The Nets’ banged-up frontcourt got healthier in time for Sunday’s showdown with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Second-year power forward Noah Clowney suited up Sunday for the first time since spraining his left ankle on Nov. 24.
He joined fellow power forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who made his return, as expected, from his own left ankle sprain that kept him out four games.
Clowney, 20, injured his ankle in the fourth quarter of Brooklyn’s 108-103 win in Sacramento. The Nets originally said Clowney would be re-evaluated in two weeks, and Sunday’s game at Barclays Center marked exactly two weeks since the injury.
“That tells you that he really wants to get back, and obviously he is completely healthy,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernández said of Clowney’s quick return.
“He’s able to be back with the team, but [it] also tells you that he cares and he wants to be with the group. He was playing well when the sprain happened, and now he wants to right away be with us, with his teammates.”
Clowney averaged 7.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 16.5 minutes per game over 15 appearances, including one start, before the injury, emerging this year as a regular piece of the Nets’ rotation after playing sporadically for most of his rookie season.
The 6-9 forward, who had been listed as questionable on Saturday’s injury report, entered Sunday shooting 39.4% from the field and 37.7% from 3-point range.
Finney-Smith, meanwhile, did not appear on the injury report and said during Saturday’s practice that he expected to return Sunday.
Known for his hard-nosed defense, Finney-Smith entered Sunday averaging 10.7 points per game while shooting a career-best 42.2% from 3-point range in 15 appearances, all starts.
“We’re great when he’s on the floor,” Fernández said of Finney-Smith. “We’re great when he is dressing and he’s part of the team. He always keeps everybody engaged when he’s on the bench. He talks. He supports his teammates on the court. … He makes winning plays on both ends, and all those little things are important.”
Fernández said Clowney and Finney-Smith, 31, would both be able to play “pretty regular minutes” but acknowledged he was “not gonna run them through the ground.”
They returned in time to face Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ all-world power forward who entered Sunday averaging an NBA-best 32.5 points per game.
The Nets have navigated front-court injuries all season. Starting center Nic Claxton missed more than a week last month with a lower-back strain, and he has sat several times since returning for injury management.
Backup center Day’Ron Sharpe made his season debut last week after suffering a hamstring strain during a training camp practice.
Brooklyn entered Sunday averaging an NBA-worst 38.3 rebounds per game.
“We’ve had centers out and power forwards out,” Fernández said. “You can try to fight, but it’s hard when you don’t have the size out there. … Nic, Day’Ron, Doe and Noah, and now having them back is just great. Presence, physicality, paint/rim defense and rebounding, all of that should be better.”
NAVIGATING INJURIES
The Nets have been bitten by injuries beyond the frontcourt, too.
Leading scorer Cam Thomas remains out with the hamstring strain he suffered on Nov. 25, which is expected to cost the electric shooting guard at least three weeks.
Fernández says he has leaned on his experience as a G League coach to navigate the Nets’ rash of injuries during his first season in Brooklyn.
“In a good way, healthy competition within the group is extremely important,” Fernández said. “I want the second group to try to fight to be in the first group, the guys that are out of the rotation to be in the rotation, and I think that is very important. The best groups, they have that in common, that competitiveness. It has to be healthy, but there’s no pink elephants. We’re fighting for minutes … and then do what’s best for the group. To me, that’s the best way to look at injuries.”
HARDEN’S INFLUENCE
Even before they were teammates, Thomas modeled his game after James Harden’s.
Thomas, 23, shared as much on a recent episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” saying he began taking notes on Harden’s playing style back when the latter was in Houston.
“I really tried to pattern my game after James: the ball in his hand, the step-back threes, all the iso moves,” Thomas said. “Before I even got there, I was already tapped in with watching James and knowing all his moves and stuff.”
The Nets drafted Thomas, himself an isolation specialist, in 2021, and he briefly overlapped with Harden before Brooklyn traded the latter to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2022.
Thomas is averaging a career-high 24.7 points per game this season.
