Banged-up Nets Ben Simmons, Nic Claxton practice ahead of big showdown with Celtics

The Nets are facing their toughest trial of nan twelvemonth conscionable arsenic they’re getting to beryllium their healthiest this season.

The Nets extremity disconnected a roadworthy travel Friday astatine reigning champion Boston, and some Ben Simmons and Nic Claxton practiced connected Wednesday afternoon.

How coach Jordi Fernandez opts to deploy them bears watching.

With Claxton having missed nan full preseason and spent astir of this play ramping his measurement backmost up to a afloat workload, he made his first commencement Monday against Memphis.

Simmons has been starting astatine halfway successful lieu of Claxton but isn’t playing some ends of back-to-backs, truthful he was rested Monday and Oct. 29 against Denver.

With questions swirling astir nan duo and really nan Nets would abstraction nan level pinch some non-shooters playing alongside each other, Claxton and Simmons person logged conscionable 8 minutes together and are a plus-12.

Trendon Watford appears to beryllium inching person to making his play debut.

The guardant has been retired since straining his hamstring successful October early successful training camp.

“The remainder of nan guys, everybody is beautiful overmuch nan same. With Trendon, we’ll cognize soon, astir apt [Thursday]. But he’ll beryllium backmost soon,” Fernandez said.

Injured Day’Ron Sharpe, who turned 23 connected Wednesday, was connected nan tribunal arsenic believe coiled down moving pinch adjunct Juwan Howard.

“He’s great. His spirits are up,” Cam Johnson said of Sharpe. “He’s moving difficult and getting fresh to get back.”

Fernandez praised Sharpe’s effect connected morale, but offered nary update connected a clip frame.

The backup halfway has a strained near hamstring and nan Nets said connected Oct. 7 that he’d beryllium evaluated successful six weeks.

“No update,” Fernandez said. “He’s successful a very bully place. He’s a happy person. He useful hard. That’s what I tin show you astir him. So it’s bully to person his energy, because moreover though he is not participating pinch nan group nan full time, he brings that energy. When we [have] to win, he brought it. He said successful beforehand of nan team. That is important for us. His voice. His bully energy.”

The Nets offered nary clarity connected second-year large man Noah Clowney, who sat retired Monday pinch a hep injury.

“No update. Yeah, he’s good,” Fernandez said. “I mean, I deliberation that our update was that nan MRI was cleanable and he was dealing pinch soreness truthful that’s what it was.”

Johnson is averaging 16.6 points, connected an early gait for a profession high.

But he has poured successful 20.0 points connected 53.7 percent shooting successful his past three, driving to nan rim harder than he has astatine immoderate constituent consistently since arriving successful Brooklyn.