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The Nets’ roster is construct across the celebrity trio of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, however when Brooklyn takes on the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night time, none of these three can be on the courtroom.
The Nets introduced that Harden is not going to play because of neck soreness, a difficulty he performed by means of in Tuesday’s win over the Path Blazers.
With Durant nonetheless out with a hamstring harm and Irving not with the group on this highway journey because of a private matter, the Nets will tackle the NBA’s finest group down their three superstars.
“[It’s] an enormous problem,” head coach Steve Nash mentioned. “You lose that tremendous expertise on the market that makes the sport simpler and places stress on the protection simply by their presence. There’s two issues occurring right here. We’re going to need to play a barely completely different approach, transfer the ball, make fast selections, attempt to push the tempo just a little bit, make some threes, unsettle them with our vitality and enthusiasm.
“The opposite half is these guys haven’t had a number of time simply taking part in collectively. There’s at all times been somebody on the market with them that’s form of main the pack. It’s a problem for our guys, however an thrilling one. We have now an opportunity to go and see guys play prolonged minutes and have just a little extra accountability, and I feel that’s good for his or her improvement and expertise as nicely.
Harden performed 40 minutes in opposition to the Blazers on Tuesday, scoring 25 factors and main the way in which with 17 assists. However he shot simply 7-of-24 from the ground and missed all seven of his three-point makes an attempt.
Nash mentioned he’s hoping Harden’s harm gained’t preserve him sidelined for very lengthy, and that the group needed to persuade him to not swimsuit up for Wednesday’s sport.
“I’m hoping it’s quick time period. To be sincere, I’m positive James would have wished to play tonight, however I don’t assume it’s secure for him to play tonight, and I feel typically you must defend him from himself,” Nash mentioned.
“He’s such a warrior and competitor and likes to play, however he was questionable for final night time, performed a ton of minutes. You might see it was powerful for him capturing the ball, however he nonetheless dominated in different methods. I feel tonight it was the neatest and most secure choice to guard him from himself and take him out of the lineup, as a result of he’s struggling. It’s fairly sore. I hope he’ll be again subsequent sport, however we’ll take it day-to-day right here.”
However the Nets don’t have time to really feel sorry for themselves as they tackle the 31-11 Jazz, who maintain the primary seed within the West and the NBA’s finest file.
“They only have such a robust id,” Nash mentioned. “They know who they’re, they know the way they play. Quinn [Snyder]’s an ideal coach and he’s actually drilled them into this id and approach of taking part in, the place they actually house the ground and make a number of threes and make you make powerful selections. They’re a superb group on each ends of the ground, and I feel that continuity that they’ve had for two-to-four years for many of those guys is basically priceless as nicely.”
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