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| Deron Williams will start tomorrow for the Nets, and is ready to have a huge season |
When: 7:00 PM; Wednesday, October 30th, 2013
Where: Quicken Loans Arena; Cleveland, OH
TV: NBA TV and YES Network
It's finally here, Nets fans. Brooklyn's regular season opener for the 2013-14 NBA campaign is officially upon us as the revamped Nets get ready to take on the young Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in Ohio's most populous city.
This game is the much-anticipated debut of the full starting lineup which–due to injury–hadn't played together at all in the preseason. Deron Williams was out for awhile with an ankle ailment and only came back in the Nets' final preseason game, a win vs Miami, in which every starter other than Kevin Garnett (rest) played.
Now, Deron, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Garnett, and Brook Lopez will all be sharing the court together, just as general manager Billy King had imagined when he constructed the Nets' roster over the summer. Top reserve Andrei Kirilenko won't take the floor this evening, though, as he's still dealing with back spasms that plagued him throughout the preseason.
The five other main rotation guys off the bench–Jason Terry, Andray Blatche, Reggie Evans, Shaun Livingston, and Alan Anderson–are all expected to suit up, so replacement head coach Joe Prunty (remember, Jason Kidd is suspended for the first two games) will have a nearly full deck of cards to use.
Brooklyn is looking to have the same amount of success in this season's opening game as it had last year, when the Nets beat the Toronto Raptors at the Barclays Center on November 3rd. November 1st, the original start of the Nets' season, was supposed to be a game against the Knicks but was postponed until later in the month because of Hurricane Sandy.
The Nets' opponent this year, however, looks to be much stronger than the 2012-13 Toronto Raptors. The Mike Brown-coached Cavaliers are chock full of burgeoning star players, lottery picks, and established vets–headlined by Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao and #1 overall pick from June's draft, Anthony Bennett. Cleveland is an incredibly athletic bunch and serves as a great first challenge the new-look Nets who head home to face the Miami Heat on Friday in game two.
Probable Lineups
BKN- Deron Williams (PG), Joe Johnson (SG), Paul Pierce (SF), Kevin Garnett (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
CLE- Kyrie Irving (PG), Dion Waiters (SG), Earl Clark (SF), Tristan Thompson (PF), Anderson Varejao (C)
Final Thoughts
Who knows what we'll get from the Nets tonight in their first "true" game as a team with basically all of its pieces healthy and ready to go. If it goes poorly, then it's still only the first game and things will undoubtedly get better. If it goes well, then it just means the team got off to a good start and has to keep up the intensity throughout the infancy of this season. No long-term and permanent conclusions should be made after tonight's game concludes, only comments and observations.
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