Kyrie Irving played his first NBA game of the season Wednesday, January 5th after sitting out due to the state of New York not letting unvaccinated home players play in home games and the Brooklyn Nets not allowing him to play in road games either. The Nets finally caved and decided to let Irving play in road games reportedly due to other injury and covid absences from their lineup.
Irving finally made his season debut against the Indiana Pacers and it was a struggle early for both him and the Nets early. Irving started the game and opened up with two misses and a turnover before being subbed out with just over six minutes left in the first quarter. When he returned to the game he finally knocked down his first basket of the season early in the second quarter.
The team was out of sync all around however, and especially defensively. They were down 13 at halftime to the Pacers. That is when Irving and the rest of the Nets picked up their play and Irving ended the game with 22 points and three steals in 31 minutes. Irving was making spin moves, eurosteps, and crossovers to the basket and looked like his old slef.
The point to bring Irving back was to decrease the usage of their other two stars Durant and Harden though. They still played 41 and 40 minutes, respectively.
Photo Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kyrie_Irving_billboard_in_Cleveland,Ohio(2016).jpg
