Kyrie Irving reflects on Brooklyn Nets' mindset during recent winning streak

Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets secured a key 125-117 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. The win extended the Nets’ league-best winning streak to nine games. Perhaps more importantly, it moved them past Cleveland and into third place in the Eastern Conference with a 22-12 slate.

This comes following the team’s disappointing 2-6 start that was mired in controversy. When asked about the Nets’ renewed mindset as a team following their ninth straight win, Irving downplayed the praise the team has been receiving.

“Any external negativity or praise, I really don't care about it. I think I'm just focused on being the best version of me and just letting the results play out based on how well we trust each other as a group,” Irving said.

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Kyrie Irving finished the game against Cleveland with a team-high 32 points and a season-high seven made 3-pointers on 57.9% shooting. He also made two clutch free throws to ice the game with 41.0 seconds remaining.

Irving's strong play helped offset a monster 46-point performance from Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland.

The Nets will now look to extend their winning streak to 10 games on Wednesday in Atlanta.

Also read: Kyrie Irving reflects on his underwhelming first game with Cleveland after completing 11th anniversary of his NBA debut

Kevin Durant on Brooklyn Nets’ recent success

Brooklyn Nets superstar forward Kevin Durant

The Brooklyn Nets’ other superstar Kevin Durant also echoed a similar sentiment to Kyrie Irving with respect to the team’s recent success. KD explained that the team has always been focused on winning despite what media narratives may suggest.

“To be honest, we’ve always been about basketball,” Durant said.

“The outside noise makes it seem like we don’t care about the game, but so many voices speak about our locker room who don’t have any idea what’s going on. We’ve always been about the game.”

Durant tied Irving with a team-high 32 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers to go along with nine rebounds and five assists on 55.6% shooting. The game marked yet another MVP-level performance from Durant, who has become a real threat to take home the award this season.

Durant is averaging 30.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 blocks per game on a career-best 56.3% shooting this season. If the Brooklyn Nets keep winning, it will only become more difficult to argue against Durant winning his second MVP.

Also read: Kendrick Perkins lauds Kevin Durant on his 2-way performance for Brooklyn Nets: “He’s been in his bag like he got fries at the bottom”