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Brooklyn Nets with the franchise’s biggest comeback in 54 years

By Arnie Leshin 
From Rick Barry to Julius Erving to Jason Kidd, from the red, white, blue ball American Basketball Association to the National Basketball Association, Tuesday’s nightcomeback at the Phoenix Suns resulted in the biggest comeback in the 54 nomad years of the franchise.
With Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving riding the bench with injuries, only James Harden of the first-year elite trio remained as the club went in quest of its fourth-straight victory against the red-hot Suns trying for their fifth in a row, and it didn’t look good for the visitors as they trailed by 17 points late in the second quarter, by 22 at halftime, by 24 midway through the third quarter, and by double digits as the clock ticked down in the final quarter.
Then, with Durant (hamstring) and Irving (lower back) cheering along, slowly the gap decreased behind the play of Harden, Joe Harris, Jeff Green, Tyler Johnson, and Landry Samet 13, and down it went, when with 2:37remaining, it shrunk to 119-115, to 121-119 with a minute left as Phoenix’ veteran point guard Chris Paul’s outside shooting matched the surge of the Nets, until with 0:29.8 on the clock, Harden had the ball after a Suns’ miss inside, and fired up a 3 to bring his side its initial lead, 126-124, and another Suns’ miss put the ball back in Harden’s hands and he was fouled with 0:5, converted both attempts, and the buzzer sounded and the Brooklyn bench hurried to the court to celebrate this remarkable rally, 128-124.
Durant was so excited, push led to shove as he almost sent Irving to the floor.
Harden wound up with the game-high 38 points, his best in his first year since the trade from the Houston Rockets. He added seven rebounds and the game-high 11 assists. Harris contributed 22 points, Green helped out with 18 to go with eight boards and three assists, Johnson scored 17, and Landry Shamet 13.
“Unreal,” said first-year head coach Hall of Famer Steve Nash, “we never quit against a good team, the bench reacted, and we came away with our best game so far.”
I go back to the early years of this franchise, when it began as the Jersey Americans in the ice-cold Teaneck Armory, to the New Jersey Nets at the Brendon Bryan Arena in East Rutherford, to the Rutgers home court in Piscataway, to a warped court in Hempstead, L.I., to up the road in a dinky arena Garden City, and to the Nassau Veterans Coliseum in Uniondale.
Now they reside at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where their current 19-12 record has them in second place in the NBA East, and with a anticipated contest Thursday nightat the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers on TNT.
Twice, they won the ABA tile in the Erving years, and twice they were in the NBA finals before losing in four versus the Lakers and by six against the San Antonio Spurs in the Kidd years.
Phoenix, which has never won the NBA championship, has been an early surprise, for at 15-9 were third-best in the NBA West. It led quickly, upped the advantage to 68-48 with 2:03 in the second quarter, and to 73-51 at the intermission. In the third quarter, the Suns were ahead 79-56, and at 100-88 entering the last quarter before being outscored 40-24, until the final buzzer.
Will Durant or Irving or both of them returning minus the Lakers’ injured Anthony Davis and LeBron James, that remains to be seen, but the way Harden and the present company performed in Phoenix, it could still be a dandy encounter despite no fans in the stands.
Meanwhile, Paul, who tossed in four 3s in the final minutes in defeat, came away with his team-high 29 points that included four boards and seven assists.

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