The Nets talked a lot during the preseason about playing their two point guards — Deron Williams and C.J. Watson — together in the backcourt.
But after they were paired for more than 10 minutes per game during the first 10 games of the season, Nets coach Avery Johnson went away from the Williams-Watson backcourt for the third straight game during last night’s overtime victory over the crosstown Knicks.
“I think it’s been matchups, and part of it has been sometimes when we’re a little bit smaller recently in the backcourt we’ve had trouble rebounding the ball,” Johnson said before the 96-89 win at Barclays Center. “It has forced Deron to really exhaust a lot of energy defensively battling some bigger guys.
“Statistically, it hasn’t really worked the way we wanted it to. So now that we have [Keith] Bogans healthy, [Stackhouse], Gerald Wallace being back, it seems to help us when we’re bigger at [shooting guard], both statistically and from a defensive standpoint.”
As Johnson indicated, the numbers back up the decision to split up the pair. The Nets have struggled mightily — particularly at the defensive end — when Watson and Williams have been on the court together this season.
Only twice — in Sacramento against the Kings and in Oakland against the Warriors — in 10 games have the Nets scored more points than they have allowed with Williams and Watson on the court together. For the season, the Nets were scoring 101.6 points per 100 possessions and allowing 128.3 with the two playing together.
Of all the Nets’ two-man units that have played at least 100 minutes together, the Williams-Watson pairing had the worst plus-minus rating at -18.5.
Still, Johnson said there is a chance he could go back to the alignment.
“We’re not saying that tonight we won’t use it if there’s a certain situation that we like it against,” he said. “But I think [going away from it] is a combination of things.”
* Mikhail Prokhorov was not in attendance for last night’s game, which he originally intended to watch in person when it was scheduled as the season opener. The Russian billionaire owner of the Nets repeatedly has said he intends on watching a minimum of 10 regular-season games this year, in addition to attending playoff games if the Nets make it.
Nets part-owner Jay-Z and wife Beyoncé, however, were in their courtside seats for the third time this season. They also were at the season opener against the Raptors and Friday’s game against the Clippers, both Nets wins.