Return with the Nets to those thrilling days of yesteryear – like eight months ago – when everyone defended to the death and there was no luxury of a shot-blocking human Everest protecting the paint. Ah, those were the days.
The Nets admit they got spoiled having Dikembe Mutombo as a defensive insurance policy behind them. You get beat, the big guy is behind you with those glorious shot-blocking skills. Now he isn’t. With a surgically-repaired right wrist, the best Mutombo will do for four months is yell advice from the sidelines, presumably in a language the Nets understand.
So the defense the Nets play from here – starting tonight when it gets tested at the Meadowlands by Orlando – will be different than it has been the first 19 games, but not unlike last season.
“We didn’t have it before and we played great defense last year,” stressed Kenyon Martin, who gets the swell assignment of guarding Tracy McGrady. “We’ve got to learn to do what we were doing last year instead of relying on him to block shots. Understand, I’m not saying I’m glad he got hurt, but maybe this is good for us. It will teach us to defend the way we defended last year.
“You’ve got a shot-blocker back there, you tend to relax. So not having him back there, it’ll play to our advantage hopefully, getting us back to defending the way we know how,” said Martin. “Some plays you won’t go as hard because you know he’s back there. You tend to relax sometimes with, ‘If he gets by me, Deke [Mutombo] will block it.’ “
The Nets haven’t been exactly slackers on defense, but there is merit to Martin’s theory. The Nets have better numbers than in their defense-oriented campaign of last season. They yield 89.3 points, down from 92.0. They surrender .420 shooting, down from .429. Still, they say they were better last year. And eventually, this will make them better this year.
“We’ve got to get back to what we did last year, start with containing the ball and not giving easy layups,” said Lucious Harris.
“When you have that type of security blanket, you will go to [it] more than you should,” agreed 6-4 All-NBA defender Jason Kidd, who starts on 6-8 Grant Hill. “This will give us a sense of playing without Deke and understanding that we have to guard before we can rely on somebody like Deke to bail us out. When he comes back then we will continue to keep playing the way we are and then let Deke bail us out if necessary.”
McGrady, who sat out the Magic’s victory in the Garden Wednesday with a sore ankle, played last night and scored 27 points against Washington. Hill, who sat two of the Magic’s previous three back-to-back sets, played a season-high 40 minutes against the Knicks. Hill declared himself free of the tendinitis that has plagued his three-surgery left ankle.
Hill is playing with much of the danger of his All-Star self. Still, Byron Scott trusts Kidd’s defense.
“He’s one of the best in the business,” Scott said. “The thing about J-Kidd is he loves the challenge.”
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Kerry Kittles, rehabbing an injury listed as a sprained knee, missed last two days with flu-like symptoms.
Scott feels opponents will scoff at the third-place Nets with Mutombo out.
“I think a few teams in the league probably feel we’re going to fall on our face now and are looking forward to it. They probably want to play us now. I told my guys that the other day and that’s a great challenge. I like that.”