Marshon Brooks

The Brooklyn Nets will be shorthanded again tomorrow night when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Starting small forward Gerald Wallace will miss his 5th straight game with an ankle injury and bench player Marshon Brooks will miss his 3rd in a row also with an ankle injury. The Nets are 2-2 in games played without Wallace and 2-0 without Brooks, but both of those games were against the woeful Orlando Magic.

The Nets should be good enough to beat the Cavaliers without these two guys, but both of them, especially Wallace, need to come back soon. I expect at least Wallace to return on Thursday night when the Nets host the Boston Celtics in the Nets’ first nationally televised game of the season. If Wallace cannot go, Paul Pierce may kill the Nets. They need Marshon back, too, but he is not nearly as important to the team as Wallace is.

Marshon Brooks

This morning at shootaround, Nets second-year guard Marshon Brooks sprained his ankle and is questionable for tonight’s game in Orlando. He is the third Net to suffer an ankle injury this season, following Gerald Wallace and Josh Childress. Childress will play his first game for Brooklyn tonight, while Wallace is still out with his injury.

If Marshon is not able to play, Tornike Shengelia will take his spot. Toko is listed as inactive right now, along with Gerald Wallace.

Marshon’s injury doesn’t appear to be serious, but a similar injury has kept Wallace out for at least 4 games. Brooks provides an offensive spark off the bench for Brooklyn and hopefully they won’t even need that tonight against an untalented Orlando team.