The Brooklyn Nets have won the first game in the North American basketball professional league NBA after the suspension of their controversial basketball star Kyrie Irving.
The Nets prevailed against the Washington Wizards with 128:86 (69:57).
At the same time, Jacque Vaughn was the first success as interim coach after the club recently parted ways with their previous head coach Steve Nash. Kevin Durant stood out with 28 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds.
Irving was suspended by the Nets for at least five games after failing to make it clear in a press round that he had no anti-Semitic beliefs. Irving previously shared a link on his Twitter account to the film titled “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which the US media also classified as racist, misogynistic, homophobic and Islamophobic. Only after the suspension did Irving apologize.
Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to a 111-110 (62-57) home win over the Toronto Raptors. The Slovenian superstar has 35 points, reaching 30 in each of his first eight appearances of the season. In NBA history, only Wilt Chamberlain had managed to do this in the 1959/60 season. The German national basketball player Maxi Kleber remained unobtrusive with two points.
With Isaiah Hartenstein, the second German player was also successful on Friday evening. With the New York Knicks, the 24-year-old scored a 106-104 (58-53) away win against the Philadelphia 76ers. Hartenstein put up eight points and ten rebounds. The guests caught up a twelve-point deficit in the final quarter and inflicted the sixth defeat of the season on the troubled top team.
(dpa)
