BROOKLYN — Kyrie Irving scored 17 first-quarter points to end the first half with 24 and the Brooklyn Nets lead the Golden State Warriors 63-45 at half-time in the NBA opening game of the 2020-21 season on Tuesday night.
Durant and Irving Dominate Early For Nets
Irving and Kevin Durant combined to score 27 of the Nets’ 40 first-quarter points as the home side dominated the period. Watch live streaming on TNT
Durant scored 12 points in the first half, while Irving was 9-of-13 from the floor and 4 of 9 from deep as the Nets led by as many as 21 points.
Caris LeVert scored 12 points in the first half for Brooklyn and has made two 3-pointers.
Stephen Curry, who struggled to get going early in the game, has 16 points for Golden State on 6-of-15 in the first half.
Durant and Irving started quickly and reached double figures before the end of the first quarter.
The pair led the Nets on a 7-0 run midway in the first quarter that resulted in a 20-8 lead for the hosts with 6:58 remaining in the period.
Golden State managed to claw its way back into the game, but poor shooting and bad turnovers led to the lead growing to 16 points as the Nets shot 58.3% overall and made seven 3-pointers in the opening quarter.
Top Golden State draft pick James Wiseman started for the Warriors and played in short spurts.
Wiseman is the youngest player to start for Golden State since Joe Smith in the 1970-71 season
