Durant has 33 points to lead Nets past Pelicans, 108-102

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving combined to miss 32 shots and didn’t let it bother them one bit.

Durant had 33 points and 10 rebounds, Irving scored seven of his 19 points in the final 1:12 and the Brooklyn Nets outlasted the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans 108-102 on Friday night.

“Our growth as a team is just seeing some of the leaders on our team, including myself, be poised,” said Irving, whose 3 from 29 feet away with 44 seconds left gave the Nets a 106-100 lead and doomed New Orleans to just its fifth home loss this season. “That’s probably where I feel like we’re making incredible strides in games like this.”

T.J. Warren scored 15 points for Brooklyn and Royce O’Neale added 14, including a 3-pointer with 2:27 left.

“There’s going to come a time when shots don’t fall — like tonight,” said Durant, who shot 9 of 26, but also made all 11 of his free throws. “I liked how we kept grinding regardless.

“You’ve still got to go out there and lock in on the defensive side of the ball,” Durant continued. “Those are the type of games you want to play to learn your team and figure out your team even more, because you’re a totally different team when your shots aren’t going in. So, it was a good test for us”

CJ McCollum scored 28 points and Naji Marshall had a career-high 23 points for the Pelicans in their second game since losing Zion Williamson for what is expected to be about three weeks with a right hamstring strain.

Jose Alvarado added 17 points, and Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans, which hasn’t had high-scoring forward Brandon Ingram (left great toe contusion) in the lineup for 20 games.

“Obviously we’re down a few players,” Alvarado said. “We had a chance to win the game and certain things didn’t go our way. … Kyrie hit a big 3 and made it a little bit difficult, but we’ve got to look back and learn.”

The Pelicans led for much of the game but struggled to hit shots in the second half, finishing at 39.8 % shooting (35 of 88).

New Orleans made just two of 12 3s in the second half after making 10 of 17 in the first. Meanwhile, Nets center Nic Claxton protected the paint with five blocks.

Defensively, the Nets were “really aggressive in the second half,” Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn, noting his team’s “ability to contest shots at the rim.”

“Nothing was easy,” Vaughn said. “No walk-up transition 3s that we gave up earlier in the game.”

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