Kristian Winfield: The rest of the Nets’ regular season is about Kevin Durant

NEW YORK — For the Nets, the rest of this regular season is about Kevin Durant, and how a team with championship aspirations jells entering its push for the East’s top seed.

Durant had only played in two games since returning from a hamstring injury that cost him 23 games. With the playoffs drawing near, would the Nets’ superstar forward have enough time to get his wind, get his comfort level and get Brooklyn back on championship track?

The Timberwolves were hardly a challenge. They didn’t have Karl-Anthony Towns (personal reason), and even with him, Minnesota has the worst record in all of basketball. The Nets were short James Harden (hamstring), Kyrie Irving (personal reasons) and LaMarcus Aldridge (illness), but made quick work of the Wolves, jumping out to an early double-digit lead and ballooning that lead to as large as 41 in a 127-97 win on the road.

The win was expected, especially after a particularly poor performance against the defending champions. Durant’s minutes distribution, however, is telling for a Nets team trying to safely but consistently get their star forward back up to speed.

Durant came out of the gates aggressive and scored eight points in the game’s first five minutes, making all of his first three shots. He played a total of 27 minutes and scored 31 points, shooting 4 of 6 from downtown. After turning the ball over eight times against the Lakers, he turned it over four times against the Wolves: Still a high number against a poor team, but an improvement nonetheless.

The Nets led by 30 in the third quarter and head coach Steve Nash could have opted to rest Durant the remainder of the period. Instead, he went back to Durant in the fourth to maximize the opportunity of his game time with only 18 games left on the schedule until the playoffs.

Durant had help. Joe Harris had the hot hand early and finished with 23 points on 5-of-8 shooting from downtown. Landry Shamet brought another five triples off the bench, and DeAndre Jordan appeared in his first game since the Nets acquired Aldridge on the buyout market. Jordan finished with 13 points, did not miss a shot, and exhibited the athleticism Aldridge lacks.

Brooklyn got a blast from the past: D’Angelo Russell came off the bench and scored 15 points in 20 minutes. Russell recently returned from knee surgery and is also on a minutes restriction.

The Nets, though, couldn’t shake the injury bug: Reserve point guard Chris Chiozza left the game at halftime and did not return with an injury to his right hand. Maybe Steve Nash should lace them up one more time.

Nash would need an adequate ramp-up before filling in for one of his floor generals. His time would be more impactfully spent monitoring Durant’s progress back from such a long layoff.

The Nets have a game against the 76ers on Wednesday, and it remains unclear whether Durant will play in the second game of a back-to-back. If he doesn’t play, that leaves just 17 regular-season games before the playoffs.

The Nets’ big three has only played in six full games together as a trio.