NBA

Garnett stiffens, ‘back’ to bench

When Nets coach Jason Kidd addressed reporters before Monday’s night’s 101-97 victory over Atlantic Division-leading Raptors in Brooklyn, he announced Kevin Garnett would be making his return to the lineup after sitting out the previous five games with back spasms.

“There’s no restrictions,” Kidd said about Garnett’s status. “We’ll see how he feels, and hopefully he can play at the level he was before he went out.”

But then Garnett felt his back stiffen up prior to the game, with the Nets announcing moments before tipoff he would be sitting out his sixth game in a row, with Mason Plumlee once again starting in his place.

“He tightened up, so we pulled the plug on him,” Kidd said afterward. “We will see how he feels [Tuesday].”

The Nets will fly to Miami Tuesday afternoon for Wednesday’s game against the two-time defending champion Heat, but it remains to be seen whether Garnett will make the trip.


Andrei Kirilenko also sat out after spraining his right ankle in Sunday’s win over the Kings. He missed his fourth game in 2014, after playing in only five of the team’s first 31 games, having spent training camp and virtually the entire opening two months of the season sidelined with back spasms. Before the game, he said he was hopeful he’d be able to play against the Heat.


Because of the absence of Kirilenko, Kidd went with a bigger lineup against the Raptors’ bigger frontline, playing first Plumlee and Andray Blatche together before pairing Blatche and Jason Collins to combat Toronto’s size.

It seemed to work, with the Raptors only enjoying a 37-30 edge on the glass, and the Nets actually edging them in offensive boards, 8-7.

“It was a little different,” Kidd said with a smile. “We normally don’t play big, but we had to since Andrei Kirilenko was out. We had to look at Blatche and Mason, and we also put [Collins in the game]. We kind of had to play traditional with two bigs at the time.

“The guys played well. These guys are able to adjust on the fly. … They get all the credit. They did a great job tonight.”

Kidd said, however, he doesn’t anticipate going back to that look to try and compete with the bigger teams the Nets may have to face down the road, instead planning to rely on the smaller lineups. The smaller unit has helped the team become the best defense in the league at forcing turnovers since Kidd switched to the look full-time at the start of the new year.