Nothin' But Nets
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Brooklyn Nets: 3 things to watch against surging Nuggets

By Phil Watson

Brooklyn Nets Allen Crabbe. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
Brooklyn Nets Allen Crabbe. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Brooklyn Nets Allen Crabbe. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The Brooklyn Nets are getting healthier, which can only help them when the Denver Nuggets visit Wednesday night. Denver has won 8 of its last 10.

The Brooklyn Nets will be up at least one shooter — and more likely two — when they host the Denver Nuggets at Barclays Center on Wednesday night.

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Joe Harris, who missed Monday’s blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks that snapped Brooklyn’s nine-game winning streak at Barclays Center, was not on the preliminary injury report Tuesday after sitting out with a sore right hip.

Meanwhile, Allen Crabbe practiced with the Nets’ NBA G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, on Tuesday and has been upgraded to probable for the matchup with the Nuggets.

Crabbe has been out since Dec. 12 with a sore right knee, missing 26 games after whipping his leg off the hardwood in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Nuggets (37-16) have been hot of late, winning eight of their last 10, but their six-game winning streak came crashing to a halt Monday night, when they lost the second game of their current four-game road trip to the Detroit Pistons 129-103.

Denver was down three starters due to injury in that game and may be in the same situation in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

Shooting guard Gary Harris will miss his fourth straight game due to a groin injury, while power forward Paul Millsap (sore right ankle) and point guard Jamal Murray (sprained left ankle) are questionable against the Nets.

Murray has missed Denver’s last six games. If Millsap doesn’t play Wednesday, it would be his second consecutive game missed with his ankle problem.

The Nets (28-27) have been struggling of late, losing three straight games and four of their last five.

Since losing Spencer Dinwiddie to an injured right thumb, Brooklyn is shooting a league-worst 39.6 percent overall and 26.9 percent from 3-point range over its last six games. Their offensive rating of 99.7 over that span is second-worst in the NBA.

The shooting problems hit rock bottom in Monday’s loss to the Bucks. The Nets shot 32.4 percent overall — the third time in the last six games they’ve been held to less than 40 percent — and were just 5-of-42 (11.9 percent) from 3-point range. Those were their worst marks this season.

When the Nets don’t score, they don’t usually win. In the nine games this season that the Nets have failed to reach 100 points, they are 1-8. Brooklyn has failed to score 100 in each of its last two games, both losses.

The return of Harris and (probably) Crabbe can’t do anything but help that.

Here are three things to watch when the Nets try to beat the Nuggets at Barclays Center for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Brooklyn won a 112-110 decision at Denver on Nov. 9 in the teams’ first meeting this year.