CLEVELAND — Here are my three thoughts on the Nets’ 98-94 loss to the Cavaliers in their season opener Wednesday night:
1. There was quite a bit of vitriol on Twitter following the game for a variety of reasons, none of were warranted.
The criticisms of acting coach Joe Prunty were probably the most amusing. Any decisions Prunty made were made in conjunction with Lawrence Frank, John Welch and the rest of the coaching staff – and likely would have been exactly the same if Jason Kidd was also on the bench rather than serving a suspension.
Regardless of which coach was the one designated to speak to the media, as Prunty was, the decision-making process wasn’t going to be communal.
Then there were the criticisms of the Nets sitting Deron Williams for the entire fourth quarter after he reached his minutes limit. After playing just 10 minutes of live game action during the preseason – all of which came Friday in Miami in the finale – it didn’t make sense to push Williams for more than the 22 minutes he finished with Wednesday night.
Even Williams himself – while clearly frustrated with the situation – admitted there was no other way the game could have played out. He sat for the final time with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter.
“We talked about it,” Williams said after finishing with seven points and nine assists. “It would be hard for me to sit. … I don’t know how much real time it would be, but from the middle of the third quarter to [re-enter at] the end of the fourth quarter, that’s a long time sitting out. It’d be tough for me to get going after that.”
Other fans criticized the Nets for playing their entire bench together for stretches of the game. However, the Nets have talked at length about how deep they are, and if they are going to limit the minutes of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett – not to mention they’re currently limiting Williams’ minutes, as well – this is a scenario that will occur by default.
And that bench unit, led by Jason Terry, brought the Nets back into the game at the start of the fourth quarter, which would have been hailed as the key to the game if they had been able to pull out the win.
It’s important to remember this was just one game out of 82. On Wednesday night alone, the dreadful 76ers beat the defending champion Heat and the rebuilding Suns beat the Trail Blazers. The Cavs, if they can stay healthy, are considered by many to be a playoff team. Losing a close game to them on the road – especially one in which Deron Williams was limited to 22 minutes and Andrei Kirilenko didn’t play at all – is far from an embarrassment.
2. Even with Kirilenko (back spasms) sidelined, Wednesday was the unveiling of the Nets’ optimal rotation, and there weren’t a lot of surprises.
The starting five for the Nets – playing together for the first time in a live setting – had a plus-15.4 rating, including a stellar 116.4 offensive rating in 12 minutes. They immediately showed the kind of potential we thought they had when they were put together.
The Nets played both Pierce and Garnett exactly the way they were expected to. Pierce finished the game with 29:51 of game action, and Garnett played 26:17. Those are the kind of minute totals the Nets need to keep both of them at throughout the season, in order to keep them healthy and fresh.
The Nets also rolled out their expected bench rotation, with Shaun Livingston, Jason Terry, Alan Anderson, Reggie Evans and Andray Blatche each playing at least 15 minutes. It’s likely Anderson will see his minutes drop from significantly — potentially falling all the way out of the rotation — when Kirilenko is healthy, but his ability to play shooting guard, small forward and point guard (at least in a pinch) means he likely will never be left out for long.
It’s also pretty clear Mirza Teletovic is the fifth big man, as it appeared he was throughout the preseason, and the staff is wary of using Tyshawn Taylor, as the Nets opted to play Anderson at point when Livingston got into foul trouble in the second quarter.
3. The most intriguing development might have been the coaching staff’s willingness to extend Brook Lopez’s minutes. Lopez barely cracked 30 minutes a game last season, yet he finished Wednesday’s game with 21 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots in 33:37.
If Lopez finishes the season averaging 34 or more minutes per game, he seems like a good bet to finish inside the top 10 in the NBA in scoring. That is especially likely when you consider most teams will not have a pair of quality centers such as Anderson Varejao and Andrew Bynum to throw at Lopez. Plenty of teams that won’t even have one, which should allow Lopez to be the beneficiary of plenty of big scoring nights.