In Portland's game against the Trail Blazers, Duran Xing didn't know how many minutes he could play.
Durant's playing time has become a topic of conversation for the Nets, who have lost five of their last seven games and recalled Kyrie Irving to make up the lineup, losing 108-114 to the Blazers.
It was the Nets' back-to-back second game, and they had just challenged the Spurs the night before, flying six hours to Portland. Durant played 42 minutes against the Trail Blazers and 43 minutes against the Spurs, and he averaged 37.4 minutes this season, second only to Raptors VanVleet's 37.5 minutes, the longest Durant has averaged 38.5 minutes per game in a 13-14 season.
He's 33 now, he's missed all of the 2019-20 games because of a torn Achilles tendon, and for Durant, who has suffered a serious injury, he's overused, and the Nets can't do anything about it now.
Irving can not participate in the home game because he is not vaccinated against the new crown, he can only play away games, Harden is not in good shape this season, Durant is under great pressure, with excellent statistics he became the front-runner of MVP. For Durant's use, fans have been calling on the Nets to be used leisurely.
After the game with the Blazers, Durant joked: "No, let me die on the road. He wasn't worried about his playing time too much, and when asked questions by reporters, Durant said with a serious face: "No, I'm not worried." As long as the coach asked me to go, I would obey. I just wanted to tell the coach I was going to play until I couldn't, I wanted to play, and he didn't think about anything else. I'm ready for the game, I want to play until I'm 40 and I don't want to sit off the field and rest. ”
Nets head coach Nazhi said he is ready to give Durant a break in the coming days to make up for the problem of using him too much. Anyone knows that the Nets can't do without Durant, but he is now overloaded, and the Nets should not use it carefully! The Nets have been victimized by covid-19, with players violating safety protocols since late December.
Nash said: "Having Kevin play 3 minutes a night will keep him feeling like playing, now there are fewer people we can only use him more, he himself wants to play more, we can only balance the playing time of the players." ”
Irving can't stay in shape for a long time because of the epidemic, and he admits that it is difficult to maintain his state intermittently. Nash said on the game against the Trail Blazers"
As long as Irving can get on, we want him to play 40 minutes, there is no physical problem for him, we want him to be ready, his leg injury is better and he needs his help when he can play. ”
The Nets have had a bad recent performance, and they will face the bulls with the best performance in the East next, and the Bucks are not far behind. Harden can't play because of injuries, Irving can't play all the games, only Durant is struggling, I don't know how long this kind of day can last.