On March 21, Beijing time, the Nets, which are currently ranked eighth in the East, received two bad news, one is that the epidemic prevention policy in Toronto, Canada still prohibits unvaccinated athletes from playing, Irving can not play the Raptors away, and the latter is likely to be the Nets' play-off opponent, and the second Simmons' injury has regressed and is still undecided.
New York still has not relaxed the epidemic prevention policy, and the New York side has previously considered relaxing the epidemic prevention policy, and athletes who have not been vaccinated can also play. But then there was no progress. At present, the epidemic situation around the world is still relatively serious, of which the daily number of new people in the United States is still exceeding 10,000.
Kristian Winfield, a reporter with the Nets, tweeted that according to the official news of the Canadian government, from April 1, the epidemic prevention policy will be relaxed throughout Canada, including but not limited to the need for fully vaccinated passengers to no longer need to show nucleic acid test reports when entering the country. But Canada still does not allow athletes who are not vaccinated to compete. That means Irving still won't be able to play in Toronto.
The Raptors are now the Nets' most likely playoff opponent. The Nets are now eighth in the East, with a record of 37 wins and 34 losses, four wins behind the sixth-place Cavaliers in the East. The Nets are struggling to move up to sixth in the East. The Raptors are seventh in the East with a record of 39 wins and 31 losses, and the Nets are 2.5 wins behind.
If such a ranking is maintained, the Nets will play against the Raptors in game one of the playoffs, away from home, with the winner getting a playoff spot. But if Canada's epidemic prevention policy remains unchanged, Irving will not be able to play. If the Nets lose the game, the second game of the playoff will have to play against the winner of the ninth and tenth places in the East, the Nets will play at home, and if The New York epidemic prevention policy remains unchanged, Irving still cannot play the playoff.
The other bad news now is that Ben Simmons is unscheduled and may not play the playoffs. Nash revealed the latest situation of Simmons, who received injections based on the results of the MRI, who suffered a sprain on his back and the like.
Journalist Kristian Winfield said that Simmons' recovery progress is actually backwards, after Simmons and Korver had conducted shooting training, but now they can only focus on back rehabilitation. The Nets' routine arrangement is that injured people must undergo 3 high-intensity training sessions to return, and Simmons has not yet met the criteria for participating in high-intensity training.
Now no one knows whether Simmons can make a comeback this season, nash hopes he can make a comeback, but everything depends on Simmons' physical recovery.