The Brooklyn Nets are coming off a strong victory against the Milwaukee Bucks but will be missing several important players when they face the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.
Ben Simmons is out due to managing a lower back injury, and Bojan Bogdanovic (recovering from a left foot injury), Trendon Watford (left hamstring strain), and Day’Ron Sharpe (left hamstring strain) will also not play.
This will leave the Nets with a limited roster as they aim for back-to-back wins after losing their first two games of the season.
Cam Thomas and Dennis Schroder will be available. The two scored a combined 61 points in the game against the Bucks, making up more than half of the team’s total in their 115-102 win.
Schroder was signed to support Simmons, who has faced injuries throughout his career. He is averaging 20.7 points and 6.3 assists per game this season and brings valuable experience to the team.
“He’s done it on a winning team, he’s done it in international basketball, and he’s done it here again,” coach Jordi Fernandez said after the win over Milwaukee. “So, toughness, leadership, coach on the floor, everything.”
Schroder is in the last year of his contract and is aware that his time with the Nets might be limited.
“It’s a business, and whenever a decision is made, I just go with it and always remind myself that it’s the best league in the world,” Schroder said.
“So, it doesn’t matter where. Even if I get traded, I always have to look on the bright side. But I want to stay here.”
Brooklyn will play against a tired but relieved Denver team, which just got its first win of the season on Monday night against the Toronto Raptors. The Nuggets lost their first two games at home and were down by 10 points in Toronto with 2:12 left in the game.
They fought back to send the game to overtime and managed to win 127-125, even surviving a last-second shot from Davion Mitchell of the Raptors.
“This is an opportunity to show ourselves that even if you don’t play well, you can still win games,” said Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who scored 40 points in the victory. “That’s what good teams do — they win games when they don’t play well. Hopefully we can learn from this and show what we can do.”
Having the reigning MVP, Jokic, on the court is a big advantage. He has scored at least 40 points in back-to-back games, and Denver needed all of his points to avoid starting the season 0-3 for the first time in his career.
“Starting 0-2 is tough, especially at home, and hopefully we can win two on the road,” Jokic said.
The Nuggets had to rely on their starters for heavy minutes to come back from being down 15 points. Jokic played 44 out of 53 minutes while Aaron Gordon was on the court for 42 minutes.
Denver may need to depend on its bench against the Nets, but that group has struggled so far. Russell Westbrook has made only 5 of 25 shots in his first three games during his 17th NBA season, which is his first with Denver.
