Ahead of All-Star Weekend, the Brooklyn Nets had a tough time, with the team suffering an 11-game losing streak and sliding all the way down to the playoff area. Before the trade deadline, he had to send James Harden away, and although he returned to Ben Simmons, the strength of the team inevitably declined. Coupled with the fact that many injured soldiers do not know when they will be able to return to the lineup, many Nets fans are sweating for the final stages of the team's regular season sprint.
But as the so-called no pole Tai Lai, the Nets continue to receive good news during the All-Star break. The newly joined Simmons is expected to appear on the field in the short term, the main Durant's injury is also recovering well, the team in the buyout market has "won" Dragic, and everything seems to be moving in a better direction.
On February 23, local time, the Nets received another piece of good news. New York Mayor Eric Adams said that the relevant vaccine policy may be cancelled in the future, which means that Kerry Owen, who could not play at home in the previous games of the season, is expected to be completely lifted and can enter the Barclays Center to participate in home games.
All the Nets' problems this season, if traced back to the source, can be linked to Irving's source. Before the start of the season, because of the severe epidemic prevention situation in the United States, the New York City government introduced a policy that required all city residents who meet the age requirements to enter indoor places to participate in large-scale events after receiving the new crown vaccine. This indoor venue includes the Barclays Center, home of the Nets, and madison Square Garden, the home of the Knicks.
Under such epidemic prevention requirements, the Nets, Knicks and even most players in the entire NBA have been vaccinated to ensure that they can play in all games smoothly. However, the Nets' Kerry Owen is a special case, saying that he wants to help the vulnerable people speak out and then refuse to be vaccinated. This has resulted in Owen not being able to access the Barclays Center and Madison Square Gardens under the existing pandemic policy.
At the beginning of the season, the Nets also very strongly banned Irving from all home and away games. But as the season progressed, the Nets had to resort to a ban on Irving as the team suffered a serious injury blow, allowing him to travel from anywhere on the road. However, such a stopgap measure cannot fundamentally solve all the problems of the Nets. The team's record has not fundamentally improved, and the main player James Harden has also become more and more disgusted with the internal atmosphere of the team, which has become one of the important reasons why he finally forced the team to trade himself.
Just when the impasse between Irving and the Nets was struggling to find a solution, the turnaround took place on February 23, local time. In an interview, New York Mayor Eric Adams once again talked about the epidemic prevention policy of New York City. He said that today's vaccine prevention policy may change in the coming period.
"I can't wait to get this done," Adams said in an interview, "and now, I meet with our health experts every morning because I keep repeating that I've always been very science-based, and that the epidemic prevention experts give us all kinds of benchmarks for policy." We're going to continue to follow these benchmarks, but I'm also looking forward to making a real difference in the coming weeks. ”
The shift Adams is talking about is New York City's vaccine policy. A spokesman for New York City Hall subsequently confirmed this. According to the spokesperson, the gradual lifting of the vaccine restriction in the future is Mayor Adams' plan. Of course, until real changes occur, New York City will still follow its existing policies. But at least for Irving and the Nets, they see real hope.
As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused a great response and discussion in the NBA basketball circle. As the most affected subject, the Nets, their response is even more enthusiastic. On February 23, local time, after the Nets' training ended, head coach Steve Nash spent a long time and length in an interview to discuss the impact of this policy on the team's current and future.
"I can tell you that now he's very focused, Carey is very good on the training ground, he's doing well in video lessons," Nash said, "he also put forward a lot of his own ideas about the team's tactical play, and I can see his focus and urgency from him." So, if there's any new sign in that regard, if he's allowed to play all of our games, I think he's going to be very excited. We hope now that this can happen in a short period of time. ”
In addition to the mayor of New York city to give the Nets and Irving confidence, many major cities in the United States have also changed their epidemic prevention policies recently. For example, several cities such as Boston, Philadelphia and Washington have also implemented stricter vaccine regulations before. However, in recent times, they have either lifted the restrictions or are about to implement changes. From this perspective, New York will probably not wait long to keep up with other U.S. cities and ease restrictions related to vaccinations.
Regarding New York City's epidemic prevention policy and the impact on the NBA, people within the league have long raised objections. For example, Xiao Hua, the president of the league, has previously put forward a different view on the fact that New York City's epidemic prevention policy is only effective for home team players.
"It's strange to me that this policy only applies to players from the home team," Xiao Hua said, "if this rule is really meant to protect everyone in the stadium, then it should be forbidden for all unvaccinated players to enter the Barclays Center, not just for the home team's players." So I don't think they should pursue this policy. ”
Now, the policy that has been discussed by the Nets and the NBA for a long time is finally going to be loosened. Of course, until the policy finally changes, the Nets remain cautiously optimistic. "The obvious thing is that the sign is good," Nash said, "and if we can have Kerry in all the games, it's definitely a great thing for us." But like I said before, it's not entirely under our control, so we'll leave it to the mayor to decide, and we'll just be patient. ”
Although it is impossible to welcome Irving back at home immediately after the All-Star Weekend. But according to Mayor Adams in an interview, New York City could lift existing vaccine restrictions as early as mid-March.
There are two reliable bases for this point in time, one is that in mid-March, new York city temperature will rise sharply, and it is generally believed that high temperatures are not easy for the virus to spread. Another, more important factor is mlb's MLB season, which normally begins at the end of March and the beginning of April. Baseball is a professional sport that New York fans love very much, and both the Yankees and the Mets are nationally renowned teams, so vaccine policy may change before baseball season arrives so that more fans can enter the game.
According to this point in time, Irving has the fastest chance to appear in the New York derby between the Nets and the Knicks on March 13, local time. After that game, the Nets have 14 more regular season games to play, nine of which are at home. If Irving can play in these 9 home games, it will have a very positive significance for the improvement of the team's record and the cultivation of tacit understanding between the players.
"In my opinion, his current state and attitude in training, the goal is to play in every subsequent game," Nash said, "so if the epidemic prevention policy changes, then what we expect from him is to play in every subsequent game." I think he's been waiting for this moment to come, and he's excited about it. If the opportunity does come up, then our plan and goal is definitely to send him every game night. ”
In the team training on February 23, local time, Irving still appeared on the training ground with his teammates. The increasingly relaxed external environment has also eased the atmosphere within the Nets a lot. However, Irving did not give a media interview after the training. The only player who talks about Irving and the team is James Johnson.
"Of course we want him to play," Johnson said, "and while there's a lot of nonsense in the rules right now, the rules are the rules." We still hope to see him in every game soon. ”