As the clock wound down inside the final minute of the first overtime of Friday night’s thriller between the Nets and Heat at Barclays Center, Shaun Livingston found himself matched up one-on-one against LeBron James while the Nets clung to a 91-89 lead.
It’s a position that would have been unthinkable as recently as Dec. 23, 2012, when he was waived by the Wizards, or even when the Nets signed him as a free agent back in July to be Deron Williams’ understudy.
But not only did Livingston find himself in that position, he capitalized on it, baiting James into a charge that gave the world’s best player his sixth and disqualifying foul, sending him to the bench and helping ensure the Nets would leave their home floor with a 104-95 double-overtime victory over the two-time defending champions in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732.
“I was just trying to make him uncomfortable,” Livingston said afterward. “He’s a rhythm player. He can get to any spot on the court … pull-up, shoot the 3. He can do it all.
“But, in that situation, he would have been going to the rim, so [I was] just trying to bait him a little bit into driving and just try to beat him to the spot. If they’d called a block, it would have been good [defense] either way.”
The officials didn’t call a block, however, and sent James to the bench after 49 ordinarily spectacular minutes for the four-time league MVP, who finished with 36 points, seven rebounds and five assists as the Heat fell to 0-3 against the two New York teams — and 0-2 against the Nets, with both losses coming in Brooklyn.
But the more noteworthy performance came from Livingston, who finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots while playing a career-high 51 minutes, as Nets coach Jason Kidd chose to lean on his veteran backup to shoulder the load left by the absence of Williams, who once again sat out after receiving cortisone shots and platelet rich plasma treatment in both of his troublesome ankles Tuesday.
“Shaun was great down the stretch, getting guys in position and executing the call,” Kidd said after the Nets recorded their season-high fifth straight win and have yet to lose in 2014. “He’s done it all for us since training camp, and it showed [Friday] in this game.”
Livingston’s journey is a remarkable one, the former high school prodigy who went straight into the draft back in 2004 rather than attending Duke, and being taken fourth overall by the Clippers. Then, a couple years into what looked like an extremely promising NBA career, he suffered one of the most gruesome injuries the league has ever seen after landing awkwardly after a missed layup in Charlotte on Feb. 26, 2007, dislocating his left kneecap and tearing his ACL, PCL and lateral meniscus, among other things.
It was a devastating injury, one that has taken the 28-year-old several years to overcome. But now, in his first full season in Brooklyn — his eighth NBA team and his ninth stop in his 10-year NBA career — Livingston has become a crucial piece for this Nets team, as he showed Friday night.
His effort at both ends of the floor helped prevent the Heat (27-10) from completing their comeback, after Miami overcame a 14-point deficit late in the third quarter to force overtime, thanks in large part to James willing the Heat despite Miami being without starters Dwyane Wade (knee), Mario Chalmers (Achilles) and Shane Battier (quad).
But after the two teams played to a standstill in the first overtime after Norris Cole (18 points and seven assists) drained a game-tying jumper with 3.3 seconds remaining to send it to a second extra session, Livingston’s runner in the lane kick-started an 11-0 run. His emphatic dunk after spinning past Cole with 1:27 remaining ended it, as the Nets — thanks also to 32 points from Joe Johnson and 23 from Paul Pierce — were victorious. as Livingston closed the book on the latest chapter in his remarkable comeback story.
“Everybody on this team knows his journey,” said Kevin Garnett, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. “Everybody is very familiar with the story, and it couldn’t happen to a better dude, a better individual.
“I’ve seen him work every day, and I’m just proud to be his teammate and I’m glad things are, at some point, turning for him. I’m happy for him, and we’re all happy for him.”