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Coming off an enormous win over the Clippers, who had been the highest staff within the Western Convention on the time, the Nets have misplaced two straight video games to the Raptors and the Japanese Convention-leading 76ers. They received’t have Kevin Durant for the following two video games Tuesday in Detroit and residential on Wednesday towards Indiana due to medical protocols, and Kyrie Irving’s standing is unsure due to a finger harm.
So their loss to the 76ers on Saturday was not omen for the playoffs regardless that the Nets had been lacking two of their Large 3. They dedicated the identical turnovers which have damage them your entire season and allowed the 76ers to dominate factors within the paint, 62-32, and outscore them on second-chance factors, 22-9.
“Hopefully it’s an expertise that affords us one thing,” coach Steve Nash mentioned. “I don’t actually take a look at it in these phrases. I feel that’s getting somewhat forward of ourselves. For us, particularly this season the place we’ve got a lot work to do and we want time, we’ve actually obtained to give attention to ourselves and attempt to enhance and work out who we’re, the place we’re going and the way we’re going to get there. If we will keep on with that, we’ll be staff come playoff time no matter a few of these video games earlier.”
The Nets (14-11) are greater than a 3rd of the way in which by way of the 72-game season. Their loss in Philadelphia marked the primary sport of a stretch by which they’ll play seven of eight video games on the street. So issues aren’t getting any simpler.
They acquired James Harden 12 video games in the past. He sat out a type of video games and has gone 7-4 with them. However Durant and Irving have been out and in of the lineup. Durant is 6-3 with Harden and Irving is 5-4. When the three have performed in the identical sport, the Nets are 4-2. The following time they need to have all three collectively can be Saturday at Golden State.
The circumstances of a season by which the Nets should observe medical protocols associated to the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented and out of their management. They have to find out about one another on the fly.
“The excellent news is that we’ve obtained months forward of us, however the dangerous information is that it’s not a standard 12 months,” Nash mentioned. “There’s rather a lot happening, numerous exterior elements and never numerous time. We’ll get again at it Monday, and we’ll simply continue to learn.
“We’ve obtained to be taught on apply days, we’ve obtained to be taught on sport days, we’ve obtained to be taught from our video games themselves. We’ve simply obtained to be inventive, be diligent with getting these little doses of instruction regardless that there’s not numerous time for it.”
If there was one optimistic from the loss in Philadelphia, it was that the Nets obtained a robust output from their bench, which outscored the 76ers’ bench 39-32.
Describing the significance of bench play when Durant and Irving are lacking, Harden mentioned, “I feel particularly within the postseason, anyone can change a collection. Anybody possession, any participant can change a complete collection in a postseason. So we wish to construct confidence . . . in each particular person man. That approach, when it’s postseason, when guys are thrown in, we all know what to anticipate. Hopefully in a studying expertise, we will get some wins out of it.”
That didn’t occur in Philadelphia, however there’s a lengthy solution to go for the Nets, particularly when their three superstars start to play collectively frequently.
Greg Logan has labored for Newsday since 1982 masking a big selection of sports activities and occasions, at present together with the Brooklyn Nets beat.
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