So far, my preseason predictions look a lot like the Red Wedding scene in Game of Thrones. Jason Kidd as Coach of the Year? Um, probably not. (Although he might well be the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January.)
The Nets as NBA champions? Um, sure doesn’t look like it. Not now, anyway. They are three games under .500 (19-22) at the halfway point of the season.
But . . . and you knew there was a ‘but’ coming . . . look at where they are now compared to where they were a month ago. Something kicked in when the calendar turned to 2014.
The Nets were 10-21 after losing by 21 points to the Spurs on Dec. 31. They have the best record in the NBA for the month of January at 9-1. It could well be 10-1 after Sunday night’s game in Boston, unless Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are listed as DNP-Epiphora.
The Nets’ run has come despite the season-ending injury to center Brook Lopez, supposedly a season-ender for the team’s hopes as well.
But Kidd has taken a page from Doc Rivers’ playbook and has started Garnett at center in the absence of Lopez. The Celtics enjoyed success with KG at center, despite his displeasure at playing the position. The Nets are as well.
The new starting five of Garnett, Pierce, Joe Johnson, Alan Anderson and Shaun Livingston is 7-0 after Friday night’s victory over Dallas. You may have noticed another name missing from that group: Deron Williams.
The supposedly indispensable playmaker/point guard has come off the bench for the last three games and averaged 13.3 points and 7.7 assists in 30 minutes per games, all victories.
Garnett is undefeated in 2014, sitting out the one defeat (at Toronto.) He’s still playing limited minutes (only 20 in the 107-106 victory over Dallas on Friday) but he is 31-of-46 from the field in the month of January.
What has happened?
It’s not like the Little Sisters of the Poor have shown up on the Barclay’s Center doorstep. This month, the Nets won at Oklahoma City, have beaten Atlanta twice and have home wins over the Heat, Warriors and Mavericks. They pummeled the Knicks by 23 at Madison Square Garden.
In a weird way, losing Lopez may have opened things up for Brooklyn. While an undeniably effective low-post presence at both ends, he’s a bit of a clunker, physically. The dump-it-in-to-Brook strategy works if Lopez scores. If he doesn’t, you have four teammates taking tea while they watch.
Also not to be overstated is the presence of Andrei Kirilenko, who appeared in just five games in 2013. Brooklyn is 11-4 when he plays. He was always considered to be a critical free agent signing. He just couldn’t get on the floor in November and December. A healthy AK47 gives the Nets a dimension they otherwise lack, a forward who can defend and also is proficient around the basket.
This is exactly what Brooklyn had in mind when it mortgaged its future and acquired Pierce, Garnett, Jason Terry in a trade with Boston and then signed Kirilenko as a free agent.
Ownership stands to shell out more than $80 million in luxury tax payments for this roster, but remained patient as the team stumbled in the first two months while the new players adjusted and injuries overwhelmed the team. No Net has started every game this season. Kidd has used 17 starting lineups.
The Nets’ streak should continue in what may well be their most anticipated game of the year: the first game in Boston. Garnett and Pierce did not play in an exhibition game in Boston in October.
But they are both going to be there Sunday night in what could be a three-ply special for all concerned, especially Pierce. He spent 15 seasons in Boston. Garnett spent six.
“I was hoping they could retire as Celtics,’’ Celtics GM Danny Ainge said of Pierce and Garnett. “I think they wanted to retire as Celtics.”
But how could Ainge turn down three No. 1 picks for two players in their late 30s? He couldn’t. No one in Boston begrudges Ainge for the move. No one. At the same time, emotions will run high when the two come out for warmups, are introduced as starters and then, in what will be the most moving moment, a video tribute during a timeout.
The Celtics have been unsparing in their encomiums to the key players from their great run from 2007-12. Kendrick Perkins got the video tribute. Glen ‘Big Baby” Davis got the video tribute. And, needless to say, Doc Rivers got it as well when he came back with the Clippers this season. Rivers nearly broke down after the game talking about the positive fan reaction.
Pierce and Garnett will get that as well. They deserve it. There would be no 2008 banner without them. But then they will take off their warmups and be wearing the colors of the visitor. They will be cheered when they miss.
But if recent history holds to form, that won’t happen often enough to keep the Nets from winning their 10th game in 11 in 2014 and from getting that much closer to .500.
Rivers pretty much nailed it when he was asked about the then-struggling Nets in December.
“They’ll get it together,’’ he said, “and when they do, no one is going to want to play them in the playoffs.”
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The playoffs are still three months away. Not many teams want to play the Nets right now.
But the fans in Boston will at least want to say thanks to a couple of them, and won’t mind if the home team loses yet again.
Peter May is the only writer who covered the final NBA games played by Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. He has covered the league for three decades for The Hartford Courant and The Boston Globe and has written three books on the Boston Celtics. His work also appears in The New York Times. You can follow him on Twitter.