Simmons injured as Durant stars for Nets

Ben Simmons' return to form has been set back by a recurring knee injury that ended his night early before Kevin Durant led Brooklyn to a seven-point NBA defeat of Orlando.

Durant scored a season-high 45 points, carrying the Nets to a 109-102 victory over the Magic on Monday night that got them back to 11-11 this season.

Durant shot 19-of-24 from the field and added seven rebounds and five assists, playing 39 minutes on the second night of back-to-back games.

Kyrie Irving had 20 points and Nic Claxton 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Nets, after Simmons (four points, four assists) lasted just 11 minutes.

He is a day-to-day prospect according to coach Jacque Vaughn.

"Health is the number one priority, so we want him to be at his best," Irving said of Simmons.

"When he's not out there, we don't have our point forward, our point guard being able to initiate easy opportunities, push the ball in transition. So we'll definitely miss him in the line-up. 

"Hopefully, he comes back next game, but if he's dealing with it, we just want him to get as healthy as possible, and we'll figure it out.""

Simmons had a back injury that required surgery in the off-season and has already missed games this season with a swollen knee.

"He hasn't had this amount of accumulation of games over a period of a long time," Vaughn said.

"We were warned about that just as these games start to add up. It's really stretching him the amount of games we've just had, with the minutes he's played."

In New Orleans, Dyson Daniels won bragging rights over fellow emerging Australian talent Josh Giddey, adding eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in the Pelicans' four-point win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Giddey (seven points, five rebounds) and Daniels both played 28 minutes, Zion Williamson (23 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31 points, six rebounds, four assists) led their respective teams.

Another Aussie in Matisse Thybulle had four points and a steal in seven minutes as the Philadelphia 76ers, led by Joel Embiid with 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, beat the Atlanta Hawks 104-101.

And Boomers centre Jock Landale was again sparingly used in the Phoenix Suns' 122-117 defeat of the Sacramento Kings.