TORONTO — Nets guard Patty Mills missed Friday’s 119-116 win over the Raptors due to a non-COVID illness and can likely miss Sunday’s game in Detroit as well.
Mills was the choice of the DNP coach in Monday’s victory in Washington, but was under the weather on Thursday. He was sidelined from that day of coaching so he would not infect the remainder of the team, and the Nets would not bring him north to Canada either.
Patty didn’t travel. He’s not sick with COVID-19, he hasn’t traveled,” said coach Jacque Vaughn, who didn’t expect the seasoned guard to join the team in Detroit on Sunday. “Is gorgeous [sick]. He has doubts about Detroit. Yes, he has doubts.
![Patty Mills](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/newspress-collage-25047452-1671252587165.jpg?1671234645&w=1024&1671234645)
Nets defenseman Seth Curry returned to the court against the Raptors on Friday. He was questionable with a strained right hamstring and had imaging on Thursday after arriving in Toronto. Nevertheless it got here out clean and after testing his hamstring through the pre-match warm-up, he declared himself fit to play.
“I’m good,” said Curry, who spent seven goalless minutes off the bench and recorded an assist.
“Seth had an MRI after we came [Thursday] night. The MRI was clean, which is great,” Vaughn said before Curry’s status was finalized.
“We’ve got MRIs of all the things now, we do MRIs each time. He was clean, after which he actually plans to shoot on the court to be sure, and we’ll have something like a choice through the game. We wish him to feel good. The MRI was clean, that part is marked. You wish him to feel good as a player as well.
The Nets were fined $25,000 by the NBA for reporting an injury related to Saturday’s game when eight rotation players missed a win in Indiana. Vaughn said on the time that he didn’t expect any punches. On Friday, he shrugged, saying the Nets had no plans to appeal the choice.
“Ah, you understand me; I’m all about facts and logic,” Vaughn said. “We’ve got been fined. We’ll take the penalty and play. That is it.”
Yuta Watanabe scored 17 points off the bench against his former team. He hit 6-of-7 from the sector and 3-of-4 from behind the arc – including a strong 3-point corner kick with 15 seconds left from Kyrie Irving’s clearance.
“The last two games. I wasn’t shooting well, so it was good to see my shot go in,” said Watanabe. “Once more, I actually appreciate my teammates who kept telling me to shoot with confidence. So yes, it was a team effort.
“Ky got the ball. He was just driving. I used to be wide open. He found me. He gave me a fantastic pass.”