Here are my three thoughts on the Nets’ 96-91 loss to the Pacers in Brooklyn on Saturday night:
1. Whether Nets coach Jason Kidd read this space or not prior to Saturday’s game, he listened to the first point made about Friday’s game, which was to shorten the rotation from 11 players to 10.
The Nets did just that against the Pacers, but with a twist: giving Reggie Evans a DNP and playing rookie Mason Plumlee over 15 minutes. Plumlee performed well, giving the Nets six points and three rebounds while making several nice finishes around the rim on either drop passes or offensive rebounds.
It was a level of offensive production that Evans simply doesn’t give the Nets, and has never really been a part of his game. This marked the second time in three games that Plumlee took the floor ahead of Evans, and also was the second time he performed well in extended minutes.
Part of the reason the rotation was shortened to 10 guys was because of the absence of Andrei Kirilenko, who has suffered a reoccurrence of the back spasms that plagued him for most of the preseason. With Kirilenko out, it seems like either Evans, who didn’t play Saturday, and Plumlee, who sat out Friday in Washington, will be jockeying back and forth for that 10th and final rotation spot.
2. There’s no question that two poor decisions by Deron Williams in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game – an ill-advised foul on Pacers point guard George Hill on a 3-pointer with about three minutes left in the fourth and the Nets trailing by two, and driving needlessly into a double-team and being stripped by David West with about a minute to go – really cost the Nets. But, on the other hand, overall this was the best performance by Williams of the young season so far.
He saw his minutes climb to 32:44 – his season high so far, and coming after he played 31 minutes in Friday’s overtime win, the first time he eclipsed 30 minutes this season – and showed a much better burst to the basket than he’s shown through most of his first five games this season. Williams finished the game with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with 10 assists and just two turnovers.
The Nets may have lost the battle, but if they can start seeing Williams playing 33 or more minutes on a regular basis and looking more like the player they had the second half of last season now that he’s fully recovered from the sprained right ankle that held him out virtually all of training camp and the preseason, they’ll be much better off.
3. A look at the standings Sunday morning will make plenty of NBA fans scratch their head. The Nets, projected by many to be a title contender, had the worst record in the Eastern Conference at 2-4, while the Sixers – a team many thought could challenge the all-time record for futility – have opened the season 4-3, and sit atop the Atlantic.
But here’s yet another friendly reminder that the season is less than two weeks old at this point, and there is a long, long way to go. The two-time defending champion Heat, for example, had a four-point lead with less than three seconds to play at home Saturday night and somehow lost to the Celtics – and have already lost to the Sixers this season. The Bulls, another likely contender in the East, have also started slow at 2-3, and are at the bottom of the Central Division, as well.
We’ll see where things stand on Dec. 1, after the Nets have played 18 games and the league is a full month into the regular season. By then, we’ll have a much better understanding of where this team is going to be, and how the rest of the Eastern Conference will shake out.