Kyrie Irving coming on strong as Nets adjust to life minus Kevin Durant

SAN FRANCISCO — When Kevin Durant sprained his right MCL two weeks ago, Kyrie Irving was deferring and the Nets were struggling.That doesn’t mean chucking up wild shots or playing hero-ball. It does mean being fully engaged, putting his body on the line for his teammates. It does mean not getting in his own feelings, but being a positive influence. Oh, and it does mean having the ball in his hands during winning time and scoring. In bunches.

“It’s like he’s in a different world. He’s locked-in. He’s in a different type of zone and makes those big shots time and time again,” Nic Claxton said of Irving.“That’s what he does,” Royce O’Neale added. “Right now he’s leading us, and we follow his lead. We’re trusting him, he’s trusting us. So to see him go off like that is always special. You could just tell he had it going.”

“I don’t think [50 points nightly] is an unrealistic expectation,” Irving said, only half-joking. “I have the trust from [coach] Jacque [Vaughn] to be able to make plays down the stretch. … We’ve been able to develop a dialogue that continues to grow game-to-game. So it gives me a lot of confidence in the fourth quarter to be able to perform that way.”Part of that dialogue was putting the ball in Irving’s hands.

The Nets didn’t look lethal in their first three games without Durant, hitting .286 from 3-point range. But they shot .423 against the Suns and .439 versus the Jazz.

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