After years as one of the players his teams would look to find rest for in the final days of the regular season, Jason Kidd finds himself on the other side this season.

Now it is on Jason’s plate to balance the minutes of a bevy of veterans and toy with rotations as the regular season dwindles down, no easy task for a rookie head coach.

New York Knicks v Brooklyn Nets

But on Tuesday night, perhaps by accident, Jason’s charges made it a little easier on him.

Though Coach Kidd professed before the game that his team needed to focus on playing the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers in one final regular season back-to-back, it was clear early on in Tuesday’s lifeless “Battle of the Boroughs” that Brooklyn has its sights firmly set on the postseason.

In the last regular season meeting between the two sides, the Knicks claimed a 109-98 victory on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, and with it, the season series from the Nets.

“It happens,” Jason said after Brooklyn’s third loss in four games. “There are 81 games. Sometimes you play well, sometimes you don’t. We got another game to get better

[today]. No one got hurt, so we’ll move on to the next game.”

However forward Paul Pierce was not happy with the effort shown by the Nets in a game he believed they should have been using as a tune-up for the postseason.

“We should have a sense of urgency right now. You can’t just turn it on once the playoffs start. You have to get into good habits going into the playoffs. It’s not just like you can go in and be world-beaters. You have to develop that over the course of time and have consistency doing that,” Pierce said. “This was an example of how not to take a step forward. We were off our game offensively and that’s not how you want to go into the playoffs. No excuses about it. We have to be better.”

0415_jk_pierce

While the Nets have the playoffs to look forward to and their health to be mindful of, the Knicks, who were eliminated from postseason contention over the weekend entered Tuesday’s battle with nothing to lose and only pride to play for.

It showed early on as the visitors got out to a fast start Tuesday night. New York jumped out to a double-digit fourth quarter lead thanks to outside shooting from J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr., and the inside presence of Amar’e Stoudemire.

Stoudemire made several strong drives to the basket, resulting in five made free throws and seven first quarter points for the veteran, while Hardaway and Smith each knocked down two treys. New York shot 50 percent from the field and went 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in the opening frame. Conversely, Jason’s squad could not find any offensive rhythm and went 7-of-20 from the field as the Knicks built a 29-18 lead after the first 12 minutes of action.

Brooklyn picked up the energy in the second quarter, but still struggled to contain the aggressive Knicks. Every time the home side would cut the lead back down to single digits, New York had an answer.

However, the Nets hung tough and never stopped competing. Rookie Mason Plumlee dazzled the crowd with his athleticism by throwing down a slam-dunk off a no-look pass from Andre Kirilenko.

Moments later, Plumlee got the rebound on a Knicks miss dished to Joe Johnson and ran to floor. He was rewarded for his hustle on the other end by Johnson who threw up a perfect alley-oop feed that Plumlee finished with a flush.

The Duke grad had eight points in the quarter on 4-of-4 shooting and continues to make his case for big minutes in the postseason. Plumlee had 12 points in the first half, but at the break New York held a lead just as large, 55-43.

The difference was in shooting. Brooklyn shot under 50 percent from the field in the first half (43.6), was just 2-of-11 from deep and made just 12 trips to the charity stripe. New York also shot slightly under 50 percent from the field, but went 7-of-11 from beyond the arc and had more than twice as many attempts at the stripe, where they made 20-of-25 shots.

The Knicks continued to pour it on in the third and Brooklyn fell further behind with no answer for New York’s shooting barrage. The Knicks made 10 of their 20 shot attempts in the third while Brooklyn went 7-of-21 from the field in the quarter.

New York Knicks v Brooklyn Nets

Marcus Thornton was one of the few bright spots for the Nets in the game, along with Plumlee. The mid-season acquisition showcased his skills by sinking a pair of threes on his way to eight points in the third. Johnson also connected on a pair of 3-point attempts, but at the end of the quarter, the Knicks led 83-67.

An unintended consequence of the lopsided score was that Coach Kidd got to give his starters even more rest as they prepare for grueling playoff action while also getting to see what his bench had to offer. With the margin so wide, both coaches actually relied on their reserves to close out the game

Thornton stayed red-hot, putting up another 11 points to finish with a game-high 24. Andray Blatche also looked to be in full health, contributing eight fourth quarter points of his own, and Plumlee added three more to finish a complete night with 16 points on 7-of-9 from the field, nine rebounds and four assists.

0415_jk_plumlee2Plumlee has now scored at least 16 points in four consecutive games and five of the team’s last six contest. The rookie big man told reporters that he has thrived by following the rules set forth by coach Kidd to restrict his shooting to the area around the hoop.

“J-Kidd has been consistent. He’s said, ‘We’ll work on (shooting jumpers) next season and you’ll be hitting that next season, but this is what we need from you now right now,’ ” Plumlee says. “So I’m going to do what he needs.”

Doing what Coach Kidd has asked of him has paid off for Plumlee as well. Over the  last four games he has made 26-of-31 shot attempts (84 percent) and he’s 45-55 (81 percent) for 12 points per game in the final month of his rookie season, by far the best marks in both categories for any months this season.

“He understands his role,” Jason said. “We talked about what we wanted him to do and told him how we can expand that range over the summer. He’s done his role and he’s gotten better at his role each time he’s taken the floor.”

NEXT UP

Jason’s squad left Brooklyn late Tuesday night and headed to Cleveland, where they’ll close out the regular season on Wednesday night against the Cavaliers.

Coach Kidd missed the team’s only other trip to Cleveland, where they lost 98-94 on opening night, October 30th. Brooklyn has since beaten the Cavs twice.

On January 20th in Brooklyn, the Nets held Cleveland under 40 percent shooting from the field and picked up an 89-82 win behind 21 points from Deron Williams. The Nets beat the Cavs again last month, 108-97, to pick up their 12th straight home win.

To make it three straight over the Cavs, however, the Nets will have to pick up a shorthanded victory. Jason announced on Wednesday that Williams, Joe Johnson, Mirza Teletovic and Shaun Livingston will not play in the regular season finale.

The Nets still have not clinched the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and could fall to sixth if they lose to Cleveland and the Wizards beat the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. Brooklyn does know they will play either the Toronto Raptors or Chicago Bulls in the first round. Those two teams are still jockeying for the third and fourth spots in the East, and for that reason, Jason said where the Nets finish is mostly irrelevant.

“Fifth, sixth, same thing,” he said. “You know, we’re going to play Toronto or Chicago. You play 82 games to get a seed and we’ll be fifth or sixth.”

Tip-off of Wednesday’s season finale is set for 8 p.m. EST and the game can be viewed locally on WWOR MY 9 TV or via NBA League Pass.

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