KD on Kyrie: pray for best
Kevin Durant shed little light on the situation that has kept Nets star Kyrie Irving off of the floor.
Irving has missed each of the Nets’ last three games for “personal reasons,” and neither he, nor his teammates, nor head coach Steve Nash have disclosed the nature of his personal leave. Durant did not give any specifics or insight into Irving’s decision to briefly step away from basketball, but his choice of words suggest something may be awry off the court for the star point guard.
“I wouldn’t speak for Kyrie, I’ll let him do that for himself,” Durant said. “I’m sure you guys will see him soon after he comes back. We support him 100 percent and pray for the best.”
Irving last played on Tuesday in the Nets’ 130-96 victory over the Jazz, when he scored 29 points in 30 minutes. He informed the team he would be out for personal reasons hours before tip-off between the Nets and 76ers on Thursday.
NASH NOT HAPPY
Nash was irritated after Sunday’s loss and called out his players for perceived lack of respect for the opponent after blowing a 15-point second-quarter lead.
“Everyone is getting beat by everybody, and it’s really important that we respect our opponents,” he said. “We got up 15, and we played like we felt the game was over. That’s just got to change. We’ve got to learn from it. We’ve got to toughen up and show a little pride.”
Caris LeVert didn’t believe that to be the case. “I don’t know if I would say we are disrespecting our opponent. I think that’s kind of easy to say with the talent we have on our team,” he said. “But I don’t think it was that. I feel like we could’ve played better defensively. I feel like we all love the game. We all respect the game and we know what happens. They’re NBA players just like we are, so, at the end of the day we know what we have to bring. I wouldn’t say we were disrespecting our opponent or the game or anything like that.”
MUSICAL CHAIRS
Nash went with his sixth different starting lineup against the Thunder, starting Durant, LeVert, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Joe Harris and Jarrett Allen. With Irving and Dinwiddie out, the Nets have been thin at the one.
“Tonight, I felt like I wanted to get our best players in the lineup early so they could play the most minutes. It’s hard for a guy to get his minutes when he comes off the bench in both halves,” Nash said. “So, Joe has been playing great, Caris has been playing great, and I just thought, in order for them to get up to high minutes, you have to start in both halves.”
Nash, however, played Bruce Brown only two minutes. Considering the Nets’ shortcomings came on defense and in-between the lines, Brown’s presence as a stopper could have helped the team.
“It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. TLC and Joe have defended excellently this year. Tonight wasn’t as good,” Nash said. “We also need shooting. If you don’t play shooters when you’re having trouble scoring, that’s a problem. Those guys have defended well thus far. So, some nights you don’t have a good game, and tonight was just a bad game no matter who was playing and who wasn’t playing.”