Steve Nash joked Kyrie Irving produced more career highlights in the space of 12 minutes against the Orlando Magic than the Brooklyn Nets coach managed in his entire career.
Irving scored a career-high 60 points – the most for a Nets player in their NBA history – in Tuesday's 150-108 victory in Florida.
The seven-time NBA All-Star shot 20 for 31, which included eight of 12 on 3-pointers, and made 12 of 13 free throws in his 35 minutes on the court.
Forty-one of Irving's points came in the first half as he became the second Nets player over the past 25 years, after Deron Williams in March 2012, to have 40-plus points in a half.
It was an individual display that will long live in the memory, with Brooklyn coach Nash leading the tributes for the 29-year-old.
"He's just incredible. I felt like he had my career highlight reel in the first 12 minutes of the game," Nash said.
"It's special to watch him every night – but it's special to watch him on nights like this, where he's in total control, total command.
"He gets wherever he wants and is able to finish amongst the trees. It's just a pleasure to see it up close and to be a part of it."
Irving's 60-point display came a day after the Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns also hit that mark against the San Antonio Spurs.
It marks the first time that two players have scored 60 points on successive nights in NBA since 1962.
There have now been seven 50-point games in the NBA in March, which is tied for the most in a single month since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976.
And Nets star Kevin Durant, who added 19 points in the win over Orlando, believes the division is now as strong as ever.
"The night after Karl Towns had an incredible performance, to then have Kyrie do it the next night, the league is in an incredible place right now," Durant said.
"I'm sure in the first quarter you saw it developing. Sixteen in the first and then midway through the second all of us on the bench are still looking.
"It's just like that every game for Ky, when you look up and, like, 'Damn, he got 10, 12, 14 points already'."
Durant scored 53 points in Sunday's win over the New York Knicks, making him and Irving the first team-mates in NBA history with 50+ points in back-to-back games.
"Making history, man. making history," Irving said when that stat was put to him. "Doing it with that guy is very special. But credit goes to our group.
"Our guys in our locker room, they really believe in us, they really rock with us, there's not a doubt in our mind that they really believe that we can do something special.
"And not just this year, but for years to come. We have a good group. And we're all sacrificing something that's bigger than ourselves."
He added: "When you're a kid scoring a bunch of points, it means something. When you're in the best league in the world doing it against the greatest, it means a little bit more."
The Nets have now won four games in a row to improve to 36-33 for the season, placing them eighth in the Eastern Conference.
Irving will not play against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday due to New York City's mandate requiring vaccination against COVID-19, though he intends to be in attendance.
"I'll probably wear a media pass," he joked. "It's a little awkwardness.
"But I'll show up there with my family and get a warm embrace from New York, Brooklyn, everybody that's there to support the Nets and support our organisation, support me."
NBA: Lakers beat Pacers to win inaugural In-Season Tournament behind Davis' 41 points and 20 rebounds
Anthony Davis had a monster game with season highs of 41 points and 20 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers, 123-109 on Saturday in Las Vegas to win the inaugural In-Season Tournament championship.
Davis shot 16 of 24 from the field and 9 of 13 from the foul line while adding five assists and four blocks.
Austin Reaves added 28 points and tournament MVP LeBron James had 24 and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles, which didn’t put the game away until a 15-3 run late in the fourth quarter turned a 100-96 lead into a 115-99 advantage.
The game was the only one in the tournament that didn’t count in the standings, but there was still plenty at stake.
In addition to a trophy, Lakers players on standard two-way contracts each made $500,000 and the Pacers received $200,000 apiece.
Tyrese Haliburton had 20 points and 11 assists and Benedict Mathurin also scored 20 as the Pacers suffered their first tournament loss after six wins.
Warriors 'good enough for championship', but Kerr demands mistakes stop after Thunder loss
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr believes his team are good enough to win the NBA championship, but only if they cut out the kind of errors which cost them against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
The Warriors slumped to 10-12 as they finished on the wrong side of a thrilling contest at Paycom Center, losing 138-136 in overtime.
Golden State led 62-56 at halftime before the Thunder rallied, with Stephen Curry – who finished with a team-high 34 points – making a series of big shots to keep them in the game past regulation.
From there, however, mistakes cost the Warriors as the Thunder scored eight points off four turnovers in the extra period, winning it when Chet Holmgren fed Luguentz Dort for a decisive layup.
Kerr's team have now lost their last five road games, the last three of those defeats coming by a combined margin of four points, and he knows errors are contributing to them finishing on the wrong side of the fine margins.
"We're good enough to win a championship," Kerr said after the game. "With this team. I believe that.
"But if we are just going to turn it over and throw the ball to the other team and foul over and over, then we're going to lose."
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 38 points for the Thunder, and despite the Warriors enduring an inconsistent campaign, he believes the way they fought back against the 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022 NBA champions was something of a statement.
"We've got a bunch of competitors on the team, guys that don't back down, guys that want to be great," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
"We all know that to be great, you've got to test yourself against the great.
"Obviously, that's a dynasty that came in here today, and there's been multiple games like that this year. When we play the best of the best, we rise to the challenge."
Wembanyama seeking recipe for success as record-breaking display fails to halt Spurs slide
Victor Wembanyama vowed the San Antonio Spurs will continue looking for "a good recipe" after his historic performance failed to prevent his team matching their franchise-record losing run.
At 19 years and 38 days old, the first overall draft pick became the youngest player in NBA history to post a 20-20 game, managing 21 points and 20 assists at home to the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
However, that performance was not enough to prevent a 121-112 defeat as the Bulls rallied after the interval, with Patrick Williams, Demar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic and Coby White all managing 20 points or more for Chicago.
San Antonio has now tied their all-time record losing streak of 16 games, while their 3-18 record is the worst they have ever managed through 21 games of a season.
Wembanyama – whose 20-20 game came when he was four days younger than previous record holder Dwight Howard – says it is still a case of trial and error after he starred from the center position against the Bulls.
"Experimenting in different areas of the game is always something important and interesting to me," Wembanyama said.
"Every game is different, but we're going to see and try until we find a good recipe.
"When our opponents are down at half, of course they're going to try and have a reaction. We've got to expect that every time, because our first half was pretty solid, especially defensively.
"There are ups and downs during the game, but we've got to get our downs less and less."
San Antonio's losing steak still stands three games short of that being endured by the Detroit Pistons, who are 2-20 after going down by a 123-91 scoreline against the Orlando Magic, their 19th straight loss.
Franz Wagner scored 27 points and Paolo Banchero added 24 for Orlando, with the Pistons now enduring the longest single-season losing streak in their franchise history and their second-longest overall.
Detroit previously lost 21 in a row across the end of the 1979-80 season and the start of 1980-81.
Though Pistons coach Monty Williams acknowledged the 15-7 Magic are a tough nut to crack defensively, he wasn't happy with his team's offensive efforts.
"They're a good defensive team but we missed a lot of open shots," Williams said after the defeat.
"They take away the paint, force you to play outside. We generated only 30 threes and just didn't hit a good percentage. We just had a hard time putting the ball in the basket tonight."
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