The Nets' injury situation could be downgraded from a full-blown crisis to just plain bad.
After missing eight players for Monday's game against Chicago, the Nets had three starters upgraded to questionable for Wednesday's game against Indiana.
Power forward Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain), small forward Cam Johnson (left ankle sprain) and point guard Ben Simmons (left knee soreness) all missed the Bulls game, but at least played against them. There's a chance to do it. Pacers.
They will be desperately needed.
Simmons told the Post he plans to play Wednesday.
Bojan Bogdanovic (recovering from left foot injury), Noah Clowney (left ankle sprain), Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain), Ziare Williams (left knee sprain), Jalen Martin (G League – dual-way) ) were all absent.
The Nets entered Wednesday's game against the Pacers having lost three straight, tying their longest loss of the season.
After losing 13 on Chicago's boards, the Nets entered Tuesday night last in the league with a rebounding percentage of 46.6. They were also 3rd worst in offensive rebound percentage and 4th worst in defensive rebound percentage.
This is a glaring weakness and they hope the return of Dayron Sharpe will help solve it.
The backup center, who was among the league's top three in both rebounding and offensive rebounding percentage a year ago, was sidelined with a hamstring injury in camp before finally making his debut on Monday.
Sharpe showed off his rebounding instincts against the Bulls, but he was clearly rusty. He got a lot of loose balls but couldn't corral them.
“It was good. It was definitely good to see,” starting center Nick Claxton said of Sharpe. “He’s sharpened.” [and] work. He is working hard to recover from a serious hamstring injury. So it's nice to have the Twin Towers back. ”
Claxton had 11 points and eight boards against Chicago, both career highs since coming back from hip tightness and back pain that has plagued him since the offseason.
“I think we’re getting there. We’re healing. [and] I feel a little better. I just try to keep myself in good shape mentally and I feel like everything else will follow physically,” Claxton said. “You know if you need a game here or there, but you just listen to your body and push yourself as much as you can.”
