James Harden sat out of Brooklyn Nets’ Tuesday night game against the Boston Celtics. This was the team’s third straight game without the star shooting guard. 

For the Tuesday game, Nets ruled Harden out with left hamstring tightness. They had originally listed him as questionable, but the final call was made after their morning shootaround.

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There has been speculation he could be dealt before Thursday’s trade deadline, though coach Steve Nash said Sunday the Nets would not be moving the All-Star guard.

Against the Celtics, the Nets failed to score over the first four minutes of the quarter and trailed 14-0. They were lagging 99-77 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. 

Brooklyn has lost eight straight games and has slumped badly since Kevin Durant was lost to a sprained left knee. The Nets had Kyrie Irving in the lineup during their road trip but he is out Tuesday because he is ineligible to play in home games, having not met New York’s mandate to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

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Harden has missed the three games when reports suggest that Philadelphia 76ers are interested in getting him. 

Ahead of the Celtics game, coach Steve Nash gave a direct answer when asked before the team’s game at Denver if the team was definitely not trading the former MVP before Thursday’s deadline.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Nash said. “I’ve talked to James, he wants to be here. He wants to be here long term as well, so I don’t think anything’s changed other than noise from the outside.

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“James wants to be here, we’re building with James and we think we have the best chance to win with James.”

“For us, we just don’t want to take any chances,” Nash said. “We know last year we lost him for an extended period and we want to be conservative and make sure he resumes full strength so there isn’t an extended absence.”

With inputs from the Associated Press