James Harden, Bruce Brown lead Nets to seventh straight victory
Nets guard James Harden is defended by Sacramento Kings guard Cory Joseph during an NBA game at Barclays Center on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
They cautiously made their way to their very, very, very separated seating pods and looked out at the court to watch the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings go through their pregame paces.
As the 7:30 tipoff grew closer, more of them settled into their seats. Fans. People. Humans.
It wasn’t the 17,732 fans the arena normally holds for basketball. It wasn’t the 10 percent of that figure that could have been allowed in under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s edict that went into effect on Tuesday.
No, the Nets only allowed in 300 fans, most of them seated courtside and the rest scattered throughout the lower bowl.
It looked, to be honest, like 300 people in a place that can hold 17,732.
It also looked quite divine. And those fans who agreed to get tested for COVID-19 and shelled out big bucks to see a live sporting event in person again got to watch the Nets beat the Kings, 127-118.
"A little bit — you could hear them," coach Steve Nash said. "I’m not going to say it was Friday night, 18,000, but it was nice to have people in the building.
"Little things like that give the players a boost . . . As long as we can do it safely, it’s exciting for everyone."
It was the Nets’ seventh straight victory and fifth in a row without Kevin Durant, who is out with a left hamstring strain.
James Harden, who was named an All-Star reserve before the game, led the Nets (21-12) with 29 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds for his sixth triple-double since joining Brooklyn.
Bruce Brown had a career-high 29 points in 25 minutes. Kyrie Irving scored 21 points and Joe Harris added 18.
"[Brown] had a big impact on the game before you get to the points," Nash said. "Fantastic effort from Bruce."
The Kings (12-19), who have lost eight in a row, were led by De’Aaron Fox’s 27 points.
The Nets let the Kings hang out far longer than would have been expected. After trailing by as much as 14, Sacramento took its only lead of the night when Tyrese Haliburton hit a jumper to make it 96-95 with 14.3 seconds left in the third quarter.
Harris gave the Nets back the lead at 98-96 when he connected on a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in the quarter. Harris hit another to open the fourth.
Still, it was a battle until Brown started raining buckets on the Kings, scoring eight straight points in the latter half of the fourth to push the Nets back to a 14-point lead.
"This is a trap game," Nash said. "When you have a winning streak on the West Coast, you fly back across the country, getting acclimated to family and friends, time zone and all that stuff, playing a team you beat a week ago, it’s a trap game."
It was the Nets’ first home game with fans since last March 8, when they drew 15,916 to a victory over the Bulls.
At 7:10 p.m., the first announcement to greet fans was kind of a downer — a recording instructing patrons how to exit the area in the event of an emergency.
Midway through the fourth quarter, fans were asked to not leave their seats to exit postgame unless allowed to do so by a staffer. It wasn’t to beat the traffic — the hope was to avoid groups crowding together on the way out.
Piped-in fan noise was still used. The public address announcer’s screeching and ear-splitting sound effects were still the most dominant sounds in the arena.
But there was also real clapping, and real cheering, under the artificial stuff. And Nets fans have had a lot to cheer about lately.
And 300 more of them get to come on Thursday when Orlando comes to Barclays.
Said Harris: "Just having somebody in there to cheer you on is better than nothing."
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
