Kyrie Irving was not with Brooklyn Wednesday when his Nets returned to his old stomping ground in Boston. Not that his absence stopped the “Kyrie sucks” chants or venom from Celtics’ faithful, to which Irving responded on Instagram.
Irving is not playing in the second leg of the home-and-home series on Friday night, either, the team announced.
Nets @HSpecialSurgery Injury Report for tomorrow's game vs. the Celtics: pic.twitter.com/QNmbID4jEj
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) November 29, 2019
This will make eight games Irving has missed with his shoulder impingement.
Irving leads Brooklyn averaging 28.5 points and 7.2 assists a game, hitting 34.1 percent of his threes, and the Nets offense is 6.8 points per 100 possessions better when Irving is on the court this season. Yet, without him — and with Spencer Dinwiddie as the primary playmaker — the Nets are 5-3 and the offense has had a better flow with far more passing.
The Nets need to figure out how to have that same fluid offense when Irving is on the court... which sounds a lot like what we said about Boston last season.