The first is better than the second, and victory beats defeat. But for the nets, health trumps everything.
Not that the nets throw games. But for the first showdown on Wednesday in Philadelphia that saw James Harden and LaMarcus Aldridge go missing, Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin were at the end of a duel.
It would be good to be number 1 in the Eastern after beating the 76ers Owning Conference but being healthy when the regular season ends on May 16th would be great. And it would probably be mandatory if the nets were hoping to win an NBA title.
“Health is everything. It would be great to have number 1 – I think it means a lot, it’s valuable – but not at the cost of losing players or prolonging our injury situation, ”said coach Steve Nash. « I think we have to be very careful and make sure our boys finish as well as possible. »
The nets got Kyrie Irving back on Wednesday after a family vacation. But with Tyler Johnson, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Chris Chiozza, their goal is to get as complete as possible. This replaces the hunt for the top seed in the East.
Since the playoffs expanded in 1984, only 54 percent of the conference’s top seeds have made it to the NBA finals, compared with 37.5 percent in the last four years. Sure, the Nets and Sixers would probably like to avoid facing the Bucks with the third seed in the second round, but home advantage is dampened by arenas with a fraction of the capacity.
« We really don’t have much about that We honestly only talk about winning games, « said Doc Rivers, Philadelphia coach. » It would be nice of course … we played very well, we are a young team so it would make sense to have so many home games try as possible. “But I don’t think I’ve ever introduced it to our team.”
While Durant and Irving have already won titles, Harden, Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Jeff Green have made nearly 400 playoff appearances in between yourself. The comparative youth of the 76s could make the top seed more important to them. Joel Embiid admitted on Monday, « We really want seed # 1 »
Danny Green of the Sixers said after the shootaround on Wednesday morning that the makeshift squad the Nets set up at the Wells Fargo Center was just that tactical art of playing might be to gain an advantage when they meet in the playoffs.
« You never get a real feeling that it might be a strategic thing for them, » said Green. « I know that in San Antonio some games weren’t played by everyone, so the teams don’t know how to protect us and how to play us. »
« For the future, this is the last time we they play for the rest of the season. So we don’t know if we’ll meet them in the playoffs, how we’ll fit together. It’s difficult to get a feel for a team when they’re never 100 percent. “
Nash insisted that the nets weren’t trying to play that future, and that Wednesday night’s lineup was just the hand they were being treated with.
» Honestly, we didn’t like that at all thought about it deeply, « said Nash. “I think when you start to be really cute, most of the time it fails. For us it was just that James won’t play, we weren’t sure about Ky, LaMarcus was sick. We don’t have a full squad anyway. So it wasn’t a strategy, but the availability that we have. It just happened. «
» That’s one of those things, it can be rethought, how can we get an advantage. So much is going to change and we will both be in a different place if we are lucky enough to meet in the playoffs. So I don’t think we’re taking too much of it. … So much is going to change. For us we are still deep in our own process. I’m trying to see what we can do to continuously improve and get a little better each week. “
© 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved
Terms of Use
Data protection
Your ad choices
Page index
Your California Privacy Rights
Do not sell my personal information
Ref: https://nypost.com
