CLEVELAND — Who?
That’s likely the question many Nets fans were asking Wednesday afternoon when the Nets announced Joe Prunty would be serving as head coach in the team’s season opener later that night while Jason Kidd served the first game of his two-game suspension for pleading guilty to driving while ability impaired.
“This isn’t about me,” Prunty said before the Nets’ 98-94 season-opening loss to the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. “I appreciate the question, but this is about us, in terms of this is the start of the journey, so to speak, in terms of the 82 regular-season games. But it really is about us.”
Prunty, in his first game as an NBA head coach, said the staff would work together, and it did. At times during huddles, Prunty, John Welch and Lawrence Frank — the de facto offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively — all were contributors to drawing up plays and giving assignments.
“We all talked about it, and it was, we have our roles that we all fill,” Prunty said. “Lawrence does the defense, John does the offense and, look, it’s a tremendous staff. [Assistants] Roy Rogers, Eric Hughes, Charles Klask, Sean Sweeney … we all have our roles that we fill. We have a deep team, we have a deep staff, and we felt this was the best way to approach it.”
Though fans might not know much about Prunty, he has an extensive coaching background, having spent 11 seasons as an assistant in San Antonio, Dallas, Portland and ironically, Cleveland, where he spent the last three years before joining the Nets’ staff this summer after Kidd was hired. Kidd stayed at the team hotel.
Prunty served as the head coach of Great Britian’s entry in EuroBasket this summer, going 2-3 in pool play, including an overtime win over Israel.
Andrew Bynum made a surprise debut for the Cavaliers, marking his first competitive game in well over a year.
Bynum played 7:34 in the first half, going 1-for-5 from the field to finish with three points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots — including an emphatic rejection of Deron Williams.
“I feel good right now,” Bynum said. “I’m going to have to see how I feel tomorrow, but at the moment I feel fine. The team is going to be very cautious. … I’m going to be very cautious.
“We want to make [my health] continue to rise and get better. At the end of the day, I think we played pretty well out there.”
The last time Bynum had suited up was May 21, 2012, while still a member of the Lakers. He was traded from Los Angeles to Philadelphia last summer, but never played in a game for the 76ers before signing with Cleveland as a free agent this summer.
Shaun Livingston, who missed practice Monday and Tuesday after developing a stiff neck after sleeping awkwardly, participated in shootaround and played against the Cavaliers, though foul trouble limited him to one point and three assists in 15 minutes.
Alan Anderson wound up being the beneficiary of Andrei Kirilenko sitting out and Livingston’s foul trouble. He also filled in behind Livingston and Deron Williams as the team’s third point guard, as well as spelling Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson on the wings. He finished with nine points and three rebounds in 23 minutes.
In addition to limiting Williams to just under 22 minutes as he continues to work his way back from a sprained right ankle that robbed him of all but 10 minutes of game time in the preseason, the Nets also had Paul Pierce (30 minutes) and Kevin Garnett (26) right in the minute ranges they were hoping to keep them in.
Pierce finished with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Garnett had eight points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.