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| Pierce suffered the injury in the Nets' loss to the Rockets in Houston on Friday |
Another day, another injury for the Nets.
Paul Pierce, who missed Brooklyn's win on Saturday over the Grizzlies, was diagnosed earlier today with a broken hand, which he suffered in the Nets' embarrassing blowout loss to the Rockets over the weekend. The timetable reported for Pierce's return is from two to four weeks, the probable best case scenario for a broken hand. Paul hasn't shot well at all this year from the field (slashline of 36.8/26.8/85.1), so maybe the injury has messed with his normally impeccable stroke.
Obviously, the already banged-up Nets–without Deron Williams (ankle), Andrei Kirilenko (back), and Jason Terry (knee) for the foreseeable future–don't need any more guys to be out of the lineup. However, it's possible a few weeks to rest up and heal could give Pierce the second wind he needs to be the productive and consistent scorer and defender he was with the Celtics.
His absence will free up a lot of minutes to be spread around to the Nets' multiple reserves forwards, such as Mason Plumlee, Reggie Evans, Mirza Teletovic, and Toko Shengalia. Reggie has been pushed out of the rotation recently, so Jason Kidd might give him some more playing time to prove his worth on this team. Mason and Mirza have been great lately, and played big roles in the win over Memphis, so their PT will only go up.
That leaves Toko left. I think he's going to be the guy squeezed out of minutes with Pierce out of the lineup solely because he hasn't done much this year, good or bad. When he has played, he's been decent–not terrible–but hasn't done enough to warrant a more significant role. He's just not a great scorer, shooter, or rebounder and isn't very explosive. In turn, Reggie, Mirza, and Mason are at least one of those things.
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