Kevin Durant didn鈥檛 mince words when asked about the Nets鈥 fortunes 鈥 or, rather, misfortunes 鈥 after practice yesterday. 鈥淭o be honest, I feel like our season was derailed by my injury,鈥 he said in relation to the need for the black and white to go through the play-in tournament as opposed to living up to preseason expectations as title favorites. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 not looking at it like we鈥檙e just not a good basketball team. It鈥檚 like there wasn鈥檛 a lot of continuity with me and Kyrie [Irving] out of the lineup. That鈥檚 just what it is. When we鈥檙e all on the floor together, I like what we got.鈥
Durant鈥檚 right, of course. There鈥檚 a reason he鈥檚 a National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player awardee, and it鈥檚 why the Nets went a heady 27 and 15 before he injured his left medial collateral ligament in a mid-January match against the Pelicans. That said, his absence over the next 22 outings wasn鈥檛 the only cause of their five and 17 swoon. There was Irving鈥檚 inability to suit up in games at the Barclays Center because of city protocols. There was likewise the problem of James Harden being James Harden, pouting and then heading out the door.
If there鈥檚 any consolation, Durant鈥檚 fit anew, and Irving鈥檚 unvaccinated status has become immaterial in the face of looser safety guidelines. And for as long as they鈥檙e both in uniform, the Nets cannot but be deemed a threat. How and when they will be at their best remains to be seen, however. Projected Big Three stalwart Ben Simmons remains sidelined and a big question mark for the rest of their 2021-22 campaign, while starter Seth Curry has been compelled to play with an ailing left ankle. Chemistry and conditioning issues have also cropped up, what with erstwhile rotation regulars going in and out of the roster.
The Nets still have four regular season matches to negotiate beginning with today鈥檚 homestand against the Rockets. Should they run the table, they may yet overtake the Hawks for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. They would need no small measure of luck, though, and with Irving still trying to get his sea legs after having been a part-time player for four-fifths of the season, they may find the going tough. Then again, they have Durant, and as head coach Steve Nash noted, 鈥渨e have the belief and we鈥檒l give it a shot.鈥 And then the real work begins.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
