Nets guard Kyrie Irving won’t play in Game 6 of the team’s series vs. the Bucks on Thursday, head coach Steve Nash told reporters today. According to Nash, Irving likely won’t even travel to Milwaukee with the team. The plan is for him to remain in Brooklyn for treatment (Twitter link via Malika Andrews of ESPN).
Irving suffered a sprained right ankle in Brooklyn’s Game 4 loss on Sunday and missed Game 5 on Tuesday. Even without the star guard available, the Nets pulled out a victory to take a 3-2 series lead.
James Harden, who logged 46 minutes on Tuesday in his return from a hamstring strain, played a key role in that Game 5 victory and seems to be feeling alright today, despite the massive workload. He’ll be available for Game 6, Nash said today (Twitter link via Adam Zagoria).
Landry Shamet saw a greater role in Game 5 with Irving out, playing a total of 28 minutes. Bruce Brown and Mike James are also candidates for a bump in playing time, but on Tuesday they saw just 13 and three minutes of action, respectively.
Harden is psychologically injured, not Hamstring
He only played 46 minutes last night, it’s not right
He is capable to play 48 minutes
Of course Cryree isn’t going with the team. He is on team Cryree as always
Dude stop crying about Kyrie
Can’t see Kyrie or Harden playing. Harden is not right. He should be picked up full court. And abused when playing D. Bucks lucked out, they are not championship material. I really don’t even want to see them in Finals.