NEW YORK — When James Harden first joined the Nets in the mid-season trade from the Rockets, second-year forward Nic Claxton had yet to make his season debut, still rehabbing from knee tendinitis.
As Harden enters the playoffs for the first time as a Net, knock on wood, all players are healthy — with the exception of Spencer Dinwididie, who’s out with what has been considered a season-ending partial ACL tear in his right knee.
The Nets are so healthy, Harden even provided an injury update on Joe Harris, the 3-point sniper who missed Brooklyn’s final three regular-season games with a glute injury.
“Joe is good. He just needed a little break. That’s all that was,” Harden said.
The Nets haven’t been this healthy all season, a truth that Harden could only respond to with a smile. With a few more days of practice time before the Nets play their first game, Brooklyn’s best finally have a chance to focus on themselves.
“This week has been so great for us so far because we’ve been able to talk and watch film and kind of get on the same page. We’ve been in and out of lineups and guys have just, it’s a lot going on,” Harden said. “Now we can kind of focus on one opponent for however long and just control what we can control.”
With a (mostly) healthy roster, Harden said the Nets “got after it a little bit” in practice on Wednesday. Games every other day, COVID-19 health and safety protocols, untimely injuries and a number of social and political controversies have kept this team from forming the cohesion the best teams tend to have.
“First couple days (were) mostly about ourselves and kind of like, locking in some details, making sure everybody is on the same page,” Harden said on Wednesday. “Today was similar and tomorrow we will get into Boston, things we’d like to do, their scouting report. But it’s been great. We’re very focused on ourselves. That’s the most important thing.”
HARD’ TO REPLACE
The Nets are 29-7 in games Harden has appeared in this season. The All-Star guard points to that record as a measure of his value on the floor, and they are just 12-11 in the games he’s missed.
“There’s always a narrative when it comes to myself and how I play, and my impact. There’s always, ‘he can’t do this, he can’t do that.’ There’s always like a negative narrative when it comes to my name, which I don’t really pay attention to because I know how impactful I am, and now you guys have an opportunity to see it,” Harden said. “There’s not many guys you can throw into a situation where he can take a step back off scoring and facilitate, or if you need him to score 40 a night, there’s not many guys in this league that can do that.”
GO WITH IT
Kevin Durant averaged 5.6 assists per game this season, the second-highest clip of his career since his final season with the Golden State Warriors. Despite an apparent uptick in his assist numbers while Harden missed time with a hamstring injury, Durant said he doesn’t approach the game based on who’s out or who’s in.
“I just let the game flow,” he said. “If I catch it in my scoring spot, I look to score first, but if the team is going to come over there and send two guys before I make a move, then I’ll gladly pass the ball. I just try to keep the game as simple as possible and not overthink it and try to let it flow. I spend so much time on the court that I should be ready for any situation. I try to approach it that way.”
