Nash hopes ailing Big 3 will find time to jell before playoffs

The Nets’ Big 3 has been broken up again as the clock winds down on the regular season. Will they have time to jell before the postseason?

Just as Kevin Durant made his long-awaited return Wednesday after missing 23 straight games with a hamstring strain, James Harden was lost with a hamstring strain of his own. Between their injuries and Kyrie Irving’s multiple absences, the Nets’ terrific trio has been far more of a rotating dynamic duo.

“As far as time and chemistry, it’s not ideal,” coach Steve Nash said before the Nets’ 139-111 victory over the Pelicans. “At the same time, it’s not a concern . ... We worry about the things that we can control. When he’s healthy and ready to go is kind of out of our hands. It’s up to when that hamstring is ready.

“So we’re not going to spend a ton of time worrying about the negative ramifications. We’re going to spend time adapting in the interim and excited for when he does return.”

The Nets have just 20 games left on the schedule. The Big 3 has played together just seven times all season, only six starts.

Granted, the Nets’ 5-1 mark in those starts shows tantalizing promise — but that’s based on good health, which they’ve enjoyed all too infrequently.

The Nets said Tuesday that Harden wouldn’t even be reevaluated for 10 days, so there will be precious little time to get everybody on the same page before the playoffs.

Even if Harden somehow were to jump right back into the lineup after 10 days, there would still be just 16 games left. Missing another five days — which certainly seems feasible considering the Nets’ conservative history dealing with injuries — would leave just 13 games on the schedule.

The problem becomes obvious. Still, the Nets are quietly confident that considering the basketball IQ of their stars, that’ll be enough time.

“Maybe a few games, a few practices, not too much time,” Bruce Brown said of building on-court cohesion by the playoffs.

“Everybody knows how to play basketball. Everybody knows each other’s strength and what everybody likes to do on the floor. So I don’t think it’ll take too much time.”

The Nets entered Wednesday having played 2,483 minutes this season. Their Big 3 had been on court together for just 186 of those, or less than 13.3 percent.

With what COVID-19 has done to the schedule, teams have been robbed of practice time. So whatever cohesion the Nets build is going to have to be through a crash-course on the court and bonding off the court.

“Well, we don’t get to practice very often with this schedule. So we try to get teaching moments and scripting and constructive pockets wherever we can,” Nash said. “Especially with the injuries this year, you can’t add to the guys’ physical load on off days, or very rarely. It’s all about teaching, learning, collaborating, connecting. So everyone is going through this around the league.”