Nets hoping to avoid Eastern Conference play-in

It isn’t a probable situation, however it’s a sensible one.

You don’t must squint too onerous into the longer term to check the possibly dominant Nets — whose three-headed monster has been pulled apart by injuries and vaccine status — limping to the regular-season end line.

After spending a lot of the early a part of the season atop the Jap Convention, the Nets will enter their matchup in opposition to the Warriors on Saturday tied for fourth whereas driving a three-game shedding streak. If the skid lengthens a bit, they may fall beneath the Hornets, who entered play Friday because the seventh seed and simply 2 ¹/₂ video games faraway from the Nets.

Kevin Durant (sprained MCL) probably won’t be again for one more month or so. Kyrie Irving (unvaccinated) is barely enjoying highway video games. James Harden (hamstring) is about to return to the lineup, however hamstring accidents can linger, as Harden is aware of from final season’s postseason.

Might one of the crucial proficient groups ever assembled, with three of the easiest gamers within the sport, must combat its manner into the postseason by way of the backdoor?

“I don’t suppose anybody needs to be enjoying the play-in. Until you’re on the surface of the play-in making an attempt to get in, however we don’t wish to be there,” coach Steve Nash stated after apply Friday. “But when we’re there, we’re there.”

Nash, who nonetheless is experimenting with lineup combos, is never pressing and believes his workforce’s expertise will win out. The Nets, he believes, will enhance as they get accustomed to Irving enjoying in half the video games, and wins may are available chunks when Durant and Joe Harris (ankle surgical procedure) return, probably after the All-Star break.

However practically 60 p.c of the schedule is behind them, and seemingly every star’s return is met with one other’s absence. Durant, Irving and Harden have played in just two games together by way of the Nets’ 29-19 begin. They’re in place to keep away from the play-in, which is able to function the seventh by way of tenth groups in every convention, however not comfortably.

Including to the potential playoff wrinkles for the Nets is a wierd injustice to their state of affairs: The more serious they play, the extra probably they might have Irving accessible for an additional sport in every postseason collection, presuming the purpose guard continues to be relegated to part-time duties.

They received’t tank, although — a minimum of not deliberately.

“I feel that you just positively wish to be the highest seed,” stated huge man Nic Claxton, whose Nets fell at Barclays Heart within the Jap semifinals final season. “Simply going off final yr, with the ability to have these video games at house — particularly like a Sport 7 final yr, once we misplaced to Milwaukee … being at [home] in these huge moments, it’s good to have your followers behind you.”

Rising up the convention ladder could be particularly tough within the subsequent week. The Nets ought to have Irving for all 5 video games of the upcoming highway journey, however after they face the juggernaut Warriors in San Francisco, they’ll play on the NBA’s greatest workforce, the Suns. A matchup with the Kings needs to be a reduction, however journeys to Utah and Denver won’t be.

Will the Nets be a top-six workforce when they return to Brooklyn?

They care — however not overly so. Durant won’t be rushed again, and Harden received’t be vaccinating Irving when the purpose guard seems to be the opposite manner. They imagine in endurance, even when it prices them a prime spot within the postseason.

They simply hope it received’t imply a first-round collection in opposition to the Warmth or the Bucks — or a play-in simply to succeed in that first spherical.

“We’ll play the perfect basketball we will when the time comes,” Nash stated. “And hopefully we’ll have well being, however the sooner we have now well being, the extra I feel our report will enhance.

“And within the meantime, we’re going to seek out methods to win some video games, however most significantly enhance, find out about ourselves.”