Nets’ Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving Back Together vs. Celtics

The Nets’ tumble back to .500 was punctuated by a symmetrical 9-23 record after they started the season with a 23-9 mark.

The sinking Nets haven’t slipped below the break-even level since they lost two of their first three games in October, however, and they will look to avoid that negative milestone on Sunday in Boston against the streaking Celtics, who have won 15 of 18 to get to 38-27 and distance themselves from the eighth-place Nets in the Eastern Conference standings.

While the Nets still await the debut of trade-deadline centerpiece Ben Simmons, the nationally televised matinee Sunday will be only the fourth game in which unvaccinated part-timer Kyrie Irving and superstar Kevin Durant — who returned Thursday from a six-week absence due to a sprained left MCL — will be in the lineup together this season.

“I would say time’s definitely not on our side. But we’re here and this is what we have, this is what we’re dealing with,” veteran guard Patty Mills said after practice Saturday in Brooklyn. “So it’s about making the most of the time that we do have, I’d say knowing that we got Kevin back and knowing that Benny will be back at some point and then being able to find a way to make it happen.

“I think that is the mindset. Is it going to be tough? Yeah, of course it is. But nothing worth doing is ever easy and you know we’re trying to accomplish something here that’s going to be hard to pull off. But the belief is still there, 100 percent.”

The Nets will get back coach Steve Nash. He cleared health and safety protocols Saturday and will be on the bench Sunday after he missed the previous three games.

Durant netted 31 points in 35 minutes Thursday in a home loss to East-leading Miami, his first action since suffering the knee injury in mid-January.

Barring a change in local COVID-19 mandates, Irving presently will be available for just seven of the Nets’ final 18 games, though the seven-time All-Star guard will be eligible to play in three straight road games this week (at Boston and stops in Charlotte and Philadelphia), giving him and Durant a chance to play a brief string of games together.

“It’s very important. I think it’s a part of our approach of trying to get this group to jell and form the most cohesion possible during this stretch,” said assistant coach Jacque Vaughn, who has run the bench in Nash’s absence. “So to see both of those guys on the floor is gonna be huge for us as a team.”

General manager Sean Marks said last week there is “no real timetable” for Simmons’ debut, but the three-time All-Star clearly is not expected back in time to face his former team, the 76ers, on Thursday. Simmons has not appeared in a game all season — partly citing mental-health concerns — ahead of the blockbuster trade that brought him to Brooklyn and shipped James Harden to Philadelphia ahead of the Feb. 10 deadline.

Mills, who scored 14 points in 30 minutes off the bench against the Heat, said he believes the mood of the team “is still hungry to just try and figure it out” until the roster is at full strength.

“I think that’s what it is and obviously the vibe I guess of having Kevin back was great, knowing that we’re getting other guys back, obviously Kyrie on the road now and then obviously the other big fish in Benny,” Mills said. “So the mood is just trying to stay hungry and stay together, to try and figure this thing out.”