Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who has missed the past four games — and six of the past seven — with a left ankle sprain, will return to action on Sunday vs. Milwaukee, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The 31-year-old was able to practice for the second consecutive day on Saturday and is not on the injury report for today’s matinee against the Bucks.
“It’s a long season. Nobody’s really 100 percent, so I’m pretty sure everybody’s got some nags and bumps and bruises, but I feel better and I’m ready to play [Sunday],” Finney-Smith said. “Yeah, no question. You know I’m playing.”
As Lewis writes, Finney-Smith has by far the best plus-minus on Brooklyn’s roster (plus-56). On top of shooting a career-best 42.2% from three-point range and playing solid, switchable defense, he’s also the Nets’ locker-room leader.
“Doe brings toughness, his veteran leadership that he brings to any team,” Trendon Watford said. “That’s what he’s made his name off of, just him being a leader and him being that tough guy, him just being a knockdown shooter and lock-down defender. We know what Doe brings every night, and we definitely can use it.”
Second-year big man Noah Clowney is questionable for Sunday’s contest after missing the past six games with his own left ankle sprain, Lewis adds.
Here are some more notes on the NBA’s two New York-based teams:
- First-year Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has been lauded for his job performance thus far, Lewis writes in subscriber-only story for The New York Post. In addition to being nominated for the Eastern Conference’s Coach of the Month award, Fernandez has drawn praise both inside and outside the organization for instilling belief in a club that was widely expected to finish with among the worst records in the league. Despite dealing with injuries to several key players, Brooklyn is currently 10-13, the No. 8 seed in the East.
- Playing without Karl-Anthony Towns, who was a late scratch due to a right knee patellar tendinopathy, the Knicks had a disappointing home loss to Detroit on Saturday, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. Jericho Sims got the start at center in place of Towns, but he only played six minutes, with head coach Tom Thibodeau turning to Precious Achiuwa and rookie Ariel Hukporti to man the middle. Mikal Bridges was disappointed with the team’s defensive effort after giving up 120 points to a Pistons team that ranks 22nd in the league in offensive rating. “Not good. I think we pick and choose when [to play defense],” Bridges said. “And we ain’t that good that we can just pick and choose when to play defense.”
- Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was questionable ahead of Saturday’s game due to a lower back contusion he sustained in Thursday’s victory over Charlotte, but he wound up playing a season-high 44 minutes and scoring a game-high 31 points to go along with 10 assists in the loss, notes Christian Arnold of The New York Post.
- Thibodeau was disappointed that Knicks forward Josh Hart was ejected for receiving his second technical foul late in the fourth quarter, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. “Josh plays on emotion which is great,” Thibodeau said. “But there’s a fine line and just, we can’t have that in the fourth quarter.” Hart claimed he didn’t know why he received either technical.
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