BROOKLYN, NY — Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant combined to score 33 points in their first game together in Brooklyn and the new-look Nets opened preseason play with a 119-114 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday.
Both players were making their debuts for the Nets and are expected to play significant roles in the Steve Nash team’s push to win an NBA championship this season.
All-Star point guard Irving finished with 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers and dished out four assists for Brooklyn. Durant, who is back from injury, added 15 points, three assists, three rebounds, and two blocks. He, however, shot just 5 of 12.
Landry Shamet, who played with the LA Clippers last season, had 13 points off the bench with Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Taurean Prince each scoring 11.
Also registering double figures in scoring Sunday night was Spencer Dinwiddie, who contributed 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Nets, who got 68 of their total points from the reserves.
Rui Hachimura led the Wizards with 18 points on 7 of 16 shooting, with Raul Neto added 17 points and six assists.
All five Wizards starters scored in double figures.
Deni Avdija ended with 15 points on a perfect 6 of 6 shooting, including 3 for 3 from three-point range to go with four rebounds and Troy Brown Jr. had 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals for Washington.
Thomas Bryant 10 points, five assists and five rebounds in the defeat.
Washington help out newly acquired Russell Westbrook and fellow guard Bradley Beal in its opening preseason game with several players given the chance to show head coach Scott Brooks what they can do.
Brooklyn shot 51.4% from the field on the night on 38 of 74 shooting and connected on 14 of its 30 attempts from 3-pointers for 46.7%.
The Wizards shot 43.3% overall and 37.8% from long-range.
Brooklyn returns to preseason action on Friday against the Boston Celtics on ESPN2.
Washington takes on Detroit on Thursday before facing the Pistons again on Saturday.
