Seth Curry dials up his offense to help Nets top Trail Blazers
Nets guard Seth Curry reacts in the second half of an NBA game against the Trail Blazers at Barclays Center on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Seth Curry almost always believes his shot is going to go in.
So apparently it was no big deal to the Nets sharpshooter when he landed three-pointer after three-pointer Sunday afternoon en route to a 111-97 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Barclays Center.
“I always feel like if I get good shots, I’m going to make them at a high clip,” said Curry, who shot 7-for-10 from three-point range and scored a season-high 29 points in 28:40 off the bench.
Curry and a lockdown Nets defense broke open the game in the fourth quarter after neither team led by more than seven points through the first three periods.
Curry scored 13 points and shot 3-for-5 from three-point range in the fourth quarter. The Nets held Portland to 6-for-19 shooting in the final period.
Curry finished with his highest point total as a Net and the most points by a Brooklyn reserve in any game this season. It also was an encouraging sign for the team, given that he is coming off offseason ankle surgery and had gotten off to a slow start.
Kevin Durant (31 points) said the Nets’ defense wore Portland down while Curry started piling on the points.
“That was a back-breaker for them to see Seth come off the bench to get almost 30,” Durant said.
Said coach Jacque Vaughn: “It was fun to see, especially when they go in. You see the confidence he has in his shot and the rhythm he’s starting to regain just from not playing and having offseason surgery.”
Durant is averaging 29.2 points this season and has scored at least 26 points in 20 of the Nets’ 21 games. Kyrie Irving added 22 points. Ben Simmons took only three shots but recorded 12 rebounds and eight assists.
Portland (11-9) was led by Jerami Grant’s 29 points. Jusuf Nurkic added 17 points and 14 rebounds.
The Trail Blazers were playing without Damian Lillard, who has a strained calf. Lillard scored 25 points in the Trail Blazers’ loss to the Nets in Portland on Nov. 17.
That loss sent the Trail Blazers on a four-game losing streak, which they finally ended Friday night with an overtime win over the Knicks.
The win was an important one for the Nets (10-11) in that it was the opener of a seven-game homestand, their longest of the season. The Nets will play the seven games in 13 days.
Up next is a Monday night game against the Orlando Magic (5-15), who have the second-worst record in the NBA, better than only the Pistons (5-17).
If the Nets beat the Magic, they will have their first non-losing record since they were 1-1 on Oct. 21. That was before Vaughn replaced Steve Nash as coach seven games into the season with the team at 2-5.
Vaughn hopes his team can use this homestand to become even more focused and aggressive, playing exactly the type of defense it played late against Portland.
“We kept using the word ‘aggressive’ in any sort of timeout or gathering together,” Vaughn said.
“And we got some fouls called against us and we’ve been trending in that direction. We want to be the aggressors on every possession . . . The group that started the fourth started out playing very well together, pushing the pace, rebounding the basketball, and the group that finished did the same thing.
“The mentality: Come in ready to play, locked in, fourth quarter, let’s get a win.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
