On April 3, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, the Nets challenged the Hawks away, and the Nets collapsed in the second quarter, trailing by 15 points at halftime. The Nets bit the score under Durant's leadership, but still failed, and in the end, the Nets lost to the Hawks 115-122, suffering two consecutive losses, falling to 10th in the East. Durant, who scored 55 points, set a new career scoring record, but suffered a tragic mileage.
It was an Eastern Conference ranking card battle, and the two teams had identical previous records, with the Nets ranked 8th and the Hawks 10th, and the outcome of this game directly affected the ranking. In the first two games of the season, the Nets laughed to the end. In this game, the Nets are absent from many people, and Curry Jr., Brown and Dragic are not available.
Durant and Irving led the team in a dual core. The Nets made a good start, with Durant starting with a fiery start, scoring 15 points on all three-of-a-row shooting from the outside in the first quarter to give the Nets a two-point lead in the first quarter. However, in the second quarter, the Nets suddenly collapsed, except for Durant and Irving, the rest of the teammates could not score, the Hawks seized the opportunity, single quarter to play 37-20, the end of the half has been 15 points.
The Nets began chasing points at the beginning of the third quarter, narrowing the gap to eight points at one point, but the Hawks quickly stabilized the situation and widened the gap to 15 points again. Durant began death mode, and he was completely unstoppable in this quarter, scoring 19 points in a single quarter, 44 points in the first three quarters, and the Nets bit the score, and chased only 7 points at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Durant temporarily rested off the field, the Nets once chased 93-97 only 4 points, but the Nets then missed opportunities in succession, the Eagles took the opportunity to open the score again, the point difference came to double digits again, Durant was still unstoppable, and when there were 3 minutes left in the game, the Nets chased only 3 points. The Hawks didn't score in the athletic battle for 5 minutes, and the Hawks seized the opportunity at the crucial moment, Trae Young killed the game with three points, and the Hawks won.
Durant opened the grim reaper mode in this game, shooting 19 of 28, including 8 of 10 from the outside, bombing down 55 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, setting a career high, but such performances still could not lead the team to victory, Irving scored 31 points and 5 assists on 12-of-32 shooting, and the rest of the Nets' teammates were bad, Mills 7-of-0, Thomas 7-of-1, Drummond 4-of-11. The Hawks were in full bloom, with Trae Young having 36 points and 10 assists.
In this game, the number of free throws between the two teams is in stark contrast, with the Hawks having 49 and the Nets having only 19. After losing the game, the Nets' record became 40-38, and the ranking was overtaken by the Hawks, falling to 10th in the East, and the Hawks rose to 8th, taking the lead in the playoff playoffs.