Kevin Durant won the first meeting against his former team as Brooklyn defeated Golden State 125-99 in the NBA season opener.
Nets (15-12) at Warriors (14-12)
8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
• In the month of February, Stephen Curry is averaging 37.8 points (league-leader by 5.0 ppg), with a 76.5% true shooting percentage (second among top 200 in minutes played), while adding 5.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Curry is coming off his third 40+ point game of the season (tied with Bradley Beal for most in the league), including two of the top three scoring performances of the season (career-high 62 points on Jan. 3, 57 points on Feb. 6).
• Kevin Durant is set to suit up for a game in the Bay Area for the first time in 647 days as his final home game as a member of the Warriors came on May 8, 2019 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals against Houston at Oracle Arena in Oakland. In his three seasons with the Warriors, Durant played in 208 regular season games and 48 playoff games, winning two championships and two Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP awards. While three seasons was not enough to rank among the Warriors franchise leaders in terms of stat totals, when looking at per-game numbers, Durant fares very well in his 256 games played. In regular season games, Durant ranks 2nd in PPG (25.8), 10th in APG (5.4), 9th in BPG (1.5), 4th in FGM (9.1), 4th in 3PM (2.1), 7th in FTM (5.5). In playoff games, Durant ranks 2nd in PPG (29.6), 10th in APG (4.5), 3rd FGM (10.1), 4th 3PM (2.5), 2nd in FTM (6.9).
• Durant is set to return to the Nets’ lineup for the first time since Feb. 5. In 18 games this season, Durant is averaging 29.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists while shooting 52.9% from the field and 44.9% on 5.9 3-point attempts per game. He is averaging 35.9 minutes per game, which is on pace for his highest mark since his MVP season in 2013-14 (38.5 mpg).
• In his first meeting against his former team on opening night (Dec. 22), Durant had 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in 25 minutes of Brooklyn’s 125-99 rout. While Golden State’s most used defenders on Durant held their own — Durant had no points on 0-1 shooting in 2:16 (27.5% of matchup time) against Juan Toscano-Anderson, and just two points on 1-2 sooting in 1:47 (21.5% of matchup time) against Kelly Oubre Jr. — Durant was able to do his damage when matched up with Andrew Wiggins (7 PTS, 2-5 FG, 1-1 3P, 2-2 FT in 1:46) and Eric Paschall (8 PTS, 3-4 FG, 2-2 FT in 0:44).
• Both the Nets and Warriors enter Saturday averaging 14.4 3-pointers made per game, with the Nets holding the edge in 3-point accuracy, hitting 39.6% of their 3-point attempts (4th in NBA), while Golden State shoots 37.6% as a team (11th).
• Individually, Stephen Curry leads all players in 3-pointers made per game (5.0) and total 3-pointers made (131, the only player with 100+ 3PM), and is shooting 43.5% on his 3-point attempts, which ranks 28th in the NBA. For Brooklyn, Joe Harris ranks 11th in 3-pointers made per game (3.3), tied for fourth in total 3-pointers made (89) and third in 3-point percentage (49.2%). Harris has the fewest 3-point attempts (181) of any player ranked in the top 12 in 3-pointers made.
• On Thursday, Stephen Curry joined James Harden as the only players in NBA history to make at least four 3-pointers in 13 straight games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Curry can extend the streak to 14 on Saturday when the Warriors host Harden and the Nets. Curry has only six games this season in which he’s made fewer than four 3-pointers; the last time it happened was on Jan. 18 against the Lakers when he shot 3-12 on 3-pointers.
• Draymond Green has tallied 10 or more assists in each of his last five games, all of which he started at center. The only other player to post at least 10 assists in five straight games in which they started at center is Nikola Jokic, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. (Note: starters began being tracked in 1970-71). Green ranks seventh in the NBA in assists at 8.0 per game, which is on pace to set a new career high for the ninth-year forward/center. Nearly half of Green’s passes (49.6%) and 2.9 of his assists per game go to Stephen Curry, who is shooting 54.4% from the field and 51.4% on 3-pointers off passes from Green.
• This matchup features three of the top eight scorers in the NBA, led by Stephen Curry (30 ppg, 2nd in NBA), followed by Kevin Durant (29.5 ppg, 3rd) and Kyrie Irving (27.9 ppg, 8th). However, neither Durant nor Irving currently meet the games-played minimums to qualify as a league leader (playing at 70%+ a team’s games) as both have only played 18 of Brooklyn’s 27 games (66.7%). Since returning to the Nets lineup on Jan. 20, Irving has averaged a team-high 28.4 points on 53.4% shooting from the field, 39.3% from 3-point range and 93.1% from the free throw line.
• James Harden leads the NBA in assists with 11.0 per game, which would be just shy of his career high of 11.2 from the 2016-17 season with Houston. However, since joining the Nets on Jan. 16, Harden has averaged 11.3 assists per game. Kevin Durant averages 2.2 assists per game from Harden and is shooting 61.4% from the field and 60.0 on 3-pointers off passes from Harden since the two became teammates again in Brooklyn.
