Nets star Kyrie Irving is set to return on Monday following a three-game absence, Malika Andrews of ESPN tweets. Irving had been dealing with a family matter.
Brooklyn will face the league-worst Timberwolves (11-35) at home in the outing. The losses of Irving and Kevin Durant (hamstring) have caused James Harden to see an increased workload, with the former MVP most recently recording 44 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in a win over Detroit.
The Nets started veteran forward Jeff Green in Irving’s absence, playing him alongside Harden, Bruce Brown, Joe Harris and DeAndre Jordan. The team is 8-2 in its last 10 games.
Here are some other notes out of the Eastern Conference:
- Celtics guard Marcus Smart was prepared for anything on trade deadline day last week, as relayed by A. Sherrod Blakely of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). The team ultimately chose to keep Smart and trade for veteran Evan Fournier. “Anytime you hear your name in trade talk, you prepare for the worst and pray for the best,” Smart said. “It’s nothing new. It’s a business. But you’re human. I wasn’t concerned but I was prepared.”
- Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. is continuing to support the franchise’s decision to reject trade proposals involving him, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. Nance finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the team’s 100-98 loss to Sacramento on Saturday. “We know what Larry is going to do. We know what he’s going to bring. He does a lot for us,” teammate Collin Sexton said. “Larry passes the ball, he rebounds, blocks shots, dunks. Larry does it all. Whenever you look at the stat sheet you always see him playing a full, complete game, touching everything. That’s Larry Nance. We can count on him anytime it’s time to put that jersey on.”
- The Pacers are pushing for Myles Turner to receive recognition for his impressive defense this season, J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star writes. “I think that’s what people don’t talk about with our team is Myles and his impact. His impact is astronomical,” Malcolm Brogdon said of Turner. “He’s the reason our defense is so good. His ability to block shots, it deters people from even driving to the rim so he’s Defensive Player of the Year.” Turner is averaging 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and a career-high 3.5 blocks per game this season.
Cant help but wonder if Nance would be a star in this league with a little better cooperation from the health department and playing on better teams
Every time I watch him I come away impressed, especially post Lakers. It seems he has really rounded out his game well in his time with Cle
When he signed with CLE, his $11mil or so was thought to be a horrible overpay, a sign that CLE had to do that to keep anyone. One pretty good poster then said it was the worst contract in the league because Nance did not have a specific leading skill. It’s amusing to read that it’s “team-freindly” rn. Oooo I used rn for the first time rn.
Same thing was said about Mahkus Smaht and Jalen Brown… Now they are considered to be on “team friendly” deals.
And that’s y the C’s will never win with doofus Danny because he doesn’t make the right decisions
Any troll who thinks this isn’t Danny’s fault is on some good, good and need to pass some to me this team is all him he drafted just about everyone and all the vets he’s brought in got out as soon as they possibly can or are just to injured or getting a overpaid contract don’t care enough to win
We listened for yrs about all those draft assets we had do you guys realize he didn’t trade a single one of them NO championship teams draft 7-8 guys in 2 yrs
Yup “Doofus Danny” failing to make … what was the trade proposed again? Marcus Smart for … LeBron James, right?
What a doofus! That’s why Boston has been in the lottery the last 5 years! And why they don’t have any good swingmen under 25. What a doofus!
And they didn’t acquire ANY help at the deadline either!!! (cough Fornier and his 20 PPG… cough)
Dude gets 20 a game because someone needs to score on a team and he’s a starter he won’t be in Boston I guess you don’t know how basketball goes and don’t forget he’s in a contract yr
@buttholesurfer69… you still don’t get it BOS is not ’bout been good, that ain’t it, BOS must win rings in a regular basis, that is why right now BOS is a has been, in the last 35 years 1 title, LAL 8 titles, that is at the level BOS must be at the very least, makin’ it & loosing ECF ain’t not good enough for BOS, as simple as!
So yes Doofus Danny is a no good for no nothin’ GM, I would had kicked him ages ago, I am with case7187 in this one!
So what are you saying Danny did wrong? That he should have traded Smart…? Why and for who…?
If it gets you the All star center you need you make that trade I’m not saying they should just trade him for B guys but if he’s the player teams want and your only shot at getting a all star player you do it like NV or if it’s a guy like Beal, KAT or any all star that still has game
I’m assuming you’re talking about Vucevic?
I don’t know if Smart has any value for Orlando now that they detonated their entire roster to oblivion. Think Bob Williams would have more appeal to them
Im also not sure a team of Kemba, J&J, Fournier, Vucevic is a contender. Maybe if Kemba gets back to 98%, but even still – that would be a terrible defensive team.
If anything I criticize the hell out of Ainge for not taking the Indiana S+T for Hayward over the summer. I think Turner would be a great fit with J&J
I’m with you about the Indy trade and like I said I only trade Smart if its the only guy they want and it stops the C’s form getting a game changer other than that you put up a fight to keep him
If someone wants kemba you make that happen ASAP even if you need to attach a 1st to it he’s to soft and unreliable
def with u on kemba
No team came forward with an offer to the Celtics so that they could GET SMART !!