With Brooklyn’s clash Monday night in Minnesota being postponed – not due to COVID-19, but the police killing of Daunte Wright – there are still 19 games left in the regular-season. And the Nets have a number of questions to sort out before the postseason, where they’ll really be measured.

Largely favored to come out of the Eastern Conference, the Nets are facing great expectations, a Finals-or-bust bar to be cleared. Getting there to face the defending champion Lakers or anybody else from the West will require a number of things to go right, but health might be the single most important.

1. James Harden is out with a hamstring strain, not on this road trip to Minnesota and Philadelphia. The Nets announced on April 6 that he’ll be revaluated in ten days, which would essentially coincide with their return. What that exam finds will be all-important to their season.

Harden is an MVP candidate, leading the league in both assists (10.9) and minutes (37.1). While his injury is believed to be a Grade 1 and not as severe as the one that sidelined Kevin Durant for 23 straight games, can he return in time to build chemistry? And avoid a re-injury?

2. Harden isn’t the only superstar on hamstring watch. So far, so good in Durant’s first two games back, logging 18:56 off the bench in last Wednesday’s comeback and 23:50 in Saturday’s return to the starting lineup.

The 14 turnovers will get sorted out as Durant gets more comfortable. But after the 18-month layoff due to the ruptured Achilles and two more with the hamstring, what every Nets fan wants to know is can this team bubble wrap him and keep him healthy for the playoffs?

3. Kyrie Irving is also not traveling with the Nets on this road swing, having taken off for what the team is calling personal reasons/family matter. He’s in the midst of a career year (averaging 27.6 points and six assists), but has missed 15 of 53 games – the majority not due to injury.

Irving missed two weeks in January due to a personal leave, then sat three more last month for a family matter. While he hasn’t been ruled out for Wednesday’s tilt – he could always rejoin them in Philadelphia – it’s a situation that bears watching.

4. The center spot. LaMarcus Aldridge arrived and stepped right into the starting job, planting DeAndre Jordan on the bench. It also cut into the playing time for Nic Claxton, whose team-best 101.6 Defensive Rating may warrant more minutes.

Aldridge had looked passive in getting bullied Saturday by Andre Drummond and had been slated to miss Monday’s tilt with a non-Covid illness. But he’d averaged 26 minutes in starting five straight games, with Jordan getting DNPs in every one.

In that same span Alize Johnson joined the rotation at power forward, while Claxton saw his playing time cut to 13.6. Considering the latter had logged 22.2 over the prior eight games – with a gaudy plus-7.1 – Steve Nash may need to find minutes for him. How sick is Aldridge, and just how benched is Jordan?

“Steve has told me just to stay ready. My minutes are going to fluctuate,” said Claxton. “And as far as how DJ has been handled everything, he’s been a pro. He’s really pouring a lot into me, telling me things that he sees out there, ways that I can improve. I know it’s tough for him going from being a starter to now he’s not really playing; but he’s definitely being a professional about it.”

5. How much do the Nets want the No. 1 seed? They’re tied with Philadelphia atop the East, and face off Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

But the Big Three have still only logged a total of 186 minutes together in seven games. They’ve only started six times as a trio, and that isn’t expected to change this week. It’ll be interesting to see how hard Nash drives them to get the top seed vs. how he nursemaids them into the playoffs healthy.