There was a time in NBA history when the name Jermaine O’Neal sparked fear in opposing big men.
Night after night, the 6-foot-11 baby-faced phenom bullied defenders en route to a nearly automatic 20 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks.
That time, of course, was roughly 2001 to 2007, when O’Neal patrolled the paint for the Indiana Pacers, alongside players such as Reggie Miller and (the artist formerly known as) Ron Artest.
These days, O’Neal is an oft-injured 35-year-old backup for the Golden State Warriors who hasn’t averaged double-digit points in four seasons.
Count on the Brooklyn Nets to revive him.
On Saturday, O’Neal turned back the clock with a 23 point, 13-rebound performance, making 10 of 13 shots. He torched a Brooklyn frontcourt that had its own aging, 6-foot-11, drafted-out-of-high-school former All-Star in Kevin Garnett. For whatever reason, Coach Jason Kidd opted not to play the Nets’ rookie 6-foot-11er, Mason Plumlee, at all as an option to slow down O’Neal.
Normally, this column doesn’t much care what the Nets’ big guys are doing. But that changes when the frontcourt’s ineffectiveness starts to obscure solid work by the backcourt.
In the Warriors game, Deron Williams scored 20 points on 50 percent shooting with six assists. He followed that up by making nine of 16 shots to drop a season-high 30 on the Lakers, adding a career-high six steals.
As we’d hoped coming out of the All-Star break, Brooklyn’s star point guard looks ready to go on a late-season surge like he did last year. But now that D-Will finally appears capable of playing elite level, the Nets’ Brook Lopez-less big men can’t let guys like Jermaine O’Neal squander this opportunity. Adding Jason Collins to a 10-day contract was historic, but hopefully it also means general manager Billy King is committed to bolstering the team’s toughness on the interior.
If Williams keeps it up, he can carry the load for this Nets team like he should have been doing all season. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the squad can stop holding up their end of the bargain.
Matt Spolar is a nearly 6-foot-1 journalist with a middling high school basketball career who is sure the Nets win thanks to team’s top-tier guards.
