It was a historic night; Jason Kidd had his jersey sent up into the rafters and the Nets sold out their first preseason game in franchise history. The night started out with Kidd’s brief jersey retirement ceremony and ended with an 86-62 victory.
The Nets came out of the gate strong by moving the ball, taking advantage of the Heat’s lack of size, and most importantly, playing excellent defense. The Nets held the Heat to just 31.8% shooting (30% in the first half) including 5-17 from three for the game. They out-rebounded Miami 53-31, including 17 offensive rebounds (4 from rookie Mason Plumlee).
It was Paul Pierce who guarded LeBron James for the majority of the time that the two were on the floor together, but the Nets also threw the likes of Joe Johnson and Alan Anderson at the reigning MVP. Of course, when Andrei Kirilenko is healthy, he will likely be the de facto “LeBron stopper.”
The Heat were without Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Michael Beasley, Udonis Haslem and Greg Oden.
The Nets will open up the Barclays Center on the first of November against Miami in their second game of the season. You can bet that the intensity will be a bit higher than tonight.
