Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets are in a complex position right now. The player missed a big chunk of the season due to his refusal to take the covid-19 vaccine. Now that he’s back on the court, the Nets are going through some issues, close to missing the 2022 NBA playoffs.
The Nets have faced many issues all season long, and this situation is another one to add to the list. Meanwhile, the 2016 NBA champion is trying his best to deliver in the next couple of games, where the Nets will try to secure a spot in the play-in tournament.
A lot has been said about the Nets, the injuries they had during the season, and Kyrie’s absence. Asked if the team could win the championship with every player on the court, Irving admitted that it’s hard to predict those things since anything could happen to ruin their plans.
“We’ll see,” Irving said, via Nick Friedell of ESPN. “We’ll see, man. You can’t predict the future as of right now. Anytime I try to do that — God has a way of humbling me. I’m just going to take it one day at a time like I’ve been saying all season. And game to game, I can’t even think about, if we win all four games, if we go 3-1, if we go 2-1, then who would we play? I can’t even think like that. I’m just looking forward to tonight, getting on our home floor and putting on a good show.”
Talking about this new situation where the Nets are, the player agreed that it’s different from anything he’s lived before. He’s been getting a lot of time on the court in recent games and he’s well aware that’s a new situation for him.
“I’ve never been in a situation like this where late in the season all these games matter,” Irving said after Tuesday’s shootaround. “Usually you’re just trying to fine-tune your game, work on details, get some rest. But I’ve been playing 40 minutes [at] the end of the season, it’s the first probably few times in my career, even when I think about my first three years in Cleveland we were not winning as many games towards the end of the season, there still wasn’t as much pressure.”
Talking about the rest of the calendar, Kyrie said that the team is putting pressure on themselves and nobody is taking things lightly. They are ready to compete and win no matter who is in front of them.
“I think that was probably part of our own pressure that we were putting on ourselves,” Irving said. “It’s a must-win-now mentality, and though it is there, but we’re in it for the long run so we’re just going to play free and do everything we can to prepare for this play-in tournament.”
After entering the 2021/22 NBA season as championship favorites, the Nets struggled a lot to get things going. James Harden’s departure seems to be hurting them, and Ben Simmons is still injured. The situation doesn’t look easy for the Brooklynites and it seems a little too late for them to gain some momentum.
