Jacquie Vaughn appeared to have only one message for the Nets on Wednesday once they returned to the observe court docket: “No excuses.”
The Nets is not going to have Kevin Durant for the subsequent month after he suffered an remoted MCL sprain of the precise knee in Sunday’s win over Miami. Brooklyn is now tasked with surviving the prolonged stretch with out their franchise cornerstone on the ground.
“That’s the biggest thing for this group. To [be in] the position last year where we were, I just say no excuses,” Vaughn mentioned after the Nets practiced. “Not giving this group a chance to make excuses. Here to play. Here to win. Here to compete. Doesn’t change.”
The place that Vaughn was referring to was the nosedive the Nets had final season after Durant suffered the same damage in January. It’s one which the Nets don’t need to be in once more when he ultimately returns to the ground.
With Durant out, the Nets don’t plan on altering something with their scheme once they play the Celtics on Thursday, however Vaughn did say that Brooklyn will want to “do things better.”
“Whether that is rebounding the basketball better because Kevin can make a shot for us and cover up some of our sins,” Vaughn mentioned. “So the shot discrepancy can’t be the same. We can’t turn it over the same. So all the things that increase or decrease your margins, we just got to be better at. Nothing changes for our group. We play extremely hard and let everything else fall where it may.”
Contained in the Nets locker room, that mindset had appeared to shortly be adopted among the many gamers. Nic Claxton echoed related sentiments when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday.
The Nets’ huge man appeared optimistic that Brooklyn had the items and mindset to climate the storm.
“Just our spirit, our energy, our vibes the way that we’ve been defending even though we’re definitely going to miss him out there. I’m going to miss him out there on the defensive end, but yeah the way our principles, how solid we’ve been defensively, offensively, we’ll figure it out,” Claxton mentioned.
The Nets mentioned that Durant could be reevaluated in two weeks, however a report from ESPN prompt they’ll be with out Durant for a month. Vaughn wouldn’t say on Wednesday what grade the damage was or who would begin for the Nets on Thursday.
Vaughn did say that Durant was in good spirits and was going by means of the method to recuperate.
“You don’t want him to miss anytime. But, you know, I guess it could have been worse,” Vaughn mentioned. “I guess you can say that part of it, but you don’t want him to miss any time. So for him now, just to heal and like I said, we’ll be a better team when he returns.”