Considering how injury-riddled the Nets have been, one could hardly blame them if they were hoping for health for the holidays.
They come out of a mini-Christmas break a solid 16-13 despite having five players hurt: Kyrie Irving, Caris LeVert, Kevin Durant, David Nwaba and Nic Claxton. And after hosting the Knicks on Thursday, they’ve got a road trip looming — and a much tougher row to hoe.
“It’s good. I’m pleasantly surprised [with the record],” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “When you have guys go down, especially Kyrie and Caris and then Nwaba, who was the real one that hit me. I was like, ‘Man, we can hold the fort, he’s stepped it up.’ Then, we lose him, so we’re in that phase still. Now we have to confirm with this new group without David.
“It seems like when we have a guy down, someone steps up and the group comes closer together. … We’re going to have to see with this group if we can continue, and the schedule gets harder. We’re going to enter into a stretch here, the Houstons, the Dallases, what does that look like with a bunch of guys being out?”
Durant and Nwaba are expected to be out for the season. LeVert hurt his thumb Nov. 10 and Irving his shoulder Nov. 14, with both having missed six weeks and still have not taken part in full contact.
Irving and LeVert have been ruled out of Thursday’s game, though LeVert did contact against the coaches in Monday’s practice. The Nets could use both players back as soon as possible.
After hosting the Knicks, the Nets head out on the road for games in Houston (21-9), Minnesota (10-19) and Dallas (19-10), before returning home to play the defending NBA champion Raptors (21-10).
After a comparatively soft early slate, the Nets are going to face the fifth-toughest schedule the rest of the way according to Tankathon.
DeAndre Jordan’s “Six Days of Giving” was profiled on “Good Morning America,” creating a six meaningful experiences for deserving families in the days leading up to Christmas.
He invited dozens of kids to Nickelodeon Universe inside the new American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, N.J. Another day was the flagship NBA Store in Manhattan where he gave out $100 gift cards to more than 40 kids from the Brooklyn Combine — a nonprofit serving kids in low-income and under-served communities.
“I didn’t have that as a child,” Jordan told GMA. “And for me to be able to use my platform as a way to help kids and make kids smile that’s great for me. I love that.”