The Nets finally played like they were supposed to — a thorough destruction of a solid Celtics team on Wednesday, putting Boston to sleep by halftime — but these were not the Nets who were supposed to be doing the dominating.
Of course, Kyrie Irving is not around. Blake Griffin was benched. Even Bruce Brown was sidelined with an ankle injury.
And their fifth starter for the night was not even on a fully guaranteed contract.
DeAndre’ Bembry, who entered the starting lineup for two straight games in Brown’s absence, probably won’t last in that role but has proven through the first 19 games he deserves a spot on the team.
The versatile guard/forward, while averaging just 5.1 points per game, is doing plenty to both earn himself more minutes and, quietly, the Nets more victories.
“He’s good with the ball. He can push it in transition. He can draw and kick. He’s a good cutter. He really makes a lot of good decisions offensively for a guy that’s not a primary target,” coach Steve Nash said Friday at practice. “You add it all up, and he does a lot for the team.”
The Nets will take it from a 27-year-old find whose veteran-minimum contract would not become officially guaranteed until Jan. 10. He was signed as potential depth for a top-heavy team that needed some, and with absences and injuries, the quality of the Nets’ bench has been tested early.
Through Brookyn’s franchise-best 14-5 start, the St. Patrick’s (N.J.) High School and St. Joseph’s product has been given a chance and excelled, even if his work does not always show up in the box score. He is long, he is annoying, he is athletic enough to both contest shots and out-jump others for rebounds (grabbing 10 Wednesday), and his shot has been falling much more often than in the past.
He has made opponents respect him from long range, going 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) after shooting 26.4 percent from deep with Toronto last year.
“[A] few guys have came in and kind of asserted ourselves,” Bembry said this week of himself and his early-season benchmates, such as Patty Mills and James Johnson. “I do think it’s just more so of us being assertive and being aggressive. Obviously, that’s one of the keys they wanted to bring in this past summer, was some defensive guys.”
On Wednesday, Boston’s Jaylen Brown went 0-for-3 when the 6-foot-5 Bembry was draped on him. Bembry denied Jayson Tatum, too, when he was shifted over, and he has been one of the better wing defenders in basketball this season.
Opponents are shooting 33 percent from the field when defended by Bembry, a stat that was ninth-best in the NBA (and tops on the Nets) among players who had appeared in at least 10 games as play began Friday.
His play has helped turn the Nets — whose identity was wrapped up in their offensive superstars last season, when they were 22nd in defensive rating — into a surprising defensive force.
“Without Kyrie, it was almost like starting over with 10 new guys, where they were going to fill in the complementary roles,” Nash said of a team that entered Friday as the sixth-best in the NBA defensively. “Now everyone is getting more responsibility and more minutes. Now you have to almost shape and shift the way we’re playing and what we want to do.”
The minutes are about to be a bit more challenged because Brown, who rolled his ankle Nov. 19 against Orlando, is expected to return Saturday against Phoenix after missing two games. Bembry, who has averaged nearly 28 minutes per game in the past four, likely will be bounced from the starting lineup.
But on a team without much depth, he has proven that he should see the court regardless.
Nash acknowledged he was not “as familiar” with Bembry when the former Hawk and Raptor signed this offseason, but getting to know the player has made him want to see more.
“You recognize that he’s a talented defender, and he’s also an intelligent offensive player for a guy that’s quote-unquote ‘non-shooter,’ ” Nash said.