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HOUSTON —The Nets have been all the way down to a lone star for his or her sport Wednesday evening within the Lone Star State — and it confirmed in a 114-104 loss to the Rockets.
Kevin Durant rested on the tail finish of the back-to-back. With Kyrie Irving out indefinitely, it left James Harden with little offensive assist. Beginning heart LaMarcus Aldridge additionally sat out for relaxation, and Joe Harris remains to be sidelined after ankle surgical procedure.
“I informed them [the media] have been actually on me for giving them some relaxation,” Nets coach Steve Nash mentioned jokingly earlier than the sport. “No, I feel clearly we all know they’ve had lots of minutes just lately.
“I feel they each wished to play, but it surely was a possibility to attempt to get a bit little bit of relaxation throughout this powerful stretch. Particularly with out Joe [Harris] within the lineup, it places extra strain on guys. We’re simply taking an opportunity and rolling the cube a bit right here.”
They got here up craps, trailing by as many as 20 en path to their second loss in three video games.
After Harden performed 41:35 on Tuesday in Dallas and one other 39:19 on Wednesday evening, his standing for the Nets’ sport Friday in Atlanta is up within the air.
“We’ll see how I really feel [Thursday], and we’ll see how I really feel Friday. We’ll simply take it day-by-day,” Harden mentioned. “However yeah, it looks like the extra that we relaxation, the less gamers we’ve, which is the tough half about your complete sport. It’s one thing we’ve to take care of as a unit.”
Nash tried some extravagant roster experimentation.
Nash teamed Harden and Patty Mills with an all-defense frontcourt of DeAndre’ Bembry, James Johnson and Nic Claxton, in a beginning lineup that performed its first minutes collectively. It was additionally Johnson’s first begin of the season, and simply the fifth begin of Claxton’s profession.
Deposed starter Blake Griffin got here off the bench with seven factors and three boards in his first motion since convey pulled on Nov. 22.
First-round decide Cam Thomas had a career-high 18 factors, whereas undrafted rookie David Duke Jr. made his NBA debut.
“I feel though we misplaced the sport perhaps this pays it ahead a bit bit, not solely with the remaining for 2 of our starters but in addition a few of these guys getting prolonged minutes and rhythm for the sport,” Nash mentioned.
Thomas shot 7-for-15, however he completed a game-worst minus-22. Solely two Nets have been within the optimistic: Duke and Mills.
Duke had missed time with proper hip flexor soreness, getting only a lone G-League sport with Lengthy Island earlier than discovering himself on the courtroom Wednesday.
“I can’t take pleasure in it an excessive amount of, as a result of on the finish of the day I actually wished that win,” Duke mentioned. “It didn’t actually hit me like, this was my first NBA sport. After 5 minutes on the courtroom, I used to be like, all proper, I’m right here. Now I’m simply making an attempt to win … so I wasn’t excited about my first sport then.
“After sitting down within the locker room I used to be like ‘I simply performed my first actual NBA sport.’ It was a blessing.”
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