Nothin' But Nets
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Brooklyn Nets: Kevin Durant reacts to blowout loss against Lakers

By Adam Weinrib

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 10: Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets reacts after the out of bounds ball was giving to Los Angeles Lakers as Montrezl Harrell #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on in the fourth quarter at Barclays Center on April 10, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 10: Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets reacts after the out of bounds ball was giving to Los Angeles Lakers as Montrezl Harrell #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on in the fourth quarter at Barclays Center on April 10, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Emotionless summary: the short-handed Brooklyn Nets faced the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night and saw their nine-game home winning streak broken in a strange contest.

Kyrie Irving was ejected. James Harden was nowhere to be found. Kevin Durant effortlessly dominated on a minutes restriction.

It wasn’t enough, as an electrified Andre Drummond put up 20 and 11 in 22 minutes and the Lakers rolled without LeBron James or Anthony Davis featured.

As Nets fans? We’re not particularly proud, but we’re not overly concerned. And we can say the same for Durant himself, who paid respects to the defending champions in his postgame commentary.

Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets reacted to the Lakers’ win Saturday.

Following the drubbing, Durant took the high road and paid respect to the champs:

"“They hit us in the mouth early, and we were fighting uphill the whole game,” Durant said. “Then, they got hot. You come in the game, guys who haven’t played as much get more opportunities and they’re playing free and they came out and hit us in the mouth. … They’re the champs. You’ve got to respect it.”"

Of course, the Nets might not have had any wounds to nurse if Irving hadn’t been ejected from a four-point game midway through the third, but we digress.

If anyone can figure out what exactly happened there, we’d very much appreciate a heads up. Even Steve Nash was confused in the postgame media scrum.

Regrettably, the narrative following this game has not surrounded the myriad names missing from the proceedings. Instead, fans have mostly focused on Durant’s solo efforts, which were not enough when the final horn sounded.

As anticipated, the Twitterverse looked at the result (the undermanned Nets lost to the undermanned Lakers) and didn’t see much nuance in the box score.

When it comes time to chase a championship in a month or two, the Nets will have reassembled, and we could get something much closer to “Smirking KD” than “Desolate KD”.

As of now, Durant still has to pay the piper and bow down to the league’s champions, though. There will be a chance to dethrone them, but win or loss, it was never going to be Saturday night.