The Sixers will not see any of the Nets’ top two stars in Brooklyn.
Kyrie Irving will miss Thursday night’s game against the Sixers for personal reasons.
Nets coach Steve Nash said that Irving’s absence before the game is a “private matter” and he is not sure how long he will be gone as he has not yet spoken to Irving.
Kevin Durant will not play after being exposed to COVID-19 and forced to quarantine.
Seth Curry, who scored 28 points on Wednesday for the Sixers and is shooting 59.5 percent in the three-point range, is out with pain in his left ankle. Sixers coach Doc Rivers said Curry injured his ankle on Wednesday and believed it was a “day-to-day” injury.
Irving and Durant reportedly presented interesting challenges for the defense of the Sixers, who are still ranked No. 1 in the NBA by Cleaning the Glass, after giving 136 points to the Wizards on Wednesday. The Sixers managed to win despite Bradley Beal’s 60-point career record, although they appear to have some vulnerabilities against teams with multiple perimeter scoring threats. A team from Brooklyn with all their best available talent certainly fits that description.
In a bursting victory over Jazz on Tuesday, the Nets started Irving, Bruce Brown, Taurean Prince, Jeff Green and Jarrett Allen. The Nets bench averages 42.3 points per game, sixth in the league, and Nash has many ways to reorganize his lineup. Perhaps ex-Sixer Landry Shamet starts and / or plays more than usual to give the Nets some handling of the ball and kicks. Nash said Allen will start again and have an “incredibly difficult fight” against Joel Embiid.
Brooklyn is also without Spencer Diwniddie (partially torn ACL), Nicolas Claxton (right knee tendinopathy), Reggie Perry (left groin pain) and Tyler Johnson (health and safety protocols). In addition to Curry, Furkan Korkmaz and Mike Scott are marginalized by a left adductor strain and a left knee injury, respectively, while Terrance Ferguson is out for personal reasons for the Sixers.