Photo: Special to the NY Beacon

By Derrel Jazz Johnson

One day after arguably the most impressive win of the season against the Chicago Bulls, with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving all shining for the Brooklyn Nets, the team was without Irving because of the New York COVID-19 mandate and without Durant for load management. So, the undermanned and exhausted Nets, who played four games in five nights, including a trip to and from Portland, Oregon, looked like it, falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 130-109 at Barclays Center.

Harden ( 26 points, 9 rebounds) who said he was exhausted, reflected on how different the team looked 24 hours after the loss. “It feels different when we’ve got everybody there,” he said of the team. “(Wednesday) night was just how it’s supposed to be the majority of the time,” he said. “But we’re dealing with whatever we’re dealing with, so we’ve got to just go with the flow and figure it out game by game.”

From the start, it looked like it would be a long night for Brooklyn against a lowly Thunder team who came into the game with a 14-26 record. At one point they led the Nets by 23 winning 3 of the 4 quarters. Oklahoma took 45 3-pointers making 20 while the Nets missed 25 of their 32 attempts.

Said second year head coach Steve Nash, “we’re better when we have our whole group.”

The impact of COVID-19 on the team is why the organization reversed the stance allowing Irving to play road games. Time will tell if Irving decides to get vaccinated which will allow him to play home games or if the organization will let him play and pay the fines assessed by New York City.

Brooklyn hosts the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night at Barclays Center.

Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.