Durant: We came to Miami and matched their physicality

Kevin Durant said his Brooklyn Nets were expecting a tough, physical performance from the Miami Heat on Saturday night, but they had all the answers in the 110-95 win.

Brooklyn used a 40-point second quarter to open up a 67-46 half-time lead, extending the margin to 37 points when Seth Curry’s three-pointer made it 94-57 with 4:02 to play in the third period.

Durant scored a team-high 23 points on seven-of-14 shooting, while seven of his teammates scored at least eight points each in one of the Nets’ most balanced offensive performances of the season.

Speaking at a post-game news conference, Durant said the key to playing well in Miami is being prepared to bring the physicality.

“[Miami] has been struggling lately – they’d lost their last three – so we assumed they’d come out with a lot of firepower,” he said.

“They did – we were down 15-7 early – but we weathered the storm. We took their punch and were able to keep going. 

“[Miami] is a physical basketball team, so if you match their physicality you can make it an even game, and we have a lot of shot-makers on our team.

“They normally blitz a lot of teams [in Miami] by just being more physical, and getting out in transition and knocking down threes, but they had to take the ball out of the basket a lot and play against a set defense.”

Durant spoke about how he knew his side would be facing a tough test against a Heat team that entered the contest as the Eastern Conference’s top seed.

“We knew this team presents a tough challenge for us on both ends of the floor,” he said.

“But we stood up to it and were able to finish the game off nice.

“Our defense led to our offense – we did a good job of being physical early on.

“All phases of our game worked tonight – defensively, offensively, doing all the little things, so we’ve got to build on it for tomorrow [against the Charlotte Hornets].”

Brooklyn’s next game will be Kyrie Irving’s home debut for the season on Sunday night after New York’s vaccine mandate rules were loosened for home-state athletes and performers earlier in the week.