Despite a career best performance by top star Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets have conceded their second defeat in a row in the North American professional basketball league NBA.
The 33-year-old scored 55 points in the 115:122 against the Atlanta Hawks, but was unable to make up for the weak performance of his teammates.
“I’m upset about this loss. I scored well, but I would have preferred to walk away with the win just by doing the little things,” said the 2014 Most Valuable Player (MVP). Title contender Brooklyn is down four remaining games only in tenth place in the Eastern Conference and has to fight for the playoff ticket in the “Play-in Tournament”.
Durant is the fifth player with at least 55 points in a game this season after teammate Kyrie Irving, Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota/both 60), Trae Young (Atlanta) and LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers/both 56).
A professional reached the 50-point mark 19 times in 2021/22 – this happened 14 times in the entire 2020/21 season. The legendary Wilt Chamberlain has held the NBA record since 1962 with an incredible 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors.
In contrast, Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to victory at the reigning champions Milwaukee Bucks with another outstanding performance. The Slovenian recorded 32 points and 15 rebounds in the 118:112 of the Mavs who had already qualified for the play-offs. National player Maximilian Kleber was injured.
Daniel Theis contributed six points and two rebounds to record champions Boston Celtics’ 144:102 thrashing of Washington Wizards.