The Brooklyn Nets might be without three-time NBA scoring champion James Harden for their matchup against Russell Westbrook and the Washington Wizards on Sunday, January 31 (Monday, February 1, Philippine time).
Harden, who has been averaging just under 40 minutes per game since his arrival in a mid-January trade from the Houston Rockets, has a left thigh contusion, according to the team’s injury report.
Harden is averaging 24.5 points, 11.1 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game for the season, but 24.3, 11.8 and 7.8, respectively, in the 8 games since he was the centerpiece of the four-team trade that also involved the Indiana Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It would be the first game Harden has missed since forcing the trade from the Rockets.
In the offseason, the Rockets traded Westbrook to Washington in exchange for John Wall as his partnership with Harden didn’t go as smoothly as expected.
Durant back
The Nets, though, might have another of their Big Three, Kevin Durant, back in the lineup on Sunday.
Durant was not available in Friday’s 147-125 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder because he was resting his surgically repaired Achilles. The former Most Valuable Player and two-time NBA Finals MVP was removed from the team’s injury report.
At 13-8, the Nets are second in the Eastern Conference.
Durant is returning after scoring 32 points in 42 minutes in Wednesday’s 132-128 overtime win in Atlanta. He is averaging 30.5 points and has scored at least 30 points in 7 of his past 9 games since missing a potential game-winning shot in Brooklyn’s 123-122 home loss to Washington on January 3.
“He’s played a lot of minutes, played an overtime game and it was a decision to protect him [in the previous game],” Nets coach Steve Nash said.
Slumping Wizards
Washington, meanwhile, has dropped 7 of 8 since Thomas Bryant’s game-winning dunk beat Brooklyn in the first meeting. Bryant was lost for the season with a torn ACL a week after his dunk. and the Wizards had 6 games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
Since returning from a nearly two-week absence, the Wizards have dropped 4 straight, losing those games by an average of 18.25 points.
The Wizards returned home from a three-game road trip Friday and shot a season-low 36.5% in a 116-100 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in a game that saw the Wizards pile up 6 technical fouls and the ejections of Westbrook in the 4th quarter and Robin Lopez in the 3rd.
“We’re not going to give up,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. “We’re going to keep fighting and we will turn it around. And when we do turn it around, it’s going to be a great feeling to say that we turned around a very unique, a first time (situation) that hopefully never happens again.” – Rappler.com
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