The Brooklyn Nets will look to keep their season alive over the next couple of games. Down 2-0 to the Boston Celtics, they're in do-or-die mode now. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving both struggled in Game 2, and if they lose the third one in a best-of-seven series, they'd join some rather gloomy company. No team has ever come back from an 3-0 series hole. Now, the question is, can Ben Simmons come back in time to help them?
If they want to win a championship with Durant, they just might need some type of shake-up with their current rotation. Not every team can bring back a third All-Star in the middle of a playoff series, but the Nets have that chance. One who recently made an All-Defensive team might be able to at least help slow down Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown a bit and get another few transition looks into the hands of KD and Irving.
But what's the latest on Simmons possible return?
“He worked out this morning with some of the guys,” Steve Nash shared before Game 3 tipped off on Saturday. “I think he's fine, I don't think he had any setback or anything like that. So I think he got through the session today and it's positive, if anything, no setback.”
Typically, the Nets want players returning from injury to progress through individual work, through 1-on-1, 2-on-2 all the way up to 5-on-5. If they can clear three high intensity practices of 5-on-5, only then are they allowed to play.
Kevin Durant went through all of those milestones recently, returning from the MCL sprain that cost him 21 games. But Simmons, dealing with a herniated disc in his lower spine, was only just cleared for contact on Tuesday of last week. He had played some 4-on-4 and possibly could have played 5-on-5, but there weren't enough bodies in their “Stay Ready” group.
So what did Simmons do on Saturday as he teammates prep to host the Celtics at Barclays Center?
“I think it was 3 -on-3,” Nash said. The Nets coach also talked about how the return protocols that applied to Durant, for example, may not apply to Simmons in quite the same way. The three-time All-Star out of LSU, hasn't played any NBA basketball at all since June 20, 2021. So it's a bit trickier than an in season knee sprain.
Nash talked about the chances the 2021 runner-up Defensive Player of the Year could play on Monday in Game 4.
“I think it's possible but like I said before, it's not a normal return-to-play, having been out for 9 months, and being injured as long as he has been, at the back end of this,” Nash explained. “It's been about two months now I think if I'm not mistaken or more. So it's not just ‘he got through three workouts [Nets performance staff typically requires] he's ready to play,' there's a lot of bigger picture, bigger context to how he's feeling how able he would be to adapt to the environment. It's a little different than playing a game that's stashed away in the middle of the regular season. So I think there's a few factors at play here to evaluate when he's ready to play.”
What if the Nets lost in Game 3, would they still feel like rolling the dice on his return from such a serious issue?
“I think it's really a matter of if Ben's ready to play,” Nash shared. “Whether it's 3-0, 2-1 or whatever. I don't know that the score, the series is as big a factor as is he ready to play?”
Durant and Irving will do all they can to avoid that dreaded 3-0 hole. If they win, then they can begin to consider what a Simmons return might look like. Assuming Simmons has no more setbacks, it does feel very possible he could play.