Nets in trouble as Irving injury trims Big 3 to Big 1
MILWAUKEE — The Brooklyn Nets face an uphill battle to realize their championship dreams in a season mired by the injuries that have been on the table since well before the season began.
Here's what the Nets have going for them after their Game 4 107-96 loss to the Bucks on Sunday, a defeat that tied their second-round playoff series at two games apiece.
Kevin Durant is the best player on the floor, and the team with the best player on the floor always has a good chance to win on a superhuman performance from that special player. The Nets also finished the regular season with a better record than the Bucks, giving them home-court advantage should the series go to seven games.
That, however, is where the list of pros ends and the elder's scroll of hurdles the Nets face begins.
Durant is the best player on the floor, but after injuries to the Nets' star guards, the Bucks employ the next five in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez and P.J. Tucker.
It's an unenviable task, no matter how many home games they have left this series. In the blink of an eye, the Nets have devolved from juggernauts into jugger-nots. Their Big 3 is now a Big 1 with two possibles.
Irving was “in a walking boot and using crutches,” and X-rays were negative according to ESPN.
With both Irving and Harden out, the workload intensifies for Durant, whose Achilles tendon alone is worth nine figures. History has already been kind to Durant, who has emerged from the ashes of the operating table one of the best players to ever recover from the dreaded Achilles tear. But he was never supposed to be the only star on the floor, especially not in must-win playoff games.
“It is tricky with Kevin. We all have to pitch in, we all got to play together, we have to move the ball. And I thought tonight, we got a little single-minded looking for Kevin every time.” Nash said postgame. “(It) puts a little bit too much pressure on him and it makes us a little predictable, I thought, which puts a lot of burden on him.”
The Nets are down bad. And it's unclear if they'll recover in time.
Jokic ejected as Suns sweep
The Phoenix Suns completed a conference semifinals sweep with Sunday's 125-118 Game 4 victory against the Nuggets before 18,290 fans at Ball Arena.
Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was ejected from the game for a flagrant foul against the Suns' Cameron Payne.
Jokic, who was announced last week as the NBA'S MVP, missed a shot and the Suns rebounded. Payne received a pass and Jokic tried to knock the ball out of his hands with a big downward swing, catching him in the nose.