The Brooklyn Nets had only only one member of their Big Three available the last time they played, but it appears that will soon change.
Two days after the James Harden-led Nets fell to the 76ers, Brooklyn coach Steve Nash provided promising updates on Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, both of whom missed Saturday’s game in Philadelphia.
Kyrie Irving’s Finger Improving
Irving was unavailable for Saturday’s game due to suffering a sprained right index finger in Friday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors. But he’s trending in the right direction for a return; Nash said he expects Irving to be able to play in Brooklyn’s game Tuesday against the Pistons in Detroit.
The question is if the injury will continue to linger for Irving.
“Having played with plenty of those myself, it’s the type of thing that sometimes doesn’t go away in the season, but is manageable,” Nash said of Irving’s index finger injury, via SNY. “So we’ll see what level he’s able to attain as far as the pain and inflammation becoming manageable or not. But I think right now, it’s in the manageable camp and he can play [Tuesday].”
“Kevin’s on about 90 negative tests… Ky’s index finger is improving”
Steve Nash updates the status of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, says that Irving can play tomorrow night
Irving’s absence Saturday was his first missed game since returning from an undisclosed personal matter that caused him to miss seven games in January. In his five games since returning, Irving had been electric with 29 points, 5.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.
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Kevin Durant on Pace for Return Later This Week
Nash said last week that he anticipates Durant, who was removed from Friday’s game due to COVID-19 contract tracing and then missed Saturday’s game due to health and safety protocols, being eligible to return to the team this Friday. He’s still on track for that timeline.
“Kevin’s on about 90 negative tests,” Nash said, smiling. “So it would be wonderful if he could join our ballclub as soon as possible.”
Durant, who is leading the NBA All-Star Game’s fan voting, is averaging 29.5 points, 5.2 assists and 7.4 rebounds this season.
Nets’ Big 3 Still Needs Time To Mesh
Since the Nets traded for Harden on January 14, the team has played 12 games. Durant and Irving have each missed three of those games, and Harden was forced to miss one.
Some of the Nets’ issues — including their well-documented issues on defense — stem from that.
“We’re new to each other,” Nash said, via SNY. “We’ve had all this stopping and starting. Very few minutes between our Big Three relative to how many games we’ve played. And so it’s a ways out but (defense) has got to be a priority to improve a lot. … In the NBA, I think, solid defense and a great net rating is what (is needed to be championship-caliber). But you can’t be poor defensively. You just can’t. So we have to improve a lot defensively.”
Steve Nash reflects on the Nets’ defensive issues:
“It’s got to be a priority and we’ve got to improve a lot”
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Could Kyrie Irving’s Finger Injury Linger Long-Term? Steve Nash Weighs In