Sports

The Nets and their fans eagerly await Kyrie’s return to Barclays

By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews

There’s a possibility that Kevin Durant, who has been out since spraining the MCL in his left knee on Jan. 15, could return to the court tonight against the Miami Heat at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. If not, Sunday’s road matchup against the Boston Celtics could be the day.

After last Saturday’s surprising 126-123 win over the Bucks in Milwaukee, led by Kyrie Irving’s season-high 38 points, Nets head coach Steve Nash was confident Durant would be back in the lineup in the coming days.

“I expect in the next week he’ll be back for sure,” he responded when asked what the team’s expectations were.

Conscious, and extremely sensitive to Durant’s long-term physical well being, Nash shared the organization’s priority. “The No. 1 thing is to get him back healthy, feeling secure in his health and his body so he can move and be free when he’s back.”

Nash has a number of items to manage. The overall health of his roster, Ben Simmons’ Nets debut, Joe Harris’ return from injury and Kyrie Irving’s availability line his list. Nash had to add himself as he sat out Monday night’s game versus the Toronto Raptors in Brooklyn, a 133-97 blowout loss, after being placed in COVID-19 health and safety protocols shortly before the game started. Assistant Jacque Vaughn headed the team.

Nash was also out for Tuesday’s game, a rematch with the Raptors in Toronto. Nash’s unexpected sidelining on Monday came on the day New York City Mayor Eric Adams discussed the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which continue to disallow the unvaccinated Irving from playing at Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden.

“I want Kyrie on the court. I would do anything to get that ring. So badly I want it, but there’s so much at stake here,” said Adams during a midday interview with CNBC.

“I spoke with the owner of the team. We want to find a way to get Kyrie on the court, but this is a bigger issue,” emphasized Adams.

“I can’t have my city closed down again. It would send the wrong message just to have an exception for one player when we’re telling countless number of New York City employees, ‘if you don’t follow the rules, you won’t be able to be employed.’”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday he cannot make an exception for unvaccinated Nets guard Kyrie Irving to play games in New York, bypassing vaccine mandates (Bill Moore photo)

The Knicks continue to fade facing a long road trip

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

It was only three weeks into this season, but Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was acutely aware that it could go suddenly and dramatically downhill, and wasn’t receptive to excuses for his team’s poor showing in a 112100 Nov. 10 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden to put their record at 7-5.

“You know what they say. When it’s 10 games, you say we need 20,” Thibodeau snarled when questioned by the press if his team had played enough games to reasonably develop positive chemistry.

“When it’s 20, you say 30. When it’s 30, you say it’s 40. Before you know it, the season’s over. It’s a bunch of bull—t,” he maintained. One could argue that going into last night’s game versus the Philadelphia 76ers on the road, nearly four months later, with 21 games remaining, the Knicks’ season is effectively over relative to their playoff aspirations entering the campaign. They were 25-36, 2-12 in their previous 14 games, and beginning a 12-day, seven-game stretch away from home in which only one of the opponents—the Sacramento Kings—is currently under .500. After falling under the even mark at 11-12 on Dec. 4, the Knicks haven’t been at/or above .500 since Jan. 7 when they were 22-22.

They were the 12th seed at tip-off against the 76ers, two positions below the last play-in spot, a disappointing and telling standing that Thibodeau forewarned just 12 games in. While the Knicks are still mathematically in the chase for the play-in tournament, they have shown no signs over the past month of possessing the necessities to string together wins consistently to overcome the deficit they now face.

The 10th seeded Charlotte Hornets, who have also struggled as of late, losing 11 of their previous 13 contests before playing the Cleveland Cavaliers last night on the road, were 30-33 and four games in front of the Knicks with a less prohibitive remaining slate of games based on their opponents’ winning percentage.

There are several reasons the Knicks find themselves in the midst of adversity. Some are the same issues that have befallen most of the NBA’s 30 teams. Key players lost for numerous games due to injuries and/or COVID-19 protocols among them. Guard Derrick Rose has been sidelined for 35 of the Knicks’ 61 games and center Nerlens Noel 36.

However, the Knicks’ regression from a 41-31 record last season is a confluence of the latter, the significant improvement of teams such as the Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors against whom they steadily accumulated wins, and a failure of the front office to effectively upgrade the talent.

The Knicks’ primary decision-makers must urgently persist in conducting an even deeper assessment of what has gone wrong and summarily reverse course.

AMNEWS

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