Nene revs up Wizards’ bench, shows off his ballhandling skills
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Version 0 of 1. For eight minutes Saturday night, Nene, the Washington Wizards’ backup center, seemed invincible. He was revving up the second unit in the first half, leading Washington’s construction of a 14-point lead over the Detroit Pistons. He made his first seven shots to net 14 points before halftime, more than he totaled in any of his first eight games this season. What was supposed to be a night in which Pistons center Andre Drummond would torture the Wizards’ overmatched front line quickly developed into one in which a rejuvenated Nene showcased his skill set with a few harrowing seconds as a ballhandler for good measure. [Wizards slow Andre Drummond in win over Pistons] The sequence began with Nene jumping a passing lane like an NFL safety, deflecting the ball ahead to himself to spark a three-on-two fast-break opportunity. He gathered the ball and with a couple dribbles, including a slow (or crafty, depending on your point of view) spin move, crossed the half-court line. With each dribble, his teammates’ anxiety amplified, and Ramon Sessions, the point guard on the court, called for the ball as point guards are instructed to do when a lumbering big man is gaining dangerous confidence as a ballhandler. But Nene didn’t listen. Instead, he unleashed another unhurried counterclockwise spin move away from Sessions. When he looked up, he found unmanned hardwood and dashed to the basket, accelerating to his right and using a mini inside-out dribble to get by Drummond for a layup off the glass for his sixth basket to give Washington a 44-30 lead. The Wizards’ bench erupted in glee — and maybe a tad of relief — as Nene gave a look on his run back to the other end as if it were a routine basket. “The rookie, he tried to make fun of me. ‘Oh, look at you, man, coast to coast,’ ” Nene said, referring to rookie Kelly Oubre Jr. in a high-pitched voice after Washington’s 97-95 win. “I said, ‘Dude, honest, you never saw my videos, huh? All those years?’ I have ability. I’m just respecting my position. When things happen, that happens. And tonight that happened.” Nene was the focal point for the second unit on both ends of the floor and at the center of critical Wizards runs in the second and third quarters. When he exited the game in the second period, the Pistons immediately capitalized with a 20-6 run, and when he returned in the third quarter, Washington went on a 19-4 spurt to reclaim the lead. He finished the night with a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds in just 22 minutes off the bench as Washington’s backups dominated Detroit’s, outscoring them 51-15. “He was good,” Wizards Coach Randy Wittman said. “I was going to leave him in, but he said he couldn’t play anymore.” The second-oldest player on the Wizards’ roster at 33, Nene was replaced by Kris Humphries at power forward in the starting lineup this season, his 14th in the NBA, and now exclusively plays center behind Marcin Gortat. The reassignment was the result of Washington deciding to have four three-point shooters on the floor at all times for its pace-and-space offense to avoid clogging the middle. “I just control what I control,” he said of being removed from the starting lineup. “My job is to play basketball and play the way I’ve been playing all these 14 years. What I can’t control is in God’s hands.” A starter for essentially his entire career, Nene had previously taken issue with playing center but has accepted his new role. In nine games, Nene is averaging 8.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 18.6 minutes (he sat out one game with a stiff back). The Wizards’ net rating for the 167 minutes he has been on the floor is a plus-8.5, the team’s third-highest mark. [Archives: Nene prepares for new role] “He’s one of those guys you can play off of,” said Sessions, who finished with 14 points and nine assists Saturday. “He can pass, he can score, he defends well. For us, if he goes well, most of the time the second unit is going to do what it needs to do. He’s a guy that’s been around for a while, and he knows his role really well.” The Wizards might need Nene’s interior presence more than anything. When he was sidelined against Oklahoma City, the NBA’s top rebounding team, Washington was overwhelmed: The Thunder did whatever it desired inside and dominated the boards 53-41. On Saturday, the Pistons, the NBA’s second-best rebounding team, lost the battle on the glass 42-38 and Drummond, who entered the night averaging 19.3 points and 18.3 rebounds, was held to eight and 13. But on Saturday, it was Nene’s nimble ballhandling, not that imposing physicality, that left his teammates shaking their heads in awe. “I almost yelled at him for going coast to coast,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. “But he scored, so I wasn’t saying anything.” |