OAKLAND, Calif. — Deron Williams may be coming off a couple of injury-riddled seasons, but according to Steve Kerr, he hasn’t lost a step.
“He looks as good as he’s ever looked,” Kerr said before his Warriors’ 107-99 victory over the Nets on Thursday. “Their offense starts with him, so you have to be able to handle the pick-and-roll. You’ve got to decide whether you’re going to go under some of those picks and let him shoot — he’s been shooting the 3 well— or do you switch?
“There are a lot of different possibilities, and so you definitely have to game plan for him.”
Williams, who had 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award last week after leading the Nets to a 3-1 record, and has looked terrific since the start of training camp after undergoing offseason surgery on both of his troublesome ankles.
Shaun Livingston, who started next to Williams with the Nets last season and has plenty of personal experience battling through injuries, said something as simple as feeling better when you head onto the court can help tremendously.
“Any time a player is not healthy and playing through injuries, that’s tough,” Livingston said. “I’ve been there, and that’s not a good feeling, because you want to give more and you want to do more.
“As long as he’s healthy, whether he’s playing good or not, if he’s healthy out there at the end of the day, that’s all I can ask for because it makes a world of difference for your mental psyche, just being out there and feeling good about your body.”
Nets coach Lionel Hollins said his team would have the same starting lineup it had had for the previous five games, and that everyone would be available for the second night of the team’s first back-to-back set of the season.
“It’s too early in the season for [resting guys],” Hollins said. “Right now, we aren’t practicing as long and as hard as we normally would because of the way that the schedule is.”
Hollins said there was no reason to rest Kevin Garnett, who continued his strong start to the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday’s 112-104 loss in Phoenix, since he’s healthy and playing well.
“I’m sure that he would like to back up [his minutes] some,” Hollins said. “But, as I said before, if he’s healthy and productive, he’s going to play.
“He helps us to be successful.”
Garnett had four points and four rebounds in Thursday night’s loss.