Here are my three thoughts on the Nets’ 86-62 victory over the Heat in Brooklyn Thursday night:
1. The Nets did a very nice job with Jason Kidd’s jersey retirement ceremony before the game. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s right-hand man, Dmitry Razumov, and Rod Thorn – the man who pulled off the trade that brought Kidd to the Nets in 2001 – gave speeches. Then Kidd stepped to the podium and said a few words before his jersey was raised.
But the responses to the ceremony offered further proof of the reset button the Nets hit when they moved to Brooklyn last year. Important franchise figures such as Kerry Kittles — Kidd’s running mate on a pair of NBA Finals teams — retired-number forward Buck Williams and former Nets assistant Eddie Jordan were on hand to support Kidd. At one point, they all were shown on the jumbotron inside Prokhorov’s massive suite above center court, and nobody in the sellout crowd inside Barclays Center really reacted.
Perhaps there will be another jersey retirement ceremony down the road with players who spent much of their careers with the Nets in Brooklyn and the reactions will be much different.
2. There aren’t too many old-school rivalries anymore, but the LeBron James/Dwyane Wade vs. Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce dynamic is a fascinating one.
The two sides have been going at it ever since Garnett and Ray Allen – now a member of the Heat – joined Pierce in Boston in 2007. It was that triumvirate – and the failures of Wade and James to get past them – that helped spur the Heat’s Big Three to join forces in 2010. Their memorable battle in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals included James’ indelible 45-point, 15-rebound performance in Game 6 en route to a Miami title.
Even before the new-look Nets and Heat have played a regular-season game, it’s clear the two sides have become true rivals — simply because of the presence of Pierce and Garnett on the roster (not to mention Jason Terry, who didn’t play Thursday night, but has his own history with James and the other members of the Heat). That dynamic should lead to several fun nights over the next few months and, if it works out this way, a potential playoff series in the spring.
3. After Tuesday’s win over Boston, I asked Alan Anderson – who has been pressed into backup point guard duty behind Shaun Livingston due to Deron Williams and Tyshawn Taylor sitting out with sprained right ankles – when the last time he played point guard was.
“Maybe Michigan State?” he said with a laugh.
Anderson, who played for the Spartans from 2001-05, has held up admirably under the circumstances. But the Nets playing with lineups that have virtually no chance of sharing the floor for meaningful minutes this season has made the last couple of preseason games even more meaningless than the usual ones.
We’ll see if Williams and/or Taylor is healthy in time for the Nets’ next game, on Tuesday in Boston.