When Bruce Brown crashed into Kevin Durant on the ground, I wondered if the panic in 2017 surged into Durant's heart.
The same was accidentally injured by his teammates when he fell to the ground, the same left knee was injured, 5 years ago Durant was injured in his left knee for 19 games before returning, this time Durant is not sure how long he will be suspended.
If Durant is on a suspension for a while, the Nets' strength will certainly be greatly reduced, and no one can fill the gap left by the league's scoring king injury. The only good news for the Nets is that the Nets will have 12 of their next 16 games on the road, except for the Nets' away game against the Knicks on Feb. 17, Irving can play all of the other 11 away games, and he can fill Durant's firepower gap to the greatest extent.
How serious is Durant's injury?
I have to say that Durant's injury this time is very unlucky, this is not an injury caused by overwork, pure bad luck.
At five minutes and 44 seconds in the second quarter, Pelicans player Herbert Jones broke through and knocked Brown away, and Brown fell to the ground just in time to hit Durant, who was in the defensive position, and his elbow touched Durant's left knee, and Durant covered his knee and limped to the sideline, and then withdrew.
After making a preliminary diagnosis for Durant, the Nets officially announced that Durant had a sprained left knee and that he would undergo an MRI tomorrow. It is still impossible to determine the severity of Durant's injury and whether a long-term truce is needed, and on social media, some sports medicine experts have interpreted Durant's injury based on their years of accumulated experience.
Brian Sutter believes that Durant's knee is more like an valgus than an overextended, and from the video alone, he thinks Durant is more like an injury to the medial collateral ligament.
Pandeya's view is different, he believes that Durant's injury is a bit similar to the injury of last year's playoff "alphabet brother" Antetokounmpo, more like a knee overextension. This injury may be serious, but it may not be a big problem, depending on the results of the MRI.
Blair analyzed it from other angles in the video of Durant's injury, arguing that Durant's knee was both overextended and valgus.
In fact, Durant suffered a similar injury to the Wizards in March 2017, when Pachulia fell to the ground and hit Durant's left knee, and after an MRI examination, Durant was diagnosed with a secondary strain of the medial collateral ligament of the left knee and a tibia injury, requiring a four-week rest before an injury assessment. In the end, Durant rested for more than a month and missed a total of 19 games before returning.
Who can fill the Durant vacancy?
With Durant's playing style and strength, no one can fill his vacancy. After all, Durant averaged 29.7 points per game before this game, and his indiscriminate singles, blocking and sharp no-ball offense are the hard solutions to the Nets' position war. When Durant was on the floor this season, the Nets scored 112.8 points per 100 possessions, compared with 106.6 points when he wasn't on the floor.
If Durant is on the sidelines, the Nets need to worry more about offense than defense. If you fight defensively, Nash can use more players such as Bemburi, but with the Nets' overall defensive ability, reusing defensive players will not effectively improve their performance. To fill Durant's vacancy, the Nets also have to start from an offensive point of view, they have to dig as much as possible from the inside, through the collective strength to fill the firepower gap left by Durant's injury. Fortunately, the Nets did a good job in the draft last year, which gave the Nets buffer space.
For those teams that are looking to win the championship at the moment, few teams will pay attention to the draft, because they have basically exhausted the draft power when they assemble the multi-giant lineup. But the Nets are different, in the 2021 draft year, general manager Sean Max actually hoarded 3 draft picks. Max's vision is also very good, he chose Cam Thomas, who has super scoring ability, with the 27th pick, and the 29th pick to choose 2.11cm center Sharp. With the 44th pick, Max picked up 2m 03 striker Kessler Edwards.
The three new stars are still inexperienced, and Nash did not trust them at the beginning of the season, but due to the epidemic, injuries and other reasons, these three new stars have recently received more opportunities than at the beginning of the season, and they have also come up with a performance that satisfies Nash. In their last six games, Thomas has scored in double figures in five of his last six games, three of which he has scored 20 points. Sharp has scored in double figures in three of his last four games and has fallen less behind in his game against Clarkston. Edwards gradually showed his potential to become a reliable 3D player. Playing against the Pelicans today, the three rookies scored a total of 48 points, which is very strong.
In addition to the three rookies, healthy James Johnson and Bruce Brown can also help fill Durant's vacancy after returning to the rotation. The extent to which these role players can fill Durant's vacancy depends on James Harden's tandem ability. Without Durant, Harden's performance as the big core of the ball is extremely critical, and the Nets desperately need him to improve the characteristics of role players. In the last four games, Harden has scored 25 points on the field, including at least 12 assists in 3 games, and Harden in this state has the ability to help the Nets survive this difficult period.
The Nets have another piece of good news: Starting scorer Joe Harris is getting closer to a comeback, his training volume has been increasing recently, and if he can catch up with the recent comeback, the Nets have one more option to fill the Durant firepower gap.
What else can lobby Irving do to vaccinate the Nets?
After Durant's knee injury, Irving's value to the Nets suddenly increased a lot. Because Irving does not have Durant's height, Durant's indiscriminate singles, blocking and non-ball offensive capabilities are also Irving's. If Irving can play, the Nets don't have to worry too much about Durant's injury.
This season, Irving has played 3 games, averaging 17.7 points, 5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, which is not the best form of Irving, long suspension, playing time and time to make him have not yet found the strongest offensive ability to hold the ball. Irving's status has a huge room for improvement, and the Nets formed the Big Three to insure one of the giants.
The Nets will definitely take the opportunity to lobby Irving to get vaccinated as soon as possible, before Durant and Harden have repeatedly mentioned this issue in public, and Irving has also shown signs of relaxation. However, the Nets do not need to rush when it comes to lobbying for Irving's vaccination, because the next schedule is good for the Nets.
At present, Irving cannot play in home games, away games against the Knicks and away games against the Raptors, and in the next 16 games, the Nets have 12 away games, except for the Nets' away game against the Knicks on February 17, the other 11 away games Irving can play. In addition, there are no back-to-back games in these away games, and the Nets do not need to take active rotation if they do not have to.
The Nets can certainly speed up the process of trade negotiations, whether Durant is injured or not, and continuing to strengthen through the trade is within the Nets' management plan. The question is, what chips will the Nets come up with? Judging from the recent rumors, only Clarkston and Harris are in the transaction rumors in the Nets lineup. Now that Clarkston's position can be filled by Sharp and Harris' position is filled by Mills, the Nets may indeed send the two away, after all, Clarkston is facing a contract extension in the offseason, and Harris' ability to play hard battles in the playoffs has not been proven. If you can complete the lineup upgrade, such as changing a quality wing 3D player, the Nets may shoot.
epilogue
In any case, the Nets are not yet in a time to panic, as long as Durant's MRI results do not show structural damage, the Nets are confident that there is a way to survive this difficult period. Next, the Nets can only pray that Durant is not seriously injured, and will not be suspended for months or even undergo surgery.