
Kevin Durant played the lead role when the Brooklyn Nets defeated the New York Knicks in Jacque Vaughn’s first game as permanent head coach.
Durant scored 29 points and added 12 rebounds and 12 assists – his second straight triple-double – in a 112-85 win at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Vaughn was named this week after winning two of four games as interim boss after The dismissal of Steve Nash.
The Nets were without suspended goaltender Kyrie Irving.
He is serving a five-game ban in a row allegations of anti-Semitism.
The Nets and Irving pledged to donate $1million (£880,000) to fight ‘hate and intolerance’ after he was criticized for sharing a link to a film featuring anti-Semitic tropes.
Elsewhere, LeBron James went down with the injury as the Los Angeles Lakers lost 114-101 to the Los Angeles Clippers.
James, the second-leading points scorer in NBA history, left the field midway through the fourth quarter with a groin problem at Crpyto.com Arena.