CLEVELAND — Lonnie Walker returned from an sickness for the Nets Sunday evening.
Brooklyn’s sixth man missed Saturday’s loss in Charlotte after having initially been listed as questionable.
Walker had performed via an ankle damage earlier than that, scoring 19 factors towards Philadelphia whereas being hobbled after which topping that with 21 within the loss at Detroit whereas unwell. However after being left again on the group lodge throughout Saturday’s loss to the Hornets, Walker was cleared to play Sunday and chipped in with 4 factors in 14 minutes.
“We’ll see how he’s doing,” interim coach Kevin Ollie stated of Walker earlier than the Nets’ 120-101 victory over the Cavaliers. “He got here all the way down to our walk-through on the lodge. However we’ll see how he’s doing and see what number of minutes he can provide to us.
“Like I say, I depend on him and our nice medical workers to present us updates on Lonnie and see if he’s prepared or to not go however I do know he’s a gamer. He was sick earlier than the Detroit recreation and got here out and performed very, very effectively for us. However we need to guarantee that he has longevity on this and never put him on the market the place he can, you already know, harm himself much more with the sickness.”
Cam Johnson was again in Brooklyn nonetheless nursing his sprained proper ankle. He’s missed the final three video games with the damage suffered touchdown on Kyle Lowry’s foot.
Whereas Johnson took sufficient of a step ahead to get some on-court work in, it’s unsure whether or not he’ll be cleared for full follow when the group returns to HSS Coaching Heart on Tuesday.
“Yeah, like I say it’s day-to-day with Cam, how’s he responding to therapy,” Ollie stated. “I do know he bought on the courtroom a bit bit … and doubtless seeing how he responds. It’s simply day-to-day. I can’t speculate if he’s going to be able to follow on Tuesday once we get again. That wouldn’t be proper for me to take a position that.
“However like I say, I’m at all times gonna say, I’m gonna lean on the participant, lean on our medical workers to make the appropriate judgment. And when he’s on the market and when he’s able to go, I count on the total Cam Johnson to return out and play his finest basketball for us on this final little dwelling stretch that we’ve.”
Mikal Bridges broke out of his latest droop with a robust recreation on each ends of the courtroom. The struggling wing had 25 factors on 9 of 14 taking pictures, together with 5 of 8 from behind the arc. However he added 5 assists, 5 boards and a game-high three steals.
“You bought to be higher on each ends via extra environment friendly, guard, rebound. Do every thing,” Bridges stated. “So simply hold going, prepare for the subsequent one, do the identical factor.”
Bridges had averaged simply 16.0 factors on subpar .367/.288/.677 splits.
The Nets shot 53.2 p.c and a season-high 51.4 p.c from deep, 18 of 35.
With their 18 of 20 from the free throw line, it marked the Nets’ first 50/50/90 taking pictures recreation for the season.
All-Star Donovan Mitchell was out for Cleveland with a left knee bone bruise, whereas massive man Evan Mobley is out indefinitely with a left ankle sprain.
Ty Jerome was out with a proper ankle damage, Max Strus with a proper knee pressure, and Tristan Thompson suspended for violating the league’s drug coverage.
