What was indeed a mixed bag of a career in Brooklyn was felt at Barclays Center for Kyrie Irving’s return on Tuesday night.
There was no tribute video, unlike what Kevin Durant received almost a week ago.
Mixed reactions of boos and cheers filled the arena at the announcement of starting lineups while Irving waved at the crowd like old friends.
Throughout the game, the crowd fluctuated between boos and cheers for the former Net of three and a half seasons as he handled the ball and took shots.
But, one thing was clear on Irving’s end.
He wanted to send a message to Brooklyn through his game and he did with 36 points in the 119-107 win over the Nets, stinging them yet again as the player that started the wave of trade requests from Durant and James Harden that wiped out what was supposed to be their leading trio to a championship.
The Nets (20-30) had a late-fighting surge, yet found themselves on another losing streak after showing up with a short-handed group.
Four of their rotation players were missing — Cam Johnson (left adductor tightness), Lonnie Walker IV (left hamstring tightness), Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain), and Day’Ron Sharpe (left knee hyperextension) – and Ben Simmons was on a minutes restriction.
Mikal Bridges led the Nets with 28 followed by Cam Thomas with 16 and he earned a career-high in single game assists with eight.
Royce O’Neale added 18 and Nic Claxton, who had a flagrant No. 1 foul for his second in back-to-back games, tallied nine.
Unlike the night before, the Nets didn’t get brutally outrebounded nor get run down in the paint.
Their shooting simply couldn’t keep up with Irving and Luka Doncic, who had a double-double with 35 points and 18 rebounds, as the Nets shot 45.1 percent compared to the Mavericks’ 50 percent.
