Here are three thoughts on the Nets’ 107-86 loss to the Heat in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal:
1. Coming into this series, you could have made this credible argument: The Heat have the three best players on either roster in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Nets have the next seven or eight guys – if not more – if you were going through each roster and picking players for a pickup game.
That was part of the argument for why the Nets could contend with or possibly even beat the two-time defending champions — Brooklyn’s strength in numbers would be able to wear down the more top-heavy Heat over the course of a seven-game series.
But in Game 1, Miami’s supporting cast that easily won the day, which is why the Heat easily won the game. Shane Battier was inserted into the starting lineup and scored eight points, including a couple of 3-pointers. Ray Allen came off the bench to score 19 points, including four 3-pointers, and vastly out-produce his old Celtics teammates Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Chris Andersen gave the Heat good minutes as a backup big, while Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole gave them 48 minutes of solid guard play.
Deron Williams and Joe Johnson (17 points) played well for the Nets, and Shaun Livingston and Marcus Thornton both had solid performances. That’s it. Everyone else on the roster ranged from indifferent to downright bad. That has to change fast – or this will be a very quick series.
2. To beat the Heat, you have to turn them into a jump-shooting team. Once you start letting LeBron James and Co. get into the paint and wreak havoc, it’s going to be a long night.
In Game 1, the Heat got to the rim time after time, leading Williams to sum things up this way: “The theme of the night was layups, layups, layups.” The Nets’ trio of big men – Kevin Garnett, Andray Blatche and Mason Plumlee – failed to make an impact.
After the game, several Nets brought up the idea of “packing the paint” when asked where things went wrong – in other words, trying to keep bodies in front of the offensive players and forcing them to kick to the perimeter, then recover to shooters. Without any natural shot-blockers on the floor, the Nets desperately need to defend this way if they want to keep Miami away from the rim.
3. Nets coach Jason Kidd was criticized for his decision to go with a unit of Livingston, Thornton, Plumlee, Mirza Teletovic and Andrei Kirilenko to start the fourth quarter with the Nets trailing by 13. But when I asked him about it, Kidd gave a very reasonable response:
“I wanted to get those guys, the starters, a break, give them some rest. When we went with that group, I thought that group could make some shots but also get some stops and get it to where it’s under 10, and then go from there but it never happened.”
Everyone knows the Nets are an older team. After playing a grueling seven-game series against the Raptors, including a heart-stopping win in Game 7 in Toronto Sunday, the Nets were going up against a Heat team that was coming off an eight-day layoff and playing like it.
With Miami playing as well as it was, Kidd looked at the situation cynically. If his bench could buy him a few minutes and get his team back into the game, he would have a chance to bring the starters back for one final push. If they didn’t — and they didn’t — he decided to live to fight another day, namely Thursday in Game 2.
If the Nets come back and win Game 2, it’ll look like a stroke of genius. Either way, it was the prudent move to make at the time.