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The Brooklyn Nets will be without James Harden and Blake Griffin against the Utah Jazz
On the one hand, James Harden is out with neck pain. Blake Griffin, on the other side, is out due to left knee injury management. Since February 13, the Brooklyn Nets have been without top player Kevin Durant due to a hamstring strain.
In addition, another key player, Kyrie Irving, is absent for personal reasons and is expected to miss another game following tonight.
For a while, James Harden carried his club without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and he played at an MVP level.
Also missing is Blake Griffin, who made his Brooklyn debut against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
Blake Griffin and James Harden both played in the team’s four-point victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
In 40 minutes, James had 25 points, 17 assists, and 7 rebounds.
Similarly, Griffin had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals in 19 minutes off the bench.
Harden admitted after the game against the Blazers that he nearly sat out due to a sore neck.
He always wants to be available for his squad and is delighted to be able to do so.
“That’s just who I am, and that’s how I’m constructed,” Harden explained.
“I know I contributed everything I had if this thing was done tomorrow.”
I know I didn’t take any shortcuts.
It will be over one day, but in the back of my mind, I will have comfort knowing that I did it.
That’s fine with me.”
Harden leads the Nets in scoring (25.4 ppg) and assists (11.5) while shooting 46.8% overall and 36.2% on 3-pointers this season.
Brooklyn was unlikely to defeat the Utah Jazz without him.
The Utah Jazz has the top record in the Western Conference, with a 31-11 record.
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets are second in the Eastern Conference.
Brooklyn suffered a defeat without James
Without James, the Nets lost their flow.
Jeff Green, Joe Harris, Bruce Brown Jr., Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and Tyler Johnson started for the Nets.
In addition to James, Kevin, and Blake, the nets were missing Spencer Dinwiddie and Landry Shamet.
Spencer Dinwiddie was out with a partially torn ACL in his right knee, and Shamet was out with a sprained right ankle.
Brooklyn struggled against the Utah Jazz because most of its best players were absent.
They were unable to build a lead in any quarter and eventually fell to the Jazz 118-88.
The most points scored by a Nets player came from Alize Johnson, who came off the bench and played 33 minutes.
Alize made his Nets debut in the game and recorded his first double-double as a Net.
The Nets have given him a 10-day contract.
He finished with 23 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 assists in 33 minutes.
However, they were unable to defeat the Jazz.
The Jazz dominated the Nets throughout the game.
Jazz made the first basket of the game and hasn’t looked back since.
They led the Nets in the fourth quarter and easily defeated them.
Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 27 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds in their win over the Nets.
Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points in 27 minutes of action.
Similarly, Rudy Gobert of the Jazz had 8 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 24 minutes, while Mike Conley had 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals in 25 minutes.
Aside from Alize Johnson, Reggie Perry had 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals in 28 minutes for the Nets. Chris Chiozza had 10 points, 11 assists, and 2 steals in 28 minutes for the Nets.
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The Utah Jazz won easily
As expected, the Jazz dominated the Nets throughout the game and cruised to an easy victory over the undermanned Nets.
The Nets were unable to play well, allowing the Jazz to win.
As a result, Utah’s starters were free to rest in the fourth quarter.
On offense, the Jazz led the NBA with 16.9 three-pointers per game entering the night.
They made 11 three-pointers in the first half and 23 in total, with Mitchell hitting four of the 11 attempts.
They led by 21 points in the first quarter and led 63-38 at the half.
And Tony Jones of The Athletic shared his thoughts on what he witnessed after two-quarters of play.
“I think the only thing you can take away from this first half is that Utah might be the most comfortable I’ve seen them this season against an exclusively switching defense,” he says.
It worried the Jazz for about three possessions at the start, and then it was all over.”
Utah now holds a three-game lead in the Western Conference standings and is seeking its first No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs since 1997-98.
The Jazz will play back-to-back games against the Memphis Grizzles, while the Nets will face the Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
