Frustrated. Overwhelming. Straight bizarre.
These are the words the Nets used to describe what happened Friday night, when Kevin Durant was taken out of their starting lineup moments before the knockout, and then allowed to play just to locate the COVID-19 contact.
‘I was especially frustrated [since] we follow the protocols, we are tested every day, so I do not understand the whole thing where he could not play, and then he came on a track, and then they took him back. There’s just a lot going on. There’s too much going on. It’s quite overwhelming, “said James Harden, who questioned whether the game should be called at all.
‘If that were the case, the match would have to be postponed. Speaking of contact detection, he was with all of us, so I do not understand why he was not allowed to play and then could play and then was taken back from the track. If that was the case then maybe we should just postpone the match. This is how I feel. ”
Durant has tested negative three times in the past 24 hours, including Friday. Nevertheless, he is still pulled off the track and is not expected to travel to Philadelphia for Saturday’s giant game against the 76ers. This shortened and confused the Nets.
‘Yes, that’s what I mean, it’s spot on: confusing, frustrating. I mean, it’s bizarre, right? For him not to start, and then to be able to play, and then to be taken out again. It really just does not make sense, ”said Joe Harris, who is confused about what it means for the rest of the team in terms of contact tracing.
‘Your guess is as good as mine. I would have said, ‘Hey, if he’s sitting for contact detection, I mean, what the hell? He’s in court with all of us. ‘”
Harden had the same contact tracing questions and wondered: If safety is of so much interest, then why are you playing?
“I said what’s going on and they just said contact detection,” Harden said. ‘I think to myself, if it’s contact detection, then we’re all in the locker room together: it means there’s no game if he can not play. So it was my thinking process, and as soon as we started the game, I forgot about it. Then Kevin enters the game and I wish there must have been confusion or something messed up. ”
What confuses the Nets – and others like Lakers star LeBron James and De’Aaron Fox of the Kings – is that the NBA is planning the March 7 All-Star Game. It is held in Atlanta and the COVID-19 positive rate for Fulton County is more than 11 percent.
“The guys who are actually All-Stars, I feel bad for,” Harris said. ‘Yeah, it’s just a lot of things where it really does not make that much sense. But I’m not the one making the decisions. I’m just working here. ”
It could affect Harden, who falls into James and Fox’s camp because he’s not looking forward to it.
“I did not say anything in public, but I feel the same way as some of the players who want there to be so much going on as we try to calm a virus and tackle an event,” Harden said.
‘I know what the reasoning is, but I feel – especially with a shortened schedule imposed on players – it’s already playing a lot of games in a week. I feel like it was a week for us to relax, to be with our families to take a step away from basketball. So like I said, we’re just in it. ”