Nash: Durant almost all the way back from injury
Nets coach Steve Nash says Kevin Durant is close to being 100% back to his old self. Durant is only recently returning to action after a ruptured Achilles sidelined him for 18 months.
“Well this is a tough (one) for me to actually put a number on. It’s really hard, but he’s in the 90s, for sure. I mean, whether it’s 90 or 99, I don’t know,” Nash said Sunday. “But I keep trying to tell him that he’s got to give himself 15, 20 games before he starts judging himself. Sometimes they say the amount of time you have off takes you that much time once you’re back to kind of feel like yourself. He’s done absolutely everything we could ask, but I think there’s no way to finalize what he is, who he is post-injury without playing NBA games.”
Durant has participated in arduous offseason workouts in Los Angeles, Nets training camp and two preseason games. Against the Celtics, he scored 25 points with relative ease in a blowout victory. Durant, though, didn’t feel
100% back, either.
“Nah. I feel like that’s gonna come over time. I was out for 18 months not playing an NBA game, not playing against that physicality, the speed of the game. So it’s gonna take me some time to get my feet up under me, get my legs right,” he told The Daily News. “But having a team like we have, those guys support me every time
BY KRISTIAN WINFIELD like he was that are room-and-rhythm looks, and a lot of times, those are those deep ones or those quick ones in transition.”
LeVert says any time he sees a Harris shot go up, he thinks it’s going in. The two have been teammates since LeVert was drafted in 2016. He’s seen how much work he’s put into his craft, work that’s paid off, literally, to the tune of a new four-year, $75 million deal.
That work has made Harris a weapon that can be a big
I step on the floor, try to put me in great positions to be successful, and we’re just playing off of each other. So if we continue to do that, this will be a smooth ride for me as I get back into the swing of things.”
Nash has no doubt Durant will return to the form of the player who won back-to-back NBA Finals MVP honors in Golden State and won the league’s 2013 Most Valuable Player award.
NASH FOCUSED ON ‘D’
The Nets open their season on Dec. 22 against the Warriors and have one or two more practices
GETTY difference in how far the Nets can go this season.
“Like those tough, quick catch-and-shoot 3s? That might throw the defense off balance a bit, and sometimes he might miss some of those shots,” Durant said, “they might look like bad ones, but we need him to continue to get those up and build that confidence, because when we want to win big games, we’re gonna need Joe to hit some of those big shots.” before the Christmas Day game in Boston. After that, Nash says it becomes much more about studying film, preserving players’ loads and walking through action rather than running full speed.
“We’ve always got to improve our defense,” Nash said. “Defense has got to be a staple for us where we’re trending in the right direction continually, we’re addressing our weaknesses or mistakes and we’re gaining connectivity.”
Nash said he’s also happy with how the defense has held up, but in truth, it has yet to be tested.