OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite their struggles this season, Kevin Garnett is confident the Nets still have what it takes to turn things around.
“This team is really good,” he said after Wednesday’s practice at AT&T Center in San Antonio ahead of the Nets’ game Thursday against the Thunder. “We just have to come together.
“It can’t be individuals, and we as men have to have more grit. When we get down we have to push through. Even though it might hurt, even though it might be tough, we have to believe that collectively. It can’t be a couple guys or whatever.”
At 10-21 and having lost six of its last seven games, there have been plenty of tough times for this group recently, leading to reports the locker room has begun to fracture under coach Jason Kidd’s leadership.
But Garnett said everyone is still working together to try and figure a way out of the mess they’ve made two months into the season.
“We’re all trying to help each other out,” he said. “Not just me and Jason, but everybody collectively.
“As a leader you want to make sure that you’re being the example, and the ones who don’t follow you, you don’t necessarily focus on that. You focus on you being the example, you focus on you having yourself ready, and that’s what I’ve been doing, or at least trying to do.”
In one small piece of good news amidst the Nets’ current struggles, Andrei Kirilenko came through his first game action in nearly two months without any issues.
Kirilenko, who has been battling back spasms since the second week of training camp that caused him to miss 26 of the first 30 games (including 25 in a row), played 11 minutes in the Nets’ loss to the Spurs Tuesday night and had no issues with his back either after the game or during Wednesday’s practice.
Kidd said Kirilenko might see a small increase in minutes beginning Thursday night after being on a 10-12 minute limit against the Spurs, but Kirilenko said he would probably need to play a few games at around roughly the same minute total to make sure his back is cooperating before progressing further.