Just when you thought you were in, they push you back out.
It was all rosy for the Brooklyn Nets entering the first half of their home-and-home back-to-back against the Boston Celtics. Finally healthy, Day’Ron Sharpe was set to play his first game in over a month, following the path of Dorian Finney-Smith and Lonnie Walker IV. Thus, Cam Johnson the only rotation player still absent, with a return imminent.
The Celtics would be missing starting center Kristaps Porzingis, likely the team’s second-best player, an off-season acquisition who has elevated Boston into historic territory.
If the Nets could just manage a split against Boston, perhaps winning the first game at home, it’d send them into the All-Star break with real momentum and a revamped roster behind not just health, but the arrival of Dennis Schröder.