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A16 sports
Friday 25 March 2022
Analysis: Full-time Irving doesn’t solve all Nets issues

By BRIAN MAHONEY the New York Knicks at
AP Basketball Writer Madison Square Garden.
NEW YORK (AP) — Kyrie Ir- But his refusal to get vac-
ving can play home games cinated against COVID-19
now, so the Brooklyn Nets — in a league where 97%
might be good enough to of players did — has left
win the NBA championship. Brooklyn in a precarious
Or they might be flawed position. The Nets are only
enough to miss the playoffs eighth in the Eastern Con-
entirely. ference, probably needing
The exemption given by to advance out of the play-
Mayor Eric Adams of the in to make the postseason.
vaccine mandate that And if the current standings
made Irving eligible to play hold, they’d have their first
in New York City should game in that tournament
make the Nets even more in Toronto, where Irving
explosive, perhaps too po- wouldn’t be eligible to play.
tent to be stopped four Even if they do advance,
times even by the tough- they are destined to be
est defensive teams. With locked into one of the
Irving and Kevin Durant to- lowest seeds in the eight-
gether, the Nets can pile team Eastern Conference
up the points. playoffs, forced to open
They also give them up in Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) celebrates with forward Kevin Durant, left, after Irving scored against a top team such as
bunches. his 60th point of the game in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando defending NBA champion
Take Wednesday night in Magic, Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Associated Press Milwaukee, Miami or surg-
Memphis, for example. Ir- ing Boston.
ving poured in 43 points season. An everyday Irving pro- remarkable given how dif- And it seems reasonable
and Durant had 35. Yet, the They could win it all. They vides a big boost. But Sim- ficult it is to keep a rhythm that Irving’s decision con-
Nets lost because they sur- could lose once in the play- mons still isn’t even practic- with his inability to play at tributed at least somewhat
rendered a whopping 132 in tournament and be elim- ing because of a herniated home. The game Wednes- to James Harden’s frustra-
points to a Grizzlies team inated. disk in his back, and who day was the first time he’d tion with the Nets, which
that didn’t even have its “If they can ever line it up knows how much a player played in nine days since led them to trade the
best player, All-Star guard man, where both dudes even of his ability can help he had a career-high 60 on three-time scoring cham-
Ja Morant. are playing and playing at after sitting out all season. March 15 in Orlando. pion and former NBA MVP
It’s games like that which a high level, it’s going to be Irving has always been Had the mandate re- to Philadelphia in February
make the Nets, who hope very, very scary, especially a spectacular offensive mained in place, Irving in the deal for Simmons.
to still add Ben Simmons when Ben plays,” Portland force, almost unmatched in would have been eligible Brooklyn also got back An-
to improve their leaky de- coach Chauncey Billups his ability to create shots off to play in only two of the dre Drummond and Seth
fense, the most intriguing said. his dazzling dribbling pack- Nets’ final nine games, with Curry in the trade and
team in the league in the “If” is an apt assessment of ages. His performance this six scheduled at home and both players have become
final days of the regular the Nets. season seems even more one across town against starters.q

Griner seen by U.S. consulate in Russian detention facility

ed consular access to Gri- sia’s invasion of Ukraine. an extra level of govern-
ner, something the United A member of a Russian ment attention and places
States had been demand- state-backed prison moni- them under the auspices
ing. Griner was detained toring group visited with Gri- of the Special Presidential
after arriving at a Moscow ner last week at the pretrial Envoy for Hostage Affairs at
airport, reportedly in mid- detention facility outside the State Department. The
February, after Russian au- Moscow where she’s being U.S. government has not
thorities said a search of her held and said the Phoenix yet put Griner’s case in that
luggage revealed vape Mercury star was faring well category.
cartridges that allegedly behind bars. Griner is not the only Ameri-
contained oil derived from Griner’s lawyers have been can detained in Russia.
cannabis, which could car- visiting her regularly. Marine veteran Trevor
ry a maximum penalty of 10 The legal team for the two- Reed was sentenced to
years in prison. time Olympic gold-medal- nine years in prison in 2020
Russian state news agen- ist has been quietly seeking on charges alleging that
Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner (42) shoots over Indiana cy Tass reported last week her release and has de- he assaulted police officers
Fever forward Teaira McCowan (15) in the first half of a WNBA that a court had extended clined to speak out about in Moscow. And Michigan
basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. Griner’s pretrial detention the case since her arrest corporate security execu-
Associated Press to May 19. was made public. tive Paul Whelan is serving
By The Associated Press her condition. Price says the U.S. “will do Of the thousands of U.S. cit- a 16-year sentence on es-
The U.S. State Department State Department spokes- everything we can to see izens arrested and jailed in pionage charges that his
said Wednesday that a U.S. person Ned Price told CNN that she is treated fairly prisons abroad, a small sub- family and the U.S. govern-
Embassy official has visited the official found Griner throughout this ordeal.” set are designated by the ment have said are false.
with WNBA star Brittney Gri- “to be in good condition.” Griner’s legal ordeal comes U.S. government as wrong- U.S. officials have publicly
ner, who remains detained Price did not identify the of- amid tension between Rus- fully detained — a catego- called for Moscow to re-
near Moscow, to check on ficial who had been grant- sia and the U.S. over Rus- ry that affords their cases lease them.q