MIAMI — The Nets couldn’t have scripted Deron Williams’ return any better than this.
After spending most of the month sidelined as he recovered from a sprained left ankle, Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes in the Nets’ 108-87 win over the Heat on Friday night, looking as if he had been playing all along in the process and clearing the way for him to be ready for the season opener in Cleveland on Wednesday.
“I felt pretty good,” Williams said with a smile afterward. “I was happy to be back out there, that’s for sure.”
Once he took the floor for the opening tip after embracing assistant coach John Welch, athletic trainer Tim Walsh and Reggie Evans on his way onto the floor, Williams — wearing all black from his headband to his shoes — looked in midseason form.
After spending the first couple minutes of the game making passes and seemingly getting himself into the flow after so much time away from the court, Williams took — and made — his first shot with 7:50 remaining in the first after catching a pass from Joe Johnson, pump-faking Mario Chalmers into the air and draining a 3-pointer from just to the right of the top of the key.
Williams then knocked down two more 3-pointers — including one right in front of the Nets bench after stealing an errant Dwyane Wade pass — before Nets coach Jason Kidd then called a quick timeout and Williams turned, saluted the players on the court and took a seat on the bench.
“I’m going to be able to do that,” Williams said of his shooting exploits. “I’m not worried about that.”
Williams checked in again late in the first quarter, playing until the nine-minute mark of the second. He missed a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired late in the first quarter before making his final one — a runner from about 10 feet out on the right side over Norris Cole — and setting up both Alan Anderson and Mirza Teletovic for jumpers to pick up his two assists on the night.
Following a quick conference with Kidd after being subbed out of the game, Williams headed to the locker room to ice his ankle, his night complete. His final line was 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting — including 3-for-4 from 3-point range — to go along with two assists, a steal and, most importantly, two healthy ankles.
“It was great,” said Paul Pierce, who had 16 points, of Williams’ return. “He just adds that dimension because of the way he shoots the ball, the way he pushes it. He’s just going to make us better. He makes life easier on the rest of us.”
Williams’ return brought to an end what has been a long and at times confusing rehab process from the sprain and corresponding bone bruise he suffered early last month during a workout in Utah.
He originally said that he would be ready for the start of training camp, but it soon became clear when he hardly did anything through the first two weeks of camp, it was going to be some time before Williams would be allowed to begin ramping up his activities.
Williams said Friday he wasn’t allowed to do any lateral movement until a week ago. The Nets had him only doing straight-ahead running so he didn’t suffer any setbacks. But he slowly began ramping up his workload beginning a week ago, then participated in a full-contact portion of practice on Tuesday before completing his first full practice of the preseason Thursday.
“It’ll take me a couple days to get the soreness out, which was good, and hopefully get a little more out today,” Williams said. “I know we’re going to have some good practices, probably Sunday and Monday, we’ll scale back Tuesday and then hopefully I’ll be ready to go against Cleveland.”
He also said he doesn’t expect the sprained ankle to linger like the issues he had in both ankles a year ago, saying the difference was that he experienced joint pain and inflammation a year ago — which went away through a combination of losing weight, getting three rounds of cortisone shots and a round of platelet-rich plasma treatment — as opposed to a sprain this year.
“Last year was just joint pain, inflammation from joints, probably from me being a little heavy,” he said. “This year I sprained my ankle.
“I don’t think I was injured last season. I wasn’t really injured. I just needed to get that weight off, and once I got the weight off, the joints felt better, I had more push, more explosiveness.”