The Nets’ bench was rolling as their starters were sitting.
The reserves, led by high-flying, hard-dunking rookie Mason Plumlee, played every second of the fourth quarter of Brooklyn’s game against New Orleans Sunday. And they led the way to a wire-to-wire 93-81 victory.
“It’s great. Any time we can rest our older guys — it’s no secret we’re old, so we look at this in a win in a couple ways,’’ said Plumlee. “We get to rest them and keep them fresh, and going into All-Star break, that’s good.’’
Brooklyn’s bench outscored New Orleans’ 59-31, and it was Plumlee who led the charge. He dunked his way to a career-high 22 points, matched his career-best by snatching 13 rebounds, and threw down a one-handed, fast-break alley-oop to finish backup guard Jason Terry’s milestone 5,000th career assist.
“Our job as a bench is to come out and make an impact on the game, and we did that [Sunday], and [Jason Kidd] rewarded us with lengthy playing time; so it felt good,’’ said Terry, who had five assists and just one turnover, running the second unit and running the pick-and-roll to perfection with Plumlee.
“We got the win and we must continue to get better as a unit, as a bench. They’re going to need us, especially down the stretch of the season. There’s going to be some games where we’re going to be called upon, whether we’ve got to make shots or get stops, but make an impact on the game.’’
With the 37-year-old Kevin Garnett, 36-year-old Paul Pierce and 32-year-old Joe Johnson in the starting lineup, the Nets will surely need that bench. And as poor as the Nets were in Friday’s 111-95 loss to the Pistons, the bench was stellar, opening the fourth quarter on a 22-8 run. Sunday, the reserves picked right up where they left off.
Mirza Teletovic and Alan Anderson each had 13 points off the bench, while the former added 11 rebounds. Kidd used his bench for the entire fourth quarter against the Pelicans, and the Nets won for the first time in their NBA history with no starters in double figures, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“I thought they played great. Just talking to the coaches, I thought they played like they did in Detroit, and that was a carryover from the game in Detroit,’’ said Kidd. “They executed, and I think they gave the starters a big lift because they got the lead and built the lead and they kept the lead.’’
As Terry and Plumlee ran the pick-and-roll, the Pelicans had to choose between guarding Teletovic spotting up or Plumlee rolling to the rim. And when Plumlee finished off 2-on-1 fast break by adjusting for a nasty right-handed dunk on Terry’s lob, it was 46-21 with 4:15 left in the half.