Nets update injury status: All three stars set to play against Bulls
The Brooklyn Nets will have their "Big Three" of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving intact against the Bulls on Wednesday night at the United Center.
Harden (left knee hyperextension) and Irving (left ankle sprain) had been listed as questionable. Irving is limited to playing road games only, since New York City rules prohibit him from taking the court in Brooklyn as an unvaccinated player.
This is the third game Irving has played this season and the second time the Nets have had all three of their stars on the court together. The first time was a 129-121 win at Indiana on Jan. 5. Irving played in the rescheduled game at Portland on Monday, but Harden did not.
The Bulls are 2-0 against Brooklyn this season and the teams meet just three times, so this is the last chance for the Nets to get a win against the current Eastern Conference leaders.
"I don't know about a statement game, but it's a great challenge for us," Nets coach Steve Nash said before the game. "This is a team that's playing great basketball, has had an outstanding year, has a lot of confidence. For us, we've been struggling lately. So when you struggle, there's a great opportunity to learn about yourself.
"It's not all about tonight, but tonight would be a great opportunity to raise our level of competition, to be as competitive as possible with ourselves to put out the best performance and continue to grow. It's really more about our process."
Brooklyn's two leading big men, LaMarcus Aldridge and Nic Claxton, are out Wednesday, which could put more focus on Bulls center Nikola Vucevic, who has not posted big numbers against the Nets so far this season.
"While he's not necessarily in the all-star consideration like he was in Orlando, he's almost underrated in that he's so intelligent, he can do so many thing on both ends of the floor to help facilitate his team's success," Nash said of Vucevic. "I think it's important that we make things difficult for him as well."
Protocols update:
Bulls swingman Alex Caruso remained in health and safety protocols Wednesday and coach Billy Donovan expressed doubt that he'd be available Friday against Golden State.
"The (antibody) numbers are moving very slowly," Donovan said before the game. "He's going to need to ramp up here, just because of the inconsistency of which he's been able to get on the court for a variety of reasons - hamstring, foot, COVID.
"He's still in protocols. I do not think that he will be available for our next game. What it looks like after that, he's going to have to put together several (COVID and cardio) tests."