NEW YORK – Ben Simmons limping off the ground and into the locker room Thursday night time is simply the most recent dangerous omen in a run of poor luck for the Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets have misplaced six out of their final eight video games after Thursday’s defeat by the Detroit Pistons, 130-122, throughout which Simmons left within the third quarter as a consequence of what the group is looking left knee soreness.
Simmons, who struggled in his 20 minutes with no factors on 0-of-3 taking pictures with only one rebound and 7 assists, hobbled off the court docket with 6:40 left within the interval and Brooklyn trailing by eight. Additionally, Nets reserve T.J. Warren suffered a knee bruise in the midst of the fourth quarter and didn’t come again, both.
Brooklyn’s slide has coincided with the lack of All-Star Kevin Durant, who has missed the final eight video games with an MCL sprain.
Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn didn’t have a lot of an replace on both Simmons or Warren, aside from to verify their accidents. There was no instant phrase on both participant’s availability for Saturday’s dwelling recreation towards the New York Knicks.
“Whoever’s available for us to play will be available and just move on to the next game,” mentioned Kyrie Irving, who scored 40 factors within the loss. “As much as I would love to sit up here and give you guys a nice diatribe of what it looks like in the future, I just don’t know. T.J. being out, Ben being out, so we just gotta take it one day at a time. Just want those guys to get healthy, that’s the most important thing.
“We just got to carry our own water right now, chop wood and carry water.”
A supply near Simmons mentioned an MRI was not imminent on his sore knee. This is the second time this season Simmons skilled decrease leg discomfort when enjoying on the second night time of back-to-back video games. He logged 29 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the 76ers.
The brighter aspect for the Nets’ day Thursday was the revelation that each Durant and Irving were named starters for the NBA All-Star Game, set for Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City. Brooklyn is the one group (thus far) with two All-Stars.
Irving was the highest vote-getter amongst Eastern guards among the many followers (price 50 p.c of the full vote) and NBA gamers (25 p.c), however was fourth amongst voting media members (25 p.c). This is his eighth All-Star nod however first since 2021. He missed a lot of final season as a result of he was ineligible to play as a consequence of his refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and was suspended a number of video games this season for posting a hyperlink to a film with anti-Semitic materials to his social media account.
“I’m just grateful for the people at home, I would not be here without y’all,” Irving mentioned. “Y’all voted me in, I’m ready to give a show. And it just shows the community power of what I’ve been able to build over time.”
(Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today)
