Nets on road again and seeing stars in OKC and Cleveland

Kevin Durant missed six games with a strained left hamstring before he came back Monday and dropped 27 points on the Utah Jazz. To which a wry Brook Lopez said, "His timing is perfect."

It's no secret that the 3-11 Nets were dealt a tough hand the first month of the season. They've played nine of their 14 games on the road and have faced some of the NBA's best: the Warriors, Spurs, Rockets and the Hawks (twice). They've been plagued by inconsistency -- partially a product of a weak bench -- and it sure would've been nice to deal with only one superstar when they travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder Wednesday night.

But that's not how things have been panning out this season, so it'll mostly be up to Joe Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to clamp down on Durant, the MVP two seasons ago who apparently didn't develop any rust during his time off, and Russell Westbrook, last year's scoring champion.

When asked how Hollis-Jefferson would deal with the challenge, Johnson chuckled.

"Rookie will get a shot, but I'm at the 3, so I've got to start on [Durant]," he said. "I'll try to soften them up for him.

"I don't know [how]. I don't know. Those guys are great basketball players and, as defenders, you just have to make them take tough shots and you can't let them be comfortable out there on the floor."

There's no limit to what Durant and Westbrook can do to opposing defenders, coach Lionel Hollins said. "What's the maximum amount of stress that you can have?" he added. The consensus is that the Nets won't be able to shut them down. Hollis-Jefferson said the game plan is to "limit them as much as possible." And try not to let it get into you your head when they score, because they will, he said.

"In your mind you know like, 'all right, that's one of the greatest players in the game, scoring-wise, playing-wise," he said. "You've just got to keep [moving on to] the next play. You get one stop. All right, let's try to get another one -- keep trying to move forward."

To Cleveland, where they'll face their next challenge: LeBron James.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

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.