The Brooklyn Nets remain understaffed after announcing that Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge will be out against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, while star James Harden remains out.
The good news for Brooklyn is that Kyrie Irving is available to play after missing Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves while attending a family event.
The Nets are also without guard Chris Chiozza. Chiozza, who started in Irving’s place on Tuesday, underwent hand surgery on Wednesday to fix a broken right finger. He sustained the injury against the Timberwolves.
Harden remains sidelined with a right hamstring strain and Tyler Johnson still has pain in his right knee.
Aldridge will not play for a non-COVID illness and Griffin is on an injury day with a knee problem.
On Tuesday, Durant played 27 minutes against the Timberwolves, even as the Nets’ lead rose to 40 points. Nash said the Nets want to extend their playing time to 30 minutes, but it’s a “tricky balance”.
“He has to play in his favor for a certain number of minutes,” Nash said on Tuesday. “At the same time, if the game gets so out of hand, you think, do we want to take the risk of him being in the game at this point? In an ideal world, he would play for about 30 minutes, but at the same time, he’s out there. At the end of the game in pointless minutes, and you have to be careful too. We’re trying to find that balance. “
Durant said Tuesday that increasing his workload felt “good” and that he would determine his status Wednesday after seeing his body recover and consulting with the team’s training staff.
Durant said playing the 76ers, who compete with the Nets for the number one spot in the Eastern Conference, was something the team was looking forward to, but as a group they were more focused on bringing the whole team together on the field. After all, the Nets’ Big 3 only played seven games together.
According to Elias Sports, the fewest games a champion’s top three scorers played together during the regular season are 10 when the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant-Derek Fisher Lakers won in 2001. games left in the regular season.
“I think for us we want everyone to be healthy and used to what we do, and I think that’s just as important as setting the schedule for the Philadelphia game,” said Durant. “They are a great team, they are well trained and I am sure it is a team that we will meet soon, but for us at this point we want to continue to refine what we do to the things that make us. who we are, and we’ll see what happens in the future. “