#Nets will have to try to avoid elimination without Joe Harris

The Nets will face elimination in Sunday’s Game 4 against Toronto without Joe Harris. And even if they extend their first-round series against the defending champs, they haven’t had any talks about getting their best shooter back.

“We haven’t even assessed that yet. My conversations with him were just checking on him to make sure that he was good and to let him know that we’re here for him when needed,” interim coach Jacque Vaughn said. “I think the biggest task right now is for us to extend the series, and so to get a win and see what happens afterwards.

“It’s the ultimate compliment to him that he was concerned about the guys and the game, and so encouraging of the group. So while we were checking on him he was checking on us. So it’s Joe Harris to the fullest.”

Harris left the Orlando bubble following the Nets’ Game 2 loss because of a family emergency. Whatever the situation was, Harris appeared to even be aware of it at least a day before that Wednesday game and played through it, according to teammates.

“It’s very difficult. As athletes, we go through this a decent amount, we have lives outside of this game, lives that are more important than this game,” Garrett Temple said. “I talked to him about it the day before he left. I told him he definitely needs to go take care of business, take care of his family, take as much time as he needs. We’re going to go do what we need to do without him, but he needs to go take care of home.

“I’ve talked to him since, and just continued to tell him I’m praying for him and his family. Let him know that I’m here for him if he needs me. But yeah, once you get on that court, you try to focus on basketball. There are things that go on in our lives that may have our minds somewhere else sometimes.

“And obviously a guy like Joe Harris is probably the nicest guy on our team, so when he’s going through something like he’s going through, you definitely think about that. Again my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family while they go through this time.”

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Garrett Temple saw the benefits of the social justice messages the players have been able to deliver during the bubble, both in getting together like-minded players to push issues and also influences young viewers.

“I had no idea the Morris twins are into education reform, nor Kent Bazemore or CJ McCollum,” Temple said. “It’s very big that people are wearing those messages on their jerseys. When people are watching games for the first time, or young kids are watching for the first time to be able to see that Chris Paul believes in equality.

“A 6-year-old kid may ask, ‘What does that mean?’ They see group economics on the back of Anthony Tolliver’s jersey, they may ask what does group economics mean? So subconsciously we’re educating people, opening people’s eyes … to maybe do more research on things they wouldn’t have done had we not had these messages.”

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Jamal Crawford (hamstring) is out. … Toronto’s Nick Nurse was named Coach of the Year.