On a night that the worst team in the NBA shelved its star big man for the season and lost three more players during the game – Robert Covington carried off on a stretcher – the Nets still found a way to lose, falling 95-89 at the Wells Fargo Center.
Jahlil Okafor was ruled out for six weeks to have surgery on his torn meniscus, while Richaun Holmes left with an Achilles injury, Jerami Grant walked off to be evaluated for a concussion and Covington was taken to Jefferson Hospital to be evaluated for a possible neck injury. But the Nets (18-47) trailed by as many as 19, and never got closer than three, at 74-71 in the fourth quarter.
Brooklyn fell behind 17-6 right out of the gate, and the deficit swelled to 52-33 on Ish Smith’s jumper with 2:46 in the half. They went on to lose despite a game-high 24 points from center Brook Lopez, 21 from Thaddeus Young and a near triple-double by Donald Sloan (14 points, nine boards and nine assists).
Philadelphia (9-56) is 2-1 against the Nets and 7-55 against everybody else. Or more to the point, the 76ers had a 13-game losing stretch, bookended by victories against the Nets on Feb. 6 and now Friday night. And as bad as that last loss to Philadelphia was, this was far, far worse.
The 76ers were so desperate they had to dust off venerable Elton Brand. Yes, he’s still in the league; but he’d only logged 19 minutes in two appearances all season. This was a shell of the team Brooklyn lost to, and a squad one could’ve hardly blamed for being distracted and dispirited.
In a chaotic sequence, Philadelphia forward Grant got knocked down and went flying, his foot coming up and kicking teammate Covington square in the face, snapping his neck back. Then as Young stumbled backwards in the mass of tangled bodies, he fell right on Grant’s head.
Play continued upcourt before it was eventually stopped with 9:40 left in the third quarter and Brooklyn trailing 57-47.
Both players were down for some time, before Grant eventually sat up and was able to walk off the court under his own power. But Covington was immobile on the court for roughly 10 minutes, looked after by trainers for both teams, before eventually being put on stretcher and carried off.
Play resumed and the Nets fell even further behind, missed four shots in close and had another blocked as they trailed 66-53.
The Nets clawed within 74-71 with 9:56 when Shane Larkin found Sean Kilpatrick. But that’s where the rally ended.
Okafor will miss the rest of the season with a small meniscus tear in his right knee, but it was news that had the 76ers breathing a sigh of relief. He’ll be able to resume basketball activities in six weeks.
“It’s going to be a 10-minute procedure,” said 76ers coach Brett Brown. “It’s going to restrict him from playing for six weeks, but because of the timing it sounds more dramatic than it probably should that given we’re not going to see him again (this season). But the impact it has on someone is negligible. It’s stuff that you can continue to strengthen and rehab. You do take a deep breath and say that’s not terrible, that’s not bad.”
Link : http://nypost.com/2016/03/11/76ers-neck-scare-overshadows-nets-unspeakably-bad-loss/
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