Kevin Durant came off the bench and scored 17 points on his return from a 23-game injury lay-off to help the Brooklyn Nets thrash the New Orleans Pelicans 139-111.
Durant hit all five of his shots, including two three-pointers, after being introduced in the second quarter.
A perfect return.
📼 Highlight's from @KDTrey's 17-point, 5-for-5 night 📼 pic.twitter.com/xsuQecih92
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) April 8, 2021
“I just wanted to go out there and dive right into the action,” he said.
“I expected to come out here and play the way I played. I wasn’t trying to ease into the game.
“The game was fast-paced already so from watching it from the bench I knew exactly how I needed to approach it. It was pretty cool coming off the bench, I can’t lie.”
The two-time NBA champion, who also came up with seven rebounds and five assists, had not played since 13 February because of a hamstring strain.
But while Nets head coach Steve Nash said it was good to see Durant back “with a big smile on his face”, they will now be without point guard James Harden for at least 10 days because of a hamstring injury.
