Coach Steve Nash says he's focused on the Brooklyn Nets' reality, not where they'd be had Kyrie Irving gotten vaccinated

NEW YORK — As the Brooklyn Nets stare down the fact that their season is on the verge of coming to an abrupt end, coach Steve Nash says he is not thinking about what might have been had Nets guard Kyrie Irving taken the vaccination shot before the season.

«I don't think about it,» Nash said. «That's not realistic. It's not a worthy exercise. We deal with what's in front of us. We deal in reality. And our reality is the one we're facing and if you don't face that reality with honesty and presence you're not going to get anywhere.»

The Nets are down 3-0 to the Boston Celtics and have failed to develop continuity, a trait that has been missing throughout their first-round series with Game 4 looming Monday night.

While Irving's decision not to get the vaccination shot is not the only reason the Nets find themselves in this situation, it is the storyline that has hovered over everything the organization has done since Irving made it clear that he would not get the COVID-19 vaccination shot, despite the fact New York City mayor Eric Adams put a mandate in place that workers within the city had to get the vaccine in order to participate in the workplace.

Irving's decision came back into focus after Game 3 when he noted that he would have liked for the Nets to have more time to have jelled throughout the season.

«We're all just trying to jell,» Irving said. «And usually you're jelling at the right time. And that team in the other locker room is jelling at the right time. They've been jelling since Christmas. So for us, we're just in a new experience as a group and we just got to respect that and just bring everything we can to this next game and just do one possession at a time.

»I don't want to be too cliché but I don't have a