PHOENIX — Ever since he dropped Kris Humphries from the rotation in order to give Mirza Teletovic a chance, Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo stressed Humphries would get another shot.
In Sunday’s win over the Suns, Humphries proved why that was the case.
Humphries scored a season-high 17 points to go along with eight rebounds in a 102-100 Nets win, their third in four games to begin the Circus Trip.
“Huge,” Carlesimo said of the importance of seeing Humphries back on track. “I think it’s important for him.
“Again, in my mind, Hump’s a good player, and we needed to get him back in the fold and figure it out. The first thing is to get him playing well, and then go back to our old problem of who we’re going to play, and how we’re going to play people.”
After sitting out for eight straight games while Carlesimo gave Teletovic a spot in the rotation, Humphries made his return in Saturday’s loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles. After doing an effective job — even with a quiet stat line of no points, two rebounds, an assist and a block in 10 minutes — against Blake Griffin and the Clippers’ front line, he got another chance against Phoenix.
Humphries made sure to take advantage, going 6-for-12 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the foul line while adding three offensive rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.
“It’s nice to get to the free throw line, see the ball go in, run the floor, get some easy stuff,” Humphries said. “Our guards did a nice job of pushing the ball, and anytime you have some good production, it always helps with your confidence. But it’s about the win, and Phoenix brought it and we were able to get the win.
“It felt good to be involved offensively and get up and down and have fun out there.”
In addition to finishing with a season-high point total, the 28 minutes Humphries played were his most since Dec. 4, when he played 36 minutes in a 117-111 loss to the Thunder.
Not surprisingly, the combination of playing many more minutes than he has recently — he had only cracked 20 minutes five times since Feb. 1 — and being left out of the rotation for a couple of weeks has Humphries not quite in the kind of game shape he was used to.
“I felt good out there,” he said. “Obviously I’m not where I could be, because a lot of times you have to play to be able to tap into that top game shape. But [strength and conditioning coach Dr.] Jeremy [Bettle] and I have spent a lot of time conditioning, lifting, doing those other things and in the time that I wasn’t playing. It’s tough to stay in shape.”
Humphries saw the effects of that when he tried to go up for a huge dunk, almost leaping over Suns point guard Goran Dragic, but wasn’t able to finish the play — instead slamming the ball off the back of the rim.
“I went to the bucket and pushed off and didn’t quite have it there,” he said with a smile. “That just comes with shaking the rust off. I was a little tired by that time, but my wind came around in the second half.”