Player grades: Kyrie Irving scores 40 in unexpected 130-122 loss to the Pistons

In Sports/Basketball
2023-01-27 03:30:54Z
By Nets Wire

The Brooklyn Nets hosted the Detroit Pistons at Barclays Center on Thursday and lost 130-122. The regular-season series between the two teams is not tied at 1-1.

For the Nets, Kyrie Irving had 40 points and six assists while Nic Claxton had 27 points and 13 rebounds. Edmond Sumner had 24 points and five rebounds.

For the Pistons, Saddiq Bey had 25 points and nine rebounds while Alec Burks had 20 points and five rebounds. Jalen Duren had 17 points and Jaden Ivey had 16 points.

The Nets stayed competitive in this game until the third quarter when the team came out of the halftime break without energy or any urgency. However, throughout the game, Brooklyn was unable to play any defense.

In a game that the Nets were favored to win by about five points, they did not show up to play. After awhile, it was clear that Brooklyn either did not have the energy to play with intensity or they continued to underestimate Detroit until it was too late. Also, Seth Curry missed this game and Ben Simmons and TJ Warren exited this game early with knee injuries.

Here are your Nets player grades:

Ben Simmons: D-

Not sure what is going on with Simmons, but he did not seem interested in trying to score the basketball at all. His passing was awesome as always, but as long as Kevin Durant is out, Brooklyn needs more offense out of Simmons. Other than his passing, Simmons did not do much else in this game and was a net negative while on the floor. He left this game in the third quarter with left knee soreness.

Kyrie Irving: B+

Irving was unstoppable on the offensive end all night long. He was able to get any shot he wanted against the Pistons and he had a few nice moves driving to the basket as well. His three-ball was falling as well so that made Detroit play him honest. Irving did a good job passing the ball and he was effective on the defensive end as well.

Joe Harris: C-

Harris did a decent job of scoring in this game. Detroit made a concerted effort to run Harris off the three-point line and he took advantage by getting a couple of buckets that way. Other than being decent on the glass, Harris did not provide much value in this game outside of his shooting.

Royce O'Neale: D

O'Neale struggled with his shot in this game. He did not shoot much in this game, but when he did, he was just laying bricks out on the floor. He did have a decent presence on the glass, but he also had a hard time defending some of the Pistons' guards off the dribble.

Nic Claxton: A-

Claxton had another awesome performance in this game. He was essentially perfect from the field and he was impressive finishing at the basket. Claxton did a good job of rebounding the basketball and he was decent on the defensive end. He was giving up some finishes at the rim to the likes of Jalen Duran and Isaiah Stewart.

TJ Warren: C-

Warren struggled with his shot in this game. He wasn't able to get anything to go from his bread-and-butter mid-range or from three-point land. Unfortunately, Warren had a hard time defending anyone on the Pistons. He also left this game with a leg injury of some sort.

Markieff Morris: C-

Morris could not get his shot to fall at any point. He got more playing time in this one than usual because of the injuries to Simmons and Warren, but he did not do much with the extra time. He did a decent job on the glass, but he had trouble containing any dribble penetration.

Edmond Sumner: B+

Sumner was awesome in this game. Throughout this game, he made a huge impact scoring the ball, including driving to the rim and getting a good amount of free-throws. Sumner was the scoring that Kyrie Irving and Nic Claxton needed to stay in this game.

Patty Mills: C+

Mills did not do much in the box score, but for the time that he was out there, he was a calming presence. Mills did score a little bit and he did a nice job of passing the ball.

Yuta Watanabe: B-

Watanabe struggled to get anything going from the field, but he did provide some of the little plays that he makes as a glue guy. Watanabe did a good of being aggressive and earning free throws. Watanabe was clutch on the glass as Claxton needed some help rebounding amongst the trees.

Story originally appeared on Nets Wire