With 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Brooklyn Nets are already the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs.
They got here through a lot of ups and downs as they played with top players who were always out due to injuries one day or the other.
The Brooklyn Nets began the season without Kevin Durant and occasionally without Kyrie Irving.
When Durant returned, James Harden had missed games due to a hamstring injury and was still out. Even after returning, Durant is still missing games due to injury management. He will miss tonight’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers to rest and is already ruled out due to injury management.
Even after Kevin’s return, Kyrie Irving has had groin issues and has missed games on occasion. He was out of the latest game against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night due to soreness. Kevin Durant set a season high with 42 points in 36 minutes against the Indiana Pacers.
As a result, the Nets prevailed in Irving’s absence.
And now the Nets faces Portland Trail Blazers without Kevin DURANt.
“Tomorrow will be a different challenge,” Nash said after Brooklyn’s fourth straight victory. “We’ll see who’s available and how everything looks, and then we’ll play a really good Portland team and try to put on a good show.”
“What else can I say? “I have the privilege of coaching Kevin Durant,” Nash explained. “When you put him in the lineup, good things happen.” Durant had 10 assists, made 16-of-24 field goals, and made all eight free throws in a strong all-around performance against Indiana.
Kevin Durant has been ruled out by the Nets.
Durant has stated that he will follow the coaching staff for the Thursday game. “I’m going to follow the coaching staff’s lead,” Durant said of playing on Friday. “My teammates understand the situation, so I just have to be ready for anything, I feel like.”
And when I’m on the field, I like to take things one possession at a time and see what happens.”
“I had to come back in the fourth for the next game, and maybe I could have negotiated it a little better if I hadn’t had to come back in the fourth.”
However, it is what it is. I tried to take it one possession at a time and simply trust what the coaching and training staff wanted me to do.”
Kyrie Irving is available to play against the Trail Blazers.
Kyrie Irving was ruled out of Thursday’s game against the Pacers, which the Nets won. “We’ll have to evaluate Kyrie as well… “But my thinking is that Ky will feel much better [Friday] and will be able to play,” Nash said. “I’d say my vote is that Kevin does not play the second game of a back-to-back.”
However, Kyrie Irving will not be rested for tonight’s game against the TrailBlazers.
Brooklyn coach Steve Nash preferred to see Irving on the floor and Kevin Durant on the bench against Portland.
Nash also stated that he would rather have Blake Griffin play for the second straight night than Durant, who recently returned from a thigh injury and missed 23 games earlier in the season due to a hamstring injury.
42 points | 10 rebounds
KD HIGHLIGHTS https://twitter.com/XVbv9q2pVL
April 30, 2021 — Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets)
Kyrie will be assisted by Blake Griffin, who is not on the list of players ruled out for the game against the Blazers.
Kyrie will also have Alize Johnson, who had the best night on Thursday, scoring 20 points and grabbing a career-high 21 rebounds.
“There was energy in the building from the moment I walked in,” Johnson said. “I was prepared to go out there and prove to myself that I belonged.”
Even though the Nets have already qualified for the playoffs, this does not guarantee that they will have an easy time defeating other teams.
Kevin Durant has been officially ruled out of the Nets’ game.
The Nets will take on the Blazers.
The Portland Trail Blazers are one of these difficult-to-beat teams.
They’ve also been playing well, with back-to-back 21-point road wins over the Pacers and Memphis Grizzles.
“We were definitely ready to play,” veteran forward Carmelo Anthony said after the Raptors’ 130-109 victory in Memphis on Wednesday.
“You could tell.” You could tell we were focused, and we understood how important this game was to us.”
#NBA2020-2021 Season: Portland Trail Blazers vs. Brooklyn Nets May 1 9:30 a.m.
#OnlyHere pic.twitter.com/eTs3IndKyy TV5#NBAonTV5
— TV5 (@TV5manila) 30 April 2021
Portland (34-28) is one game behind the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. Because the top six teams are exempt from the play-in round.
The Blazers are another team with a lot of great scorers.
Recently, the Trail Blazers had three 20-point scorers against Memphis, with CJ McCollum leading the way with 26 points and six assists.
While Norman Powell had 24 points and Damien Lillard had 23,
Portland led by as many as 33 points in the first half before rolling to a rout.
“It’s a five-man defense to me, so everyone has to do their job,” Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts said.
“The first half was about team defense for me, which included transition defense.”
The Blazers are out to exact revenge on the Nets.
Without Durant and Irving, the Nets defeated host Portland 116-112 on March 23, with James Harden leading the way with 25 points and a career-high 17 assists.
Unfortunately, Harden will miss his 13th consecutive game on Friday due to a hamstring injury.
Injury news from the Nets
In addition to James and Durant, Bruce Brown and others
Nic Claxton is out to follow health and safety protocols after being ruled out due to right knee soreness.
Chris Chiozza is out with a right hand fracture, while Spencer Dinwiddie is out with a partially torn ACL.
With so many players out, everything is now in Kyrie’s hands. However, this is not the first time Kyrie has been left alone with the responsibility.
In fact, he has led the Nets to victories when both James and Kevin are unavailable. Tonight’s game will also be to see the same Kyrie back and Kevin to rest.
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