BOSTON – All-Star ahead Ben Simmons participated in pregame exercises forward of the Nets’ Game 1 loss to the Celtics on Sunday.
Simmons, who has but to make his debut in Brooklyn after the Feb. 10 James Harden commerce due to a decrease again damage, seems like he has made vital strides in his mobility, and The Athletic’s Shams Charania continues to report Simmons could make his debut between Games 4 and 6 of the first-round collection.
“By the end of the week, the goal is for Ben Simmons to get in some five-on-five and actually get bumped up, get some contact,” Charania mentioned on SiriusXM’s Pat McAfee Show on Monday. “He hasn’t achieved that but. He hasn’t achieved that since June of 2021. Game 4 is subsequent Monday, and I’m instructed that’s the level the place we must always begin trying if Ben Simmons will play or not. The objective is for him to be again between Games 4 and 6.
“I think they are very confident that he’ll be able to make a return as soon as next Monday.”
Simmons went via dribbling drills on the courtroom alongside his fellow Australian Patty Mills. He then assisted Mills via his taking pictures drills and delivered an onslaught of passes, a lot of which steered Simmons’ decrease again ache is a factor of the previous. Both Charania and ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Simmons has been “pain-free” for a number of weeks and that the Nets will look to start incorporating him into observe this week.
Simmons ended his pregame exercise with a dunk, simply three days after demanding reporters document his dunk on the finish of Friday’s observe.
Nets head coach Steve Nash has insisted Simmons will not be sprinting, however mentioned he’s working and doing taking pictures drills.
“There’s a chance Ben comes back, there’s a chance he doesn’t come back,” head coach Steve Nash mentioned on April 14. “So I think for us we got to focus on the group — support Ben and his journey to get back on the floor, but at the same time we don’t have time to lose focus on the group that’s playing.”
Simmons should nonetheless advance from particular person exercises to five-on-five work with out reinjuring his again. He acquired an epidural shot on March 13 to alleviate the ache related to a herniated disk in his decrease again. The Nets historically require a participant getting back from damage to finish three high-intensity exercises with out a setback earlier than clearing that participant for recreation motion. Nash mentioned he doesn’t imagine the Nets will waive the high-intensity exercise requirement as a result of Simmons not solely has a again damage, however he hasn’t performed a recreation since final June.
Either approach, the Nets would welcome Simmons with open arms, much more so after the Celtics outrebounded them by 13 in Game 1. Simmons persistently ranked within the Top 20 in rebounds, assists, steals and area objective proportion as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets might additionally use his defensive skills to assist restrict Jayson Tatum, who scored 31 factors and hit the buzzer-beater to win on Sunday.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com