Andrei Kirilenko was forced to sit out of Saturday night’s 96-91 loss to the undefeated Pacers in Brooklyn after suffering a reoccurrence of back spasms.
Kirilenko played more than 12 minutes in the first half of Friday’s 112-108 overtime loss to the Wizards in Washington, but didn’t play after that.
“He’s been out for a while, so I don’t want to stretch his minutes too far when he’s out again,” Kidd said after Friday’s game. “So it’s a process with him, and I thought Alan [Anderson] did a great job when we called on him.”
Before Saturday’s game, however, Kidd said Kirilenko woke up with back spasms and would be unavailable for the game.
Anderson took Kirilenko’s spot in the rotation, finishing with four points in 17 minutes, and the Nets recalled Tornike Shengelia from their D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor, to take Kirilenko’s place on the active roster.
Kevin Garnett did play in both halves of the Nets’ first back-to-back set of the season.
Whether Garnett would do so has been a topic of discussion ever since training camp began, but the future Hall of Fame power forward finished the game with six points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes, including an emphatic put-back slam dunk early in the fourth quarter.
After struggling offensively through the first few games of the season, Garnett admitted the dunk was a nice play for him to get.
“Yeah, man,” Garnett said. “Just timing, man. Timing is everything. It’s no different from any type of rhythm that someone’s trying to get. I’m no different from that.
“I’ve just got to quit thinking so much and be a little bit more aggressive. I’m trying to make things easier for Brook [Lopez] and cause opportunities for other people out there, but I’ve got to be a little more aggressive and look for my offense a little bit.”
Part of the thinking behind Garnett playing both games was likely the fact the Nets have three days until their next game, Wednesday in Sacramento, along with the team’s need to gain some continuity after the starting lineup never got a chance to play together as a complete unit during the preseason.
But Garnett didn’t mind saying the upcoming three-day break is a welcome one.
“Days off are always good,” Garnett said with a smile. “Make no mistake about it.”
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The Nets saw an old friend in Pacers backup point guard C.J. Watson.
Watson, who finished with six points in 16:51, was an effective backup behind Deron Williams a year ago, and often worked well paired alongside him in the Nets’ backcourt. But the thing he will be remembered best for is missing a dunk attempt against another former team, the Bulls, in Game 4 of the Nets’ first round playoff series in Chicago.
Behind a ridiculous effort from Nate Robinson, the Bulls erased a 14-point deficit late in the fourth quarter of that game. Chicago went on to win in triple-overtime and eliminate the Nets in seven games.
“C.J. has given us big minutes all year,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “When [starter George Hill] missed games, C.J. started and we went 3-0.”