Deron Williams is out for the rest of this week at least, and his ankles could potentially cause him to miss the Nets’ trip to London next week, as well.
Coach Jason Kidd ruled his star point guard out for both Friday night’s showdown against the two-time defending champion Heat in Brooklyn, and Saturday’s matchup with the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors in Toronto. Kidd also said a decision on Williams’ status for the trip to London will be made this weekend, presumably after the team returns from Toronto.
“It’s a team effort,” Kidd said. “No matter who’s in or who’s out, we win and lose as a team. We all want Deron back here soon, but it’s always that next guy up has to step up, and we’ve been lucky to have a deep team and guys have been playing hard.”
Williams, who had both a cortisone shot and platelet rich plasma treatment in both his troublesome ankles Tuesday, was seen at the Nets’ practice facility Thursday without the walking boot the team said he was in after getting the injections.
It would seem likely Williams wouldn’t make the trip to London, as the more prudent course of action seems to be having him stay home and get an additional week of rest and recovery time, then potentially returning to the court on Martin Luther King Day at the Garden against the Knicks.
“We’ve hit a rut [before] with [Williams] not playing,” Joe Johnson said. “So the fact we’ve had a couple good games, we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We can’t wait for him to get back. … We definitely need him.”
The combination of the Nets’ win over Golden State on Wednesday night and Detroit’s loss to Toronto saw Brooklyn finally move back into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference despite its 14-21 record.
It’s just the latest indication of how dreadful the Eastern Conference is this season (currently just three teams in the East have records over .500) and was even surprising to the Nets themselves.
“It’s mind-blowing,” Andray Blatche said with a smile, shaking his head. “I walked in [the practice facility], and we’ve got the little standings on the wall, and I looked and was like, ‘We’ve got the eighth seed?’
“I couldn’t believe it. I had to make sure they did it right. But we’re trying to get a higher seed. We’re trying to get better. We’re really not satisfied with being eighth.”
The Nets are happy to at least be back in the playoff picture after their dismal start, but Blatche said there was still plenty of work left to be done.
“A little, but we’re still not satisfied,” he said. “We’re still not happy. We’re still in the hole.
“We’re not comfortable with [the eighth seed]. We want to be better.”