NEW YORK — The scariest hours are the ones you don’t think about. For the Nets, championship dreams just became regular-season nightmares.
The Nets’ 120-105 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday turned into a horror story midway through the second quarter when MVP frontrunner Kevin Durant suffered a freak knee injury and limped off the floor.
Durant was standing in the paint on defense defending a fast break when Pelicans forward Herbert Jones pushed-off Bruce Brown on a drive to the rim. Brown lost his balance and fell directly into Durant’s left knee, which appeared to hyperextend inward.
The Nets star limped off the floor and into the locker room and the Nets announced he suffered “a sprained left knee.” They will update his diagnosis on Sunday, when Durant will undergo an MRI.
The Nets are a historically cautious franchise when it comes to injured superstars, so you can expect Durant to be out as long as it takes for him to feel comfortable on the court again.
There begins the nightmare on Flatbush and Atlantic — no Kevin Durant, no NBA championship.
And if you throw an injured James Harden into the flow, Brooklyn becomes unrecognizable. Harden hit the ground hard when driving to the rim in the third quarter and landed directly on his hip and elbow. He took a few moments to get back to his feet, then needed a timeout before shooting his free throw.
Harden gutted through his hard fall and played heavy minutes to help sustain a Nets lead that ballooned as large as 28, their largest halftime lead of the season with a 69-point first half when Durant played the first two periods.
He finished with 27 points, 15 assists and a crossover-to-floater combo at the 2:13 mark in the fourth quarter that put the dagger in the victory, Brooklyn’s 27th against just 15 losses. The Nets continue to jockey with the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
But with Durant likely out, and with Irving unavailable for home games, you can expect Harden’s minutes to rack up.
What was shaping up to be an early night off for Harden quickly became a 40-minute night, as the Pelicans ate into the Nets’ lead and cut the deficit to as little as 17 points. Every time New Orleans made a rally, however, the Nets found a way to respond.
Harden came up large down the stretch, hitting a flurry of side-step and step-back 3-pointers. Rookies Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe and Kesler Edwards also continued to shine in their extended minutes, another chapter of coach Steve Nash’s season-long rotation experiment.
Sharpe showcased himself as a force on the glass and finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Edwards flashed his defense, athleticism, and 3-point prowess, finishing with 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown.
Thomas consistently answered the bell. With Durant out, the rookie scorer stepped up to hit timely shots that kept the Pelicans at bay during their runs in the second half. He scored 20 points off the bench on 9-of-13 shooting from the field.
Another great draft class by general manager Sean Marks.
Durant’s injury, however, underscores the fragility of this Nets’ season. The MRI will tell all on Sunday. Until then, the Nets must play the waiting game.
