Remember the Deron Williams who pushes tempo, makes defenses react, and can be a nightmare for opposing coaches?
That’s the D-Will the Nets got when he returned to the team for Tuesday’s win over the division-leading Celtics. And that’s the one they will need the rest of the season.
But just like last year, it was a different Deron Williams who showed up in October. Once again, the franchise point guard was sluggish out of the gate before being sidelined due to balky ankles. The fact that this is the second time this has happened raises questions about how the Nets are ensuring players prepare their bodies during the offseason for the rigor of in-season play. The team has also been without Andrei Kirilenko, who admitted he didn’t touch a basketball the entire summer, for all but four games due to back problems.
Regardless, last time D-Will turned the corner at the All-Star break and maintained his rejuvenated form through the playoffs. Whether he can keep it going this time will determine the 2013–14 Nets’ fate.
Tuesday’s game showed why D-Will is the engine of Brooklyn’s team. Getting All-Star center Brook Lopez back from injury at the end of November was huge, but he didn’t automatically boost the team’s energy level and fundamentally change the way the offense operates like a healthy and aggressive Williams does.
After Tuesday’s win, veteran forward Kevin Garnett and coach Jason Kidd both used the word “pressure” to describe what Williams brings to the table.
“D-Will set the tone for how we was going to play tonight,” Garnett said. “You have to have savvy, strong-minded point guards who understand flow, who understand rhythm.”
Williams had 25 points and seven assists in 37 minutes, but Kidd said “I thought just his presence gave everybody a lift.”
Those 37 minutes were a surprise, since Williams was reportedly supposed to be eased back into game action. Hopefully that’s a sign of how hungry he is to turn around Brooklyn’s wayward season.
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.
