LOS ANGELES — Hype and excitement surrounded the debut of Jason Collins in Sunday night’s win over the Lakers, as the veteran center became the first openly gay player in the NBA. But now the focus for the Nets can shift to what Collins can give them on the basketball court. And in his 10 minutes of action against the Lakers, Collins showed the Nets exactly what he’s capable of delivering.
Collins grabbed a couple of rebounds, delivered five hard fouls to stop layups, and set several bone-crushing screens to free up Nets for open drives and jumpers, showing the skill set he entered the league with when he was Jason Kidd’s teammate on the 2001-02 Nets.
“He played huge for us tonight,” Deron Williams said after the game. “He made some big plays on defense, I thought he played great defense on [Lakers center Pau Gasol], he’s a heck of screener.
“I played with his brother [Jarron, in Utah], and he’s a heck of a screener. He gets you open. He was instrumental in this win tonight.”
While Collins has always been known for his defense, he’s never been offensive option, a trend that continued Sunday when he took one jumper, which he missed. But he did set several massive screens on Lakers guards — Jordan Farmar, in particular, was on the receiving end of a few — and was pleased overall with the role he played.
“I can get teammates open,” Collins said. “My favorite part of the evening was when I think it was Jordan Farmar was complaining to the ref that I was setting an illegal pick.
“Stuff like that, that’s my job. … I know that I can play in the NBA, and it felt good to be out there tonight.”
With Kevin Garnett getting his near-customary rest day Sunday night on the second half of a back-to-back, Collins immediately fell into the role he’ll be expected to play. Whenever Garnett rests, or whenever the Nets go up against a big team, in which his physical presence in the paint will be beneficial, Collins can expect to get a few minutes of time to lean on opponents in the post and make their lives difficult.
“He did the same thing for us last year in Boston,” Paul Pierce said. “You expect nothing but professionalism from Jason. I had him as a teammate last year, and he is much needed around here, with the lack of big men we’ve had and especially with Kevin playing limited games in back-to-back moments.
“We’re going to need that down the stretch as he continues to get in better and better shape. He’s going to be big for us, I believe.”