Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving reminded everyone just how lethal of a scorer he is on Tuesday night when he dropped 50 points in a win over the Charlotte Hornets. Irving’s offensive outburst couldn’t come at a more perfect time for the Nets, who had previously lost the last four games, and were 3-17 in their last 20 contests leading into tonight.
From the opening tip of the game, Irving got whatever he wanted against a porous Charlotte defense that ranks 20th in the league in defensive rating. But the second half of the game, with the Nets already ahead 69-43 behind Irving’s 20 points in the first half, is where he did a bulk of his damage to ensure the Hornets couldn’t come back in the game. Irving went 5-of-7 from downtown and racked up 30 of his 50 points in the final two frames of action.
“You just wanna really put your stamp on a game early and then be able to play the game the right way,” Irving said after his stellar performance. “And that’s what we did tonight.”
It was just one of those nights for Irving, who shot a supremely efficient 78.9 percent from the field (15-19), and 75 percent from 3-point territory (9-12). His impressive stat line made him the first player in NBA history to record 50 points while making nine 3-pointers and shooting 75 percent from downtown. Over half of Irving’s 50-point stunner — 27 points to be exact — came from 3-pointers, and it was just the third time in his career where he connected on nine or more 3s in a game. The last time that happened was a season ago when he put up 40 points in a win over the Sacramento Kings while going 9-11 from deep. Surprisingly, that’s not the highest number of 3s Irving’s made in a game. That happened back in 2015 when he was still a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers and went 11-for-19 from beyond the arc in a 55-point performance in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
After the game, Irving admitted that he was keeping an eye on his point total as he inched closer to the 50-point mark, and noted that tonight’s performance was a welcomed bounce-back…
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