WASHINGTON — It was only the first preseason game, but after months of anticipation, the Nets showed a brief glimpse of what they’re capable of against the Wizards Tuesday night.
The starting lineup — with Shaun Livingston filling in for injured Deron Williams — played just over 12 minutes together in the Nets’ 111-106 overtime win in front of a sparse crowd of 9,743 inside the Verizon Center, and was outscored by three points while it was on the floor. But any questions about how the new pieces, specifically Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, will fit together offensively appear well on their way to being answered.
“It was cohesive, [all] the things that we’ve been working on the last, what, two weeks?” Garnett said after scoring four points and grabbing seven rebounds. “It’s all coming together … you put it up against another system and see what it [does].”
After new coach Jason Kidd and the team spent the offseason preaching an offensive system with more ball movement and spacing — as opposed to the isolation-heavy offense the team ran last season — the Nets looked crisp and comfortable moving the ball to one another, getting plenty of wide-open looks either for jumpers on the perimeter or layups and dunks at the rim.
“They’re veterans,” Kidd said. “You have some wisdom guys over there and they’ve played a lot of basketball, so they understand it’s still basketball. They’ve been doing it all week at Duke, and then doing it at home.”
This also was the first time Kidd was manning the sidelines. As he promised in jest before the game, he didn’t try to draw up a play for himself, though he did coach the game without top assistant Lawrence Frank, who missed Tuesday night’s contest for personal reasons.
Still, even Kidd’s players admitted it was a bit strange to see the future Hall of Famer drawing up plays in a suit instead of executing them in a uniform.
“It was weird, I’ll be honest, seeing him in his little tight suit drawing up plays,” Garnett said, drawing laughs. “It was good, though. It was great.
“We’re trying to be whatever [Kidd] needs us to be here and I’m glad we were able to get a win for him tonight and, better yet, get better tonight. I thought we got better tonight.”
One thing that looked a lot like last season was Brook Lopez getting the ball early and often, as the center was set up for several easy layups and dunks on his way to finishing with 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting, and effectively using his bulked-up 290-pound frame to move defenders around with ease in the post.
“That’s what we’re going to try to do night-in and night-out,” said Pierce, who opened the game with a 20-foot jumper and finished with two points, two rebounds and three assists. “Establish our inside game — we feel like we’ve got an advantage there each and every night.”
Pierce, playing his first NBA game for a team other than the Celtics, said that fact didn’t faze him anymore.
“I honestly didn’t even think about it,” Pierce said. “I’m part of the Brooklyn Nets.”