Sixers

Ahead of Sixers Matchup, Steve Nash Says Nets “Weren’t Trying to Play Guys in Back-to-Backs”

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Apr 14th, 2021 · 9:22 AM EDT

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Sixers vs. Nets tonight.

First place in the Eastern Conference on the line. Huge tiebreaker ramifications as we close out the three-game season series, which is currently tied 1-1.

Thing is, we have no idea who is going to suit up for Brooklyn. They’re coming off a win against Minnesota in a game that was rescheduled from Monday to Tuesday, which means they’re getting Philly on the second night of a road back-to-back.

In last night’s win, Kevin Durant played 27 minutes. Kyrie Irving was out for personal reasons. James Harden has a hamstring injury and LaMarcus Aldridge missed the game with non-COVID sickness. Brooklyn ended up rolling out a starting five of Durant, Jeff Green, Joe Harris, Nic Claxton, and Chris Chiozza. Blake Griffin played 24 minutes off the bench.

During pregame media availability, head coach Steve Nash said this about the rescheduled game throwing a wrench in their plans:

“Yeah it does change everything for us. I don’t think we’re going to make any definitive decisions now, I think we’ll wait to see what (Wednesday) morning holds. But we know that we weren’t trying to play guys in back-to-backs. So we’ll have to digest all of the variables in the morning to find out what happens (Wednesday) night, but it definitely changes our approach and puts us in a different position.”

It’s interesting to hear him say outright that they “weren’t trying to play guys in back-to-backs.” For what it’s worth, Durant played one back-to-back this season, in January. He’s only played three games since returning to the lineup.

Here’s what Durant himself said:

Kevin Durant on how the decision will be made for his availability tomorrow vs. the Philadelphia 76ers: pic.twitter.com/SuhW3OjkAB

— hooperslead 彡 (@hooperslead) April 13, 2021

After the win, Nash said this about his superstar:

“It’s a tricky balance, because he needs to play a certain amount of minutes for his benefit. At the same time, the game’s out of hand and you’re caught, like ‘do we want to risk him being out there at this point in the game?’ So in an ideal world he’d play closer to 30 minutes but at the same time if he’s out there in meaningless minutes, you want to be careful as well. We’re trying to find that balance but he had a good game and got some minutes in his legs.” 

Right now the Sixers are a -265 favorite, with the spread moving to -6.5 in their favor. We’ll see how the day progresses, and keep an eye out for injury news, but at the risk of jinxing it, it looks like a confluence of various events is going to benefit Philly, greatly.