A day after showing little fight defensively, dominated in the paint by Detroit in a 99-88 preseason loss, Nets Andray Blatche and Mirza Teletovic fought at practice. The two big men got into a pushing match Sunday, and had to be separated by teammates. And after practice, coach Jason Kidd said it wasn’t a good sign, it was a great one.
“As you see we had a pretty spirited practice. That’s how we’re built,’’ Kidd said. “It’s great. That’s competition, that’s what it’s all about. This team is put together to compete at a high level and you saw that.
“There’s nothing wrong with competition, and tempers might flare; but it’s all out of respect and playing hard. As a coaching staff and players, that’s what you need.’’
A little testiness might not be the worst sign, because the Nets should be a bit vexed after Saturday. They struggled defensively, letting the Pistons shoot 51.4 percent from the floor, and were dominated 50-32 inside the paint.
“We have to protect the paint if we want to be one of the top 10 teams in the league in defense. It is something that we’re concerned about because it has been two games in a row, but this is preseason so we have time to work on it,’’ Kidd said.
“It wasn’t good [Saturday]. Everyone knows that,’’ said point guard Deron Williams. “We want to be a team that hangs our hat on defense. We didn’t do that yesterday. Defending the paint, not giving up corner 3s, we haven’t done that. That’s something we have to continue to work on. It’s team defense, it’s not on any one person or two people. It’s the five guys that are out there. It’s team defense.’’
Williams was limited in practice, sitting on a chair with his sprained right ankle wrapped in ice. He declined comment on reports he might not be ready for the Oct. 30 season-opener in Cleveland and didn’t have a clear timetable for his return. But he seems unlikely to play in any of the team’s three games over the next four days. beginning Monday night in Philadelphia.
Jason Terry (left knee) participated in most of practice. Andrei Kirilenko (back spasms), Tyshawn Taylor (sprained right ankle), Tornike Shengelia (knee) and Jorge Gutierrez (ankle) all sat out.
Kidd downplayed Kirilenko’s injury and called him day-to-day, but admitted Taylor is likely out Monday and was noncommittal about a backup point guard. He also said veterans Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce will play both games of the back-to-backs versus the 76ers and Celtics.
Still, whomever plays, they know the team’s defense — particularly on the interior — hasn’t been anywhere near adequate.
“We’ve got to get better defensively, protecting the paint, making teams play to their weakness and really helping each other out,’’ said Shaun Livingston, who looked explosive on his surgically repaired knee and had another nice dunk in practice.
“If a guy gets beat, we’ve got to have another guy there to help him out. That’s part of team defense, and we’ve got to get better.
“It’s concepts, playing towards the other team’s weakness. If we have a team that’s not a good 3-point shooting team, then we need to make them shoot threes. We can’t let them get in the paint and let them get easy scores, whether that’s double-teaming or being there for help-side defense. We’ve got to protect our paint.’’
Assistant coach Lawrence Frank, the de facto defensive coordinator, returned to practice Sunday after being away for family reasons.
“We’d like to have Lawrence here, but with the situation at home family comes first. But it was great for the guys to see him and the staff,’’ Kidd said. “We’d love to have him around, but we respect what’s going on at home.’’