Before Monday night’s game against the Hawks, coach Jason Kidd said the plan was for Andrei Kirilenko to play right around the same 14 minutes he did in the Nets’ wins in Oklahoma City Thursday and at home against Cleveland Saturday.
But plans can change.
Kidd instead opted to play Kirilenko for 21 minutes Monday night, getting another excellent effort from the versatile forward as the Nets came away with a 91-86 victory to give them a third straight win.
“I thought it was 14,” Kidd said with a smile afterward. “I think we stretched him a little bit. He will let us know if he wants to come out, but I thought [Kirilenko] was a big plus for us offensively and defensively. We probably stretched him a little bit farther than we wanted to with the 21 minutes, but he was effective for us.”
Kirilenko said the increase in minutes was simply part of the maintenance program he and the Nets have put together to try and ensure the back spasms that have plagued him since the opening weeks of training camp back will finally stay away for good.
“We have a plan, and we’re kind of working from the plan,” Kirilenko said. “I’m monitoring myself, as well, so they at least have some kind of idea, and it worked good.”
Having Kirilenko back on the floor has been a huge plus for the Nets, who have benefitted greatly from his excellent floor awareness and basketball IQ. The 6-foot-10 forward finished Monday’s game with eight points, three rebounds and four assists, giving the Nets a little bit of everything at both ends of the floor.
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I feel like I understand what we want to do, and how we want to do it. It’s just that sometimes there’s miscommunication, and that’s understandable. I’ve missed a lot of games.
“But, for the most part, I think we did a pretty good job of starting to play the way we’re supposed to play. We’ve finally started getting some free throws, getting under the basket and scoring, running fast breaks sometimes, and defensively just pretty good defense.”
In the entire 2012-13 season, the Nets used 13 starting lineups across an 82-game season.
But with Deron Williams missing his 12th game of the season Monday night because of a sprained left ankle, Kidd turned to his 16th different starting lineup through just 34 games this season, inserting Alan Anderson into the first five alongside Shaun Livingston, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in order to keep the small lineup the Nets have had success with recently intact.
“I think we’re comfortable because we’ve asked him to play all three positions,” Kidd said of Anderson, who has played point guard, shooting guard and small forward this season. “So for him, guarding the point or being out there with the small lineup is something he’s comfortable with, and the coaches are, too.”
Anderson, who scored 14 points in the win, made his 14th start of the season Monday night, equaling his total over the previous two seasons combined.