‘Possible’ new lineup will stick

After shaking up the lineup for Tuesday’s win over the Jazz, Nets coach Steve Nash promised to continue experimenting.

But it’s “possible,” Nash said, he will ride the same starting five Thursday when the Nets host the Eastern Conference-leading 76ers.

“We’ll discuss it and we’ll figure out where we go with it,” Nash said Wednesday. “We may stay the same, we may experiment. I think we’re trying to be really open-minded right now and not hone in too tight on things because this week is Kevin [Durant’s] unfortunate situation, last week it was Spencer [Dinwiddie], I think it’s going to be one of those years where things are in flux and things are coming up because we are playing so many games in short succession and we are such a new group. I would just say we are trying to stay open-minded and figure it out as we go along and not hold on too tight to any ideas or concepts.”

Kyrie Irving was the lone holdover on the new starting unit, with Bruce Brown, Taurean Prince, Jeff Green and Jarrett Allen entering the fold. It came after the Nets lost Durant to a COVID-19 quarantine and Dinwiddie to a partially torn ACL, in addition to their defense struggling in recent games.

The new lineup paid immediate dividends in the 130-96 win over the Jazz, despite never having played together even in practices.

“It really wasn’t any master plan as much as it was just experimenting,” Nash said. “We were missing Kevin and we had a rough stretch and how can we lean deeper into our roster and take a look at different guys, give guys opportunity and mix and match the lineups and see how people play together and just see how much energy we can get?”

➤ Without Durant, Irving put together another impressive game Tuesday, finishing with 29 points (on 12 of 19 shooting), six rebounds, five assists, three steals and only two turnovers.

“He’s a magician with the ball, man,” Green said. “I’ve been on the opposite side of that for a number of years, trying to contain him, stay in front of him, but now seeing it up close and personal every night, it’s a show every night. … It’s beautiful to watch.”

➤ Rodions Kurucs (left ankle sprain) and Reggie Perry (left groin soreness) are questionable for Thursday’s game.