Pressure on offense to step up

The Nets’ defense has taken a hit lately, and it has put more pressure on their sputtering offense.

Their spacing has been an issue for a while now, and the continued absence of Joe Harris has exacerbated that.

Foes have collapsed on Kevin Durant and James Harden and dared the other Nets to beat them. Lately, that hasn’t happened.

“Joe’s a knockdown shooter, catch-and-shoot shooter,” said rookie combo guard Cam Thomas.

“He opens it up a little bit for us and teams just try to load up on James and KD because they think the other guys are not as good shooters — capable shooters, but not knockdown shooters like Joe, so they try to load up and get the ball out of their hands. That’s just our job to knock down shots and make plays when they kick it to us.”

Harris hurt his left ankle in midNovember and had surgery on Nov. 29. He was initially projected to miss 4-8 weeks, and coach Steve Nash said Monday the sweet-shooting wing is expected to be out “a couple more weeks.”

In Harris’ absence, the Nets have been forced to rely (possibly overrely) on Patty Mills, bumping the sixth man into the starting lineup and living or dying by his 3-point shooting. They will get a boost in road games now that Kyrie Irving is able to play, but when they’re at home, they will still sore miss Harris’ floor spacing.

➤ Center LaMarcus Aldridge is questionable for Sunday’s game with right foot soreness. He played the last two games after sitting out Jan. 3 vs. Memphis with the same injury.

➤ The Nets had a pair of nonguaranteed deals become fully guaranteed on Friday. All players on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts got full deals if they were still on the roster at 5 p.m.

DeAndre’ Bembry is now guaranteed at the league minimum, though considering the huge impact the St. Patrick (N.J.) product has had on the Nets, that was never any real concern. Rookie David Duke Jr., who is on a two-way contract, also became guaranteed.