The Nets’ injury report for Thursday night’s loss against the Celtics could make up a legitimate starting five for a playoff contender.
Newcomers Goran Dragic and Ben Simmons were out due to conditioning as they work their way back from recent inaction, while Kevin Durant is still out with an MCL sprain. Sharpshooter Joe Harris awaits the verdict on his lingering ankle troubles, while Kyrie Irving was listed as out due to his vaccination status.
The load of talent still sidelined left the current, healthy Nets to field questions about the team’s frustration level with being so shorthanded as their slide down the Eastern Conference standings continues, but the team is trying to pick up much-needed wins with whoever is still available.
“We show up every day with who we got and try to make the best of it,” Seth Curry said after Thursday’s loss, the team’s second in a row shortly after snapping an 11-game losing skid. “Every individual player has to come into work every day not thinking of any excuses, just working to get themselves better and figuring out what they can do to help the team get better.”
Brooklyn knows it is a perennial title contender when at full strength, but 60 games into the season, hypotheticals mean less and less. The Nets are currently in eighth place and firmly in a play-in spot, while three games ahead of the Wizards for 11th place, which would knock them out of the playoffs entirely. As the healthy Nets try to avoid such a continued slide, they also continue to take comfort in the fact that help is on the way.
“I just know we’re in the play-in right now,” Bruce Brown said. “I don’t know how many games or anything, but I'm not too worried about it. Our guys are going to come back and we’re gonna take care of business.”
The Nets still need to take care of business in the here and now. Simmons and Durant should be back soon, while Irving hopes for city mandates to change in the coming weeks, but Brooklyn still has the Bucks, Heat, Celtics, and 76ers due up in the next two weeks, and ground needs to be made up now, not when the typical leaders are back from inaction.
“When guys come back, they come back,” Curry said. “Until then, we have who we have and we have to make the most of it. I’m not going into practice or games every day thinking ‘Man, I can’t wait until so-and-so gets back.’ I’m coming in thinking about what I can do to make that individual day or game the best it can possibly be.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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