The Brooklyn Nets have severally struggled without superstar forward Kevin Durant (isolated MCL sprain). In his absence, Brooklyn failed to pick up valuable wins against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. Since those two defeats, the snowball is getting larger and larger.
The Nets are gone wineless without Durant, compiling a four-game losing streak. In that span, Brooklyn has dropped from the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings to the four spots. Now in Utah, the pressure is on to break the drought.
Luckily for Brooklyn, the team is fully healthy. Outside of missing their most valuable weapon on both ends of the floor in Durant, the only other player who will miss Friday night's game in Utah is new two-way guard Dru Smith. He will be with the Nets G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.
Meanwhile, the Jazz will be without a handful of players. Utah has ruled forward Kelly Olynyk (Left Ankle Sprain) out vs. the Nets. Similar to Brooklyn, the team has assigned two-way Johnny Juzang and two-way Micah Potter to their NBA G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.
The Nets are coming off a tough loss against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night. After trailing by 24 points, Brooklyn compiled a failed comeback in the fourth quarter. The team almost pulled out a needed road win, but instead ran out of gas late and played against the game clock.
The contest also included point forward Ben Simmons carelessly getting into foul trouble. After picking up a questionable fifth foul in the third quarter, Simmons argued with an NBA official and was quickly ejected from the game.
The Nets vs. Jazz contest at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah is slated to tip at 9:00 p.m. ET.
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