Here are my three thoughts on the Nets’ 101-100 win over the Heat in their home opener Friday night:
1. This was the kind of well-rounded and balanced effort that the Nets have envisioned from this group ever since general manager Billy King began renovating the team’s roster this offseason.
Sure, it’s great to have a star-studded starting lineup like the one the Nets possess, one that includes 36 All-Star appearances between them. But any New York basketball fans saw what happened to Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett when they went up against the Knicks as members of the Celtics last spring, and simply wore down under the strain of having to try to carry them over the finish line. Even Joe Johnson, who at 32 still is in the tail end of his prime, wore down and developed plantar fasciitis after leading the Nets in minutes last year.
That’s why it was essential for King to stock the this team with a deep bench that could allow the Nets to manage everyone’s minutes in order to be as fresh as possible when the playoffs roll around next spring.
Having 10 players finish the game with over 10 minutes played and having nine players score six or more points is what allowed the Nets to defeat the Heat while finishing the game with only three players in double-figures. It’s also the kind of formula that it should be safe to expect to see from the Nets throughout the rest of the regular season.
2. With Friday’s game marking the first time the Nets had their full 15-man roster available and ready to play, we got to see a few telling signs of how the Nets want to deploy their resources moving forward when everyone is available.
It appears that, at least against smaller teams like the Heat, the Nets will go with their usual starting five, followed by Shaun Livingston, Jason Terry, Alan Anderson, Andrei Kirilenko and Andray Blatche, in some order. Reggie Evans was clearly the odd man out Friday night, only playing a few minutes in the second half when Brook Lopez was saddled with foul trouble. It seems plausible that either Terry or Anderson could see their minutes drop when the Nets go up against a bigger team like the Bulls or Pacers, with Evans then getting a larger role. But that still remains to be seen.
In addition, it also was interesting to see that the Nets designated Tyshawn Taylor, along with Tornike Shengelia, as their two inactive players. Taylor was active but didn’t play in Wednesday’s season opener when Shaun Livingston was in foul trouble, with Anderson filling in at backup point guard instead. It seems clear that Taylor isn’t going to factor into the Nets’ plans for now, unless there’s an injury to either Deron Williams or Livingston – and perhaps even not then.
3. Williams may not have looked like a world-beater Friday night, but it was another step in the right direction. As Williams himself said postgame, he’s now going through the typical process that normally coincides with the opening couple weeks of training camp through the first week of the season, after playing only 10 minutes total in the exhibition schedule in the Nets’ final preseason game in Miami last week.
But late in the fourth quarter, Williams twice found Joe Johnson for wide open 3-pointers on the wing (ironically the final two buckets of the game) and helped navigate the Nets to a win, something the Nets lacked in Wednesday’s loss to the Cavaliers.
With his minutes limit set to be lifted Sunday in Orlando, the Nets will now hope that Williams will soon be looking like the player who terrorized defenses around the league in the second half of last season.