The Brooklyn Nets continue to be undermanned. They played without Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge from the opening tipoff Wednesday night against the 76ers, in addition to star James Harden remaining sidelined.
The good news for Brooklyn was that Kyrie Irving returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves while attending to a family matter.
The Nets were also without guard Chris Chiozza. Chiozza, who started in place of Irving on Tuesday, had surgery on Wednesday to repair a fractured right finger. He sustained the injury against the Timberwolves.
Harden continues to be sidelined with a right hamstring strain, and Tyler Johnson is still working through right knee soreness.
Aldridge was held out of Wednesday’s 123-117 loss with a non-COVID-19 illness, and Griffin is on an injury-management day with an ongoing knee issue.
On Tuesday, Durant played 27 minutes against the Timberwolves — even as the Nets’ lead ballooned to 40 points. Coach Steve Nash said that the Nets want to continue to increase his playing time to the 30-minute range as he comes back from a hamstring injury, but it’s a “tricky balance.”
