The Nets did what they were supposed to Sunday night, dispatching a Kings team playing out the string and emerging from Barclays Center with a 104-89 victory.
Now comes the hard part, as beginning Monday night against the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors in Brooklyn, the Nets will play their next four games against teams with records above .500, and could have to play at least some of those contests without several major contributors after losing both Andrei Kirilenko (sprained right ankle) and Paul Pierce (sore right shoulder) to injuries Sunday. They joined Kevin Garnett — who missed his fifth straight game with back spasms — on the sidelines.
“It’s tough,” Joe Johnson said of the latest round of injuries. “It’s kind of been the tale of our season. We’ve had some consistency through the month of January and February, but it’s just been tough.
“We’ve got to fight with what we’ve got. Hopefully Paul will be ready to go [Monday]. We’ll see. But, if he’s not able to go again, everybody’s got to step up.”
All three players were listed as day-to-day heading into the contest against Toronto which is four games ahead of the Nets after beating the Timberwolves on Sunday. With Brook Lopez out for the season following surgery on his right foot, the Nets could be down to two of their six All-Stars for Monday.
Pierce, who left both the Nets’ win against the Grizzlies in Brooklyn Wednesday and their defeat in Boston Friday, lasted just 73 seconds Sunday before grabbing his shoulder after guarding Kings forward Jason Thompson in the post. Pierce immediately checked out of the game and never returned.
“It’s just a little stinger,” said Pierce, who didn’t speak to reporters Sunday, said after Friday’s loss in Boston. “Like [Wednesday] night, it’s been a problem for me the last few years. It’s weak right now. Whenever I get hit in that shoulder, I guess the constant years of banging, especially now that I’m playing the [power forward]. ”
The Nets continued to maintain Garnett’s injury wasn’t a significant long-term issue, though they also haven’t put a definitive timetable on his return.
“I think he’s working extremely hard right now,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said before the game. “It’s about April and May for us, but also being able to have other guys step up, which Mason [Plumlee], [Andray Blatche] and [Jason] Collins have done. We need everybody on board.
“For us, I think we’re really taking strides, but for [Garnett] it’s about him being ready to go here in the next couple days, and we’ll see.”
Kirilenko’s injury occurred in the first quarter when, after coming in for Pierce, he stepped on Deron Williams’ foot and “felt a little tweak,” leaving his status also up in the air.
“I thought I could keep going, but obviously it just stopped me,” Kirilenko said. “I don’t think it’s a serious injury, but it’s still tweaked. I still want to take care of … I assume it’ll be a couple of days.
“We’ll see [Monday]. Usually the next day is a crucial day, so we’ll see in the morning how it feels.”
The Nets managed to take care of the Kings, never trailing after taking a big early lead and then responding to a Sacramento run that tied the game early in the third quarter.
After Rudy Gay’s jumper tied it at 57 with 7:39 to go in the third, the Nets closed the quarter on a 20-8 run capped by a 3-pointer from Marcus Thornton — who the Nets acquired from the Kings in a trade for Reggie Evans and Jason Terry at the deadline.
Thornton then scored 15 of the first 18 points of the fourth quarter to finally put the game out of reach.
“If I’m open,” Thornton said with a smile after finishing with 27 points, “I’m going to shoot it.”
The Nets were once again dominated on the glass — now a regular occurrence with their small lineup — as the Kings outrebounded them 53-27 behind a monster game from center DeMarcus Cousins, who finished with 28 points and 20 rebounds.
But Brooklyn more than made up for its rebounding woes by forcing the Kings into 25 turnovers — Sacramento becoming the fourth straight opponent to turn it over at least 20 times against the Nets— which led to 28 points and helped the Nets improve to 21-9 since the start of 2014.
“It’s a trade-off we’re going to have to [live with],” Kidd said. “We have to find a way, since we’re not a very good rebounding team, to create opportunities and that’s by forcing turnovers. Tonight, we got some easy turnovers there and created some easy baskets.”