, the crowd chanted his name.Early this season, even without Irving, the Nets found themselves in the top quarter of the conference, with Durant and James Harden contributing to wins. But they lost Durant for 21 consecutive games because of a knee injury. Harden was traded to Philadelphia in February for Ben Simmons, who has yet to play for the Nets.Only seven regular-season games remain for the Nets. They are now tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference and would rank ninth on tiebreakers if the season ended today. That is a seeding position that would require them to win two play-in games just to make it into the playoffs.It was noted to Nash that the Nets might now have a starting five they can count on having for the rest of the season. He smiled wryly at the suggestion.“We’re very hesitant to pretend that that’s just going to be the way it is,” he said.Their season has been too unstable for Nash to rely on that. More

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      Nets Fined $50,000 for Letting Kyrie Irving Into Home Locker Room

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      Irving is not allowed to be with the Nets at Barclays Center because he has not been vaccinated against Covid-19.The N.B.A. fined the Nets $50,000 for allowing guard Kyrie Irving to enter the team’s home locker room during Sunday’s game against the Knicks even though Irving had not been vaccinated against Covid-19 and thus was not allowed to be with the team at Barclays Center.Irving had attended the game as a spectator, with a seat in the front row.Under New York City law, Irving cannot play in games at Barclays Center because of a vaccine mandate for New York City-based workers who perform in-person work. While Mayor Eric Adams loosened some vaccine requirements this month, he has left in place the private sector mandate. Under the N.B.A.’s health and safety protocols, teams are obliged to follow local rules.The Nets declined to comment.During a public appearance on Sunday, Adams responded to a heckler who urged him to let Irving play: “Listen, you’re right. Kyrie can play tomorrow: Get vaccinated.”Nets forward Kevin Durant called the rule “ridiculous” after the game against the Knicks. He also criticized the mayor.“It just feels like, at this point now, somebody is trying to make a statement or point to flex their authority,” Durant told reporters. “Everybody out here is looking for attention. That’s what I feel like the mayor wants right now: some attention.”Minutes after the N.B.A. announced the Nets’ fine on Monday, Durant issued a statement through the Nets and softened his stance toward Mr. Adams.“The last two years have been a difficult and painful time for New Yorkers, as well as a very confusing time with the changing landscape of the rules and mandates,” the statement read. “I do appreciate the task the mayor has in front of him with all the city has been through. My frustration with the situation doesn’t change the fact that I will always be committed to helping the communities and cities I live in and play in.”Irving’s vaccination status has vexed the Nets for the entire season. He has played in only 18 of the team’s 68 games, in part because the mandate has barred him from playing home games, and he has refused to be vaccinated. Irving is allowed to play in road games where cities do not have vaccine mandates. Only Toronto, where the Raptors play, prohibits unvaccinated visiting players from competing.Irving’s limited availability has contributed to the Nets’ free-fall from one of the best teams in the N.B.A. to one fighting just to make the playoffs with 14 games left. Unless Adams changes his mind, Irving will be eligible for only four of the team’s remaining games.The downturn in positive tests nationwide and the lifting of other mandates had raised optimism within the Nets organization that Irving’s return as a full-time player was imminent. While Irving’s limitations under the mandate have received outsize attention because of his celebrity, the rule applies to New York City employees at more than 180,000 businesses, as well as other local sports teams like the Knicks.Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, told ESPN last month that he felt the rule disallowing Irving from playing in home games “doesn’t quite make sense” because opposing players who are unvaccinated are allowed to play at New York City venues. Later that day, Adams agreed with Silver, saying that the rule was “unfair,” but also that lifting the mandate would “send mixed messages.”The N.B.A. pushed for its own vaccine mandate for players before the season, but the players’ union said no.Irving’s attendance at Sunday’s nationally televised game against the Knicks created a spectacle. Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, the N.B.A.’s biggest star, weighed in on Twitter during the game, writing that the law “literally makes ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE!!!”He added: “They say if common sense was common then we’d all have it. Ain’t that the truth. #FreeKyrie.” More

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      Nets Fined for Letting Kyrie Irving Into Their Locker Room

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      The N.B.A. fined the Brooklyn Nets $50,000 for allowing guard Kyrie Irving to enter the team’s home locker room during Sunday’s game against the Knicks. Mr. Irving has not been vaccinated against Covid-19 and thus was not allowed to be with the team at Barclays Center.Mr. Irving had attended the game as a spectator, with a seat in the front row.Under New York City law, Mr. Irving cannot play in games at Barclays Center because of a vaccine mandate for New York City-based workers who perform in-person work. While Mayor Eric Adams loosened some vaccine requirements earlier this month, he has left in place the private-sector mandate. Under the N.B.A.’s health and safety protocols, teams must follow local decrees.The Nets declined to comment.During a public appearance on Sunday, Mr. Adams responded to a heckler who urged him to let Mr. Irving play: “Listen, you’re right. Kyrie can play tomorrow: Get vaccinated.”The Nets forward Kevin Durant called the rule “ridiculous” after the game against the Knicks. He also criticized the mayor.“It just feels like, at this point now, somebody is trying to make a statement or point to flex their authority,” Mr. Durant told reporters. “Everybody out here is looking for attention. That’s what I feel like the mayor wants right now: some attention.”Minutes after the N.B.A. announced the Nets’ fine on Monday, Mr. Durant issued a statement through the Nets and softened his stance toward Mr. Adams.“The last two years have been a difficult and painful time for New Yorkers, as well as a very confusing time with the changing landscape of the rules and mandates,” the statement read. “I do appreciate the task the mayor has in front of him with all the city has been through. My frustration with the situation doesn’t change the fact that I will always be committed to helping the communities and cities I live in and play in.”Mr. Irving’s vaccination status has vexed the Nets for the entire season. He has played in only 18 of the team’s 68 games, in part because the mandate has barred him from playing home games, and he has refused to get vaccinated. Mr. Irving is allowed to play in road games where cities do not have vaccine mandates. Only Toronto, where the Raptors play, prohibits unvaccinated visiting players from competing. More

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      Nets Beat the New Look 76ers

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      The Nets were amazing. The 76ers were awful.Philadelphia turned out to celebrate and express itself in its own inimitable way. Around the time that Julius Erving and Allen Iverson were sharing a courtside hug, 76ers fans at the Wells Fargo Center were filing into the arena so they could boo Ben Simmons, a former member of their team, as he warmed up for a game in which he would not play.The fans, at least, were out for payback, eager to share how they felt about Simmons, a one-time star who had spurned their team and effectively forced his way out last month. Now employed by the Nets, Simmons changed into casual clothing for his new team’s game against the 76ers on Thursday night and soon found a spot on the visitors’ bench. He had a great vantage point to enjoy a rout.One game is not a referendum on two teams’ fortunes, or on a seismic trade that rattled the N.B.A. But what transpired in Philadelphia was jarring in all kinds of ways. The Nets were amazing. The 76ers were awful. And for two teams that could find themselves meeting in the postseason, the fallout could linger.“It was lovely,” the Nets’ Kyrie Irving said.“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” the 76ers’ Tobias Harris said.As the Nets went about their business of plowing their way to a 129-100 win, a few narratives, some of them familiar, surfaced: Who would want to face the Nets in the first round of the playoffs? Has there even been a more dangerous team that has spent so many months teetering on mediocrity? And what are we supposed to make of the new-look 76ers, a team that has been vying for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, after that debacle?“I don’t want to say they wanted to win any more than us,” said Doc Rivers, the coach of the 76ers. “But they played that way. It was clear. Every single loose ball. Every long rebound. They got to everything tonight. They blew up simple dribble handoffs that we run. They ran right through us.”It sounded as if those dribble handoffs were going to haunt Rivers. He said he had counted nine instances when Nets defenders intercepted them. (The 76ers had a lot of lackluster dribble handoffs.)A small thing, and correctable? Perhaps. The 76ers had been skating along quite nicely since the big trade last month, the one that sent Simmons to Brooklyn and James Harden to Philadelphia. In fact, entering Thursday, the 76ers had won all five games in which Harden had appeared in uniform for them, most of them by lopsided margins, including a 15-point victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday. And Harden had been terrific, averaging 24.6 points and 12.4 assists while shooting 53.1 percent from the field, forming a fearsome tandem with Joel Embiid.But Harden’s performance against the Nets — 3 of 17 from the field, 11 points, 4 turnovers — did little to remedy his reputation as a player who is prone to struggling in big games. He was also outshone by one of the other players who was included in last month’s trade: Seth Curry, who ought to be overlooked no more. Against the 76ers, he scored 24 points while helping to space the floor for Irving and Kevin Durant.Afterward, Harden did his best to spin his night forward. Maybe, he said, the 76ers needed to get their butts kicked.“Since I’ve been here, everything has been sweet,” he said. “We’ve been winning games. So tonight was good for us, and we get an opportunity to come down to reality, watch film and continue to get better.”It should be noted that not everything is rainbows and puppy dogs for the Nets, who have lost 17 of their last 22 games. Simmons, who has not played since last season, is still working his way back into playing shape, and who knows how he will jell with the Nets once he returns. And Irving, who is unvaccinated, still cannot play in home games. Barring a change in public policy, that will remain the case in the postseason. But when Irving is available to play, look out. He scored 50 points against the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday, and he and Durant combined for 47 on Thursday.“Coming into the game,” Irving said, “I just told the guys, ‘Simplify it. Two baskets and a basketball. Don’t pay attention to what’s going on. No distractions. No fear. And let’s just live with the results.’ ”Before the game, Rivers was asked if he thought the 76ers and the Nets constituted a rivalry. Not yet, he said. The Yankees and the Red Sox have a rivalry. Duke and North Carolina have a rivalry. Rivers even cited the rivalry between the 76ers and the Boston Celtics, one that dates back decades. Rivers recalled that when he was coaching the Celtics and lost an important game to the 76ers, Tommy Heinsohn, the former Celtics great who was working as one of the team’s television broadcasters at the time, “almost killed me.”Still, the 76ers and the Nets are now connected in an odd way, having swapped disgruntled stars. They are also growing familiar with one other as title hopefuls in the same division. As for their becoming rivals?“Let’s make it one,” Rivers said. “Both of us want the same thing, right? We have the exact same goal.”For one night, at least, one team seemed closer to reaching that goal than the other. More