Kyrie Irving, Nets trying to keep positive attitude
Nets guard Kyrie Irving looks on against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Barclays Center on Thursday, March 31, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Kyrie Irving has never experienced this before in his 11 years in the league — not with the five playoff teams he’s been a part of, and certainly not with the Cavaliers in 2016, when he won an NBA championship.
There have never been this many question marks this late in the season, so much necessity that he be on the floor for 40 minutes every game. But even with all the uncertainty and frustration that’s plagued this Nets season, on Tuesday, before they were set to take on the Rockets, Irving, as he so often does, had something of a different perspective: “This is one of those things that makes it fun,” he said, smiling wryly.
Sure, dealing with injuries isn’t fun, and the reality of their situation — fighting for their basketball lives in a play-in game rather than waltzing into the postseason as a top seed — isn’t all that ideal, either. But Irving hasn’t let go of hope that his team can win a championship even if they might have to win more games than any other team to accomplish it.
“It’s probably one of few times in my career — even when I think about my first few years in Cleveland, if we weren’t winning as many games toward the end of the season, and there still wasn’t as much pressure,” he said during shootaround at the Nets training facility. “As a competitor, it gives you something to play for and look forward to and just go in and use your experience to the best of your ability. I try to bring that to the team and we just have a solid foundation in our belief in one another, and we just go from there.”
The Nets, though, are too veteran-laden of a team not to be realists. Bruce Brown said after practice Monday that the team was trying to find its energy, but still hoped to win out. Kevin Durant, also on Monday, expressed excitement over the play-in tournament, but said his MCL sprain earlier in the season sidetracked their quest. Andre Drummond on Tuesday said no one ever thought the Nets would be in this situation, but now it was their job to embrace it.
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” Irving said when asked if the Nets can still win it all. “You can’t predict the future as of right now. Any time I try to do that, God has a way of humbling me, so I’m just going to take it one day at a time . . . Just looking forward to tonight, being on the home floor and putting on a show.”
In many ways, that’s all they can control. Steve Nash said he doesn’t expect Ben Simmons to be healthy enough for the play-in game – indicating that the herniated disc that’s essentially benched him for the entirety of his short Nets career might even cost him more games after that. Seth Curry was out again with his sore left ankle Tuesday, and the Nets don't know exactly how much short-term rest will help in the long run. They hope to have him against the Knicks Wednesday. Goran Dragic is still in the NBA’s health and safety protocols and stuck in Atlanta.
The standings are as unkind as the injury report: Going into their final four games, they were one game behind the Hawks, who are in eighth, and, though they share a record with the Hornets, Charlotte has the season series tiebreaker. There’s no way they can miss the play-in game, but there’s every chance they’ll have to play two games instead of one just to capture the eight seed and a date with what looks to be the Heat in the first round.
“I’ve been in so many different scenarios playing basketball, the peaks and valleys that go on, and when you’re in a valley, there’s even more of an emphasis to really criticize or really read between the lines and see what you can do better,” Irving said. “But it’s no time to hold our heads down now. It’s the end of the season, and this is like — it feels like our little mini March Madness right now, getting ready.”
Drummond looked at the challenge with equal aplomb.
“You would think this team would be a top five, top two teams, but things happen in the NBA,” he said. “Teams are having a great year, a great season, so, a little adversity doesn’t hurt anybody. I think we’ll be fine. I think we just have to take this play-in game however it comes and move forward from there.”
Is Irving right? Is there a little fun in that?
“Yeah, why not? I don’t think we have a choice, so why not take it head on?”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
