MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Jarrett Allen was out of the Nets’ starting lineup for the first time this season. But the young center responded with 14 points, 13 rebounds and hit 5 of 6 shots off the bench in Sunday night’s loss to the Grizzlies.
Coach Kenny Atkinson gave the nod to veteran DeAndre Jordan instead of Allen, who admitted he’d been struggling.
“You know, I would say [I’ve been struggling] a little bit. I turned the ball over, and not making shots I need to, not being assertive like I need to,” Allen said. “It’s a mixture of both; I need to be assertive and I also need to calm down.”
Allen averaged 10.9 points last season on 59 percent shooting. But he came into Sunday averaging just five points on 41.7 percent shooting, so his bounce-back performance was one of the night’s few bright spots.
Jordan started and had six points and 12 rebounds. But he didn’t play a second in the overtime period.
But despite Atkinson’s tinkering at center, neither Allen nor Jordan was on the court for significant parts of the fourth quarter or overtime. When the Grizzlies used 6-foot-11 Jaren Jackson Jr. at center, Atkinson responded with a small-ball lineup featuring Taurean Prince at center and Joe Harris as a stretch four.
“Yeah, I felt they went small, so we kind of matched going small. I liked it. It’s something we’ll look at,” Atkinson said. “Joe was at the four. I think you’ll see games with as many good perimeter players as we have, there’s going to be different guys in there. Sometimes, we go super small with Taurean at the five. We need that in our package.”
Harris was unfazed by being asked to play power forward.
“I think the way the NBA is sort of shifting, there’s a lot of like sizes in this locker room, a lot of guys that are capable of guarding bigger players,” Harris said.
“Memphis, if they’re playing Jaren Jackson at the five, he’s a perimeter-type player. Although he’s 6-10, 6-11, he still handles the ball a lot, plays very similar like a guard but a lot of it is coming back, rebounding, being able to understand the coverages when you are in a four or five position.”
Kyrie Irving (37 points) has scored 113 points this season, the most through a player’s first three games with a new team in NBA history.
Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins was on Atlanta’s staff when Atkinson was the lead assistant, and called him a mentor.
When asked if Jenkins was in a similar situation rebuilding the young post-Mike Conley and Marc Gasol Grizzlies as he had found himself in Brooklyn, Atkinson chuckled and said, “He had some lottery picks, though, too. That’s kind of a big difference.”