Irving survives dangerous play in his second game
You never know who might have to play minutes in the playoffs.
Brookly coach Steve Nash’s self-proclaimed season-long experiment continued in Portland on Monday night as the Nets suffered a 114-108 loss to a Trail Blazers team playing without star guard Damian Lillard and scoring wing Norman Powell.
And this time the chemistry project included an added component: Kyrie Irving, whose injury scare underscores the need for Nash’s project to continue, no matter how disappointing the losses appear on paper.
Irving returned to the rotation for the Nets’ first of a two-game road trip and posted 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block in his second game of the season. But his night — and maybe his season — almost came to an end on a freak play in the fourth quarter.
Irving attempted to track down a loose ball, but Portland’s Nassir Little dove under his legs. Little’s momentum carried into Irving and trapped, then rolled his left ankle.
“We’ll see. He’s all right,” Nash said after the game. “He finished the game. It was a pretty good little turn of the ankle.”
Irving stayed on the ground and writhed in pain but eventually rose to his feet. He then made a fair complaint to the nearby official: Little diving under his legs was dangerous, and there was never a
foul call on the play.
Which brings us back to Nash’s roster and rotation experimentation. The Nets have a number of slashing, veteran wing players who play similar roles. Deandre’ Bembry, Bruce
Brown and James Johnson will all play significant minutes in important games later in the season.
As will Lamarcus Aldridge, who sat with a foot injury, and James Harden, who sat out Monday’s game with a diagnosis of a hyperextended knee.
Those absences contributed to Nash’s experimentation Monday. Irving and Kevin Durant, who finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, shared the floor with rookies and only a brief sprinkling of veteran role players.
“It felt like I made a few good moves, but now it’s just getting back in that NBA action of that athleticism and catching up to that speed, that’s really what it is at this point, I feel,” Irving said.
Wizards lose Beal to protocols
Bradley Beal missed Washington’s game Tuesday night against Oklahoma City after entering health and safety protocols for the second time in less than three weeks.
Beal entered the protocols Dec. 23 and returned after a week. He said then that he didn’t have COVID-19 and the absence was due to contact tracing.
Beal, who missed a chance to play in the Olympics last year after testing positive, was unvaccinated when the season began. When he returned late last month, he said he’d always kept an open mind about receiving the vaccine and decided to do so for family reasons.
Coach Wes Unseld Jr. said Tuesday he thought a test from Monday was flagged, but he didn’t want to say with certainty. He said Beal would need two consecutive negative tests to exit protocol.