The Atlanta Hawks saw their winning streak come to an end on Wednesday as they lost to the Brooklyn Nets 145-141 at Barclays Center.

Atlanta saw five of their players reach double-digit points, led by John Collins' 30 points plus 10 rebounds. On Brooklyn's side, a total of seven – three from the starting-lineup and four off the bench – scored more than 10 points, led by Kevin Durant's 33 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Having averaged the league's second-highest 124.7 points per game so far this season, Atlanta have more than enough ball handlers to launch attacks from multiple positions. That's why they were able to lock the game in a fierce competition until the last minute when the team's ace Trae Young went 0-4 from the 3-point line.

Brooklyn's defensive arrangement on Young was to lure him into charging the hoop. Young, who buried 2.7 triples per game, is only 1.85 meters tall with a wingspan of 1.88 meters. You would prefer if he would challenge DeAndre Jordan or Jarret Allen in the paint rather than firing from the arc.

That partly explained why Young only took four attempts from outside, but the cost was that he earned 16 free throws and made 14 of them. After Wednesday's game, Young became the fourth player in NBA history to make at least 10 free throws in each of his first four games of a season.

Durant continued his incredible performance since he came back for Brooklyn this season. Having gone mediocre 8-18 in the first three quarters, Durant was guiding his teammates offensively with eight assists. When the team needed him to do more than orchestrating in the last quarter, Durant again raised his reaper scythe, scoring 16 points by going 3-4 in field goals and 9-9 behind the free-throw line.

However, despite such brilliant work, Durant was not the biggest contributor to Brooklyn's win at home – Kyrie Irving was. The six-time All-Star guard missed 13 of his 16 attempts in the first three quarters, but he's never to be underestimated with his scoring ability. Irving went 7-11 in field goals, including 3-4 in 3-pointers in Q4 to drop 17 points. Half of his shots were either answer balls or facial shots in front of bigger defenders.

"In the case of Kai, he was just having an off night till the fourth. He finally got his rhythm, and I think that gave him juice. We tried to put him in situations that he can thrive with an open floor, space it out for him, attack the big, and he was obviously wonderful in the fourth quarter," said Steve Nash, head coach of the Nets.

"We definitely got tested tonight. We came into the game No. 1 defensively, and I think that went out the window. So they are a tough team. Offensively, they have shooters playing with tons of confidence. Lloyd has them playing with freedom. You know, Trae (Young) obviously is tricky, but they got you know, Collins is a dynamic roller, (Clint) Capela is a dynamic roller and shooters all around, and they do a nice job of it. So we were tested tonight."

Young proved with his performance that he's already a legit contender for top scorer in today's NBA, but if he is after something bigger, Irving showed him how far away he is from that goal.

Other games on Wednesday (away teams come first):

Memphis Grizzlies 107-126 Boston Celtics

Jaylen Brown scored 42 points in three quarters for Boston, becoming the first one after Larry Bird (in 1986) to get 40+points in less than 30 minutes. Such incredible performance of Brown helped Boston lead once by 32 points in the game before pocketing the win at TD Garden.

"I just think he works hard at everything. He's a good player. His finishing has improved so much since college, his shooting is probably not as highly thought of as it should have been coming out of the draft. But it's certainly got a lot better. Just his reads and everything else, he's just really improved, worked hard to improve. (He's) got a lot on his plate. He wants to have a lot on his plate, and that's good," said Brad Steven, head coach of Boston.

Milwaukee Bucks 108-119 Miami Heat

Milwaukee and Miami met back-to-back on Wednesday. In their 144-97 win over Miami on Tuesday, Milwaukee saw 12 of their players make at least one triple. The only one who did not was Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he scored merely nine points.

The Greek Freak bounced back in less than 24 hours and put down team-high 26 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. However, this time, Milwaukee lost by 11 points against the same squad as Miami, which did not have Jimmy Butler.

Charlotte Hornets 118-99 Dallas Mavericks

Having struggled for three games, Charlotte's first-year rookie LaMelo Ball finally found his rhythm on the court. He was 7-10 in field goals and 4-5 from the triple line to get game-high 22 points plus eight rebounds and five assists, helping his team claim the second win in the season.

"LaMelo's showing growth every single game. He had his fingerprints all over that game…playing with poise, confidence. He was a calming force out there for us," said James Borrego, head coach of Charlotte.

Los Angeles Lakers 121-107 San Antonio Spurs

LeBron James celebrated his 36-year-old birthday with an easy win at AT&T Center. He dropped 26 points on the floor, extending his double-digit scoring game to 1,000.

Another happy surprise for the Lakers on Wednesday night was the perfect 6-6 performance by Wesley Matthews from the 3-point line. Many had been questioning the team's decision of signing Matthews with their bi-annual exception, and he could not be any better to reply to that with his work on Wednesday.

Portland Trail Blazers 105-128 Los Angeles Clippers

Kawhi Leonard came back for the Clippers after sitting on two games. He had to wear a special mask to protect his jaw, which had been hurt by his teammate Serge Ibaka. Nonetheless, that did not stop Leonard from putting 28 points and seven assists in three quarters, blowing the game long gone for the Clippers.

"Serge can't talk too much. We got him on the trading block right now. Whoever wants him, let us know," joked Leonard.

(Stats of the story come from Tencent Sports.)