Early Wednesday night, I opened the Brooklyn Nets channel in the ESNY Slack and called “dibs on a Kyrie Irving breakdown after he drops 50.” It was light-hearted, a joke signaling my anticipation of a potential explosion from the All-Star point guard. I was not expecting to be penning this piece. But here we are. Instead of finishing with a more reasonable point total like 26 or 32, Irving put the team on his back and accumulated half-a-century’s worth of points.
The Nets defeat on opening night was heart-breaking. It featured a 127-126 final, with Irving missing the go-ahead shot as time expired.