Still less than a year removed from the final games of his playing career, Jason Kidd is more well-positioned than most coaches to understand the grind of a playoff series and what it takes to keep players fresh for the games that follow.

So when his Brooklyn Nets came out flat in the third quarter on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals., and he watched a three-point game turn into a 13-point deficit after three, and bearing in mind that his team was barely 48 hours removed an emotionally and physically draining 104-103 Game 7 win over the Toronto Raptors, Jason made a unique decision.

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Rather than see if his starters could make a run at getting the deficit down inside single digits, Coach Kidd stuck with a customary early fourth-quarter lineup of mostly reserves to start the final quarter of action: Marcus Thornton, Andrei Kirilenko, Mirza Teletovic and Mason Plumlee, with starting two-guard Shaun Livingston serving as the bench’s point man. Afterward, Coach Kidd was asked about his decision to keep his starters on the bench and explained his hope that the reserve group could keep the game close while his starters rested before making one final push.

“I wanted to get those guys, the starters, a break, give them some rest,” J-Kidd said. “When we went with that group, I thought that group could make some shots but also get some stops and get it to where it’s under 10, and then go from there but it never happened.”

The reserves couldn’t handle the Heat on the defensive end—which was Brooklyn’s ultimate downfall on the night. By the seven-minute mark, when Jason would’ve normally plugged his first team back in, Miami had built a 19-point lead. Rather than send his starters out for one more run at a Game 1 win, Jason opted to get Deron Williams, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson and Kevin Garnett some rest and Miami cruised to a a 107-86 Game 1 victory.

The fully rested Heat squad, which hadn’t played a game since last Monday’s series-sweeping victory over the Charlotte Bobcats, used the extra rest to their advantage, overpowering the Nets. Jason wasn’t surprised by the effort put forth by the Heat, and said his Nets must simply match that intensity going forward.

“This is the defending champs, so it’s always going to be at a high level,” he said. “We have to find a way to match it.”

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For the first half of Tuesday’s Game, it appeared the Nets had done that.

Going into Game 1, Jason made a slight lineup tweak. After starting Alan Anderson at shooting guard against Toronto on Sunday, he made the choice to slot Shaun Livingston back into the starting lineup to face Miami.

“We are going to go with Shaun,” J-Kidd said before Game 1. “Go back how we were. He’s our starter so we’ll go back to original, and we will go from there. If any changes that need to be made as the series goes on, we can make them.”

That decision to start Livingston immediately paid dividends, as Livingston scored the game’s first points on a 10-foot jump shot, helping the visitors to jump out to a 7-2 lead just over two minutes in.

Miami swiftly fought back and took its first lead of the contest, 13-12 near the midway point of the quarter on a Mario Chalmers layup, then extended their advantage to five points from there.

But Coach Kidd’s team had an answer. Two Kirilenko free throws and an Anderson jumper put Brooklyn back on top by one with just over a minute left in the frame. However, on the next Heat possession, Ray Allen sunk a 3-pointer to make the score 22-20 at the end of the first.

As Coach Kidd rested his starting five early in the second quarter, Miami began to pull away, extending their advantage to 34-24 with 6:41 left in the half.

Jason called for his starters to check back into the ball game, and they quickly turned the tide, outscoring Miami 14-6 in the final three-and-a-half minutes of the quarter. Brooklyn ended the half with a bang, as Williams drained a contested trey at the buzzer to trim the Nets’ deficit to just three, 46-43, at the break.

Despite ending the half on a high with the big trifecta, the Nets couldn’t build momentum coming out of the locker room and the Heat found the separation they were looking for in the third frame, thanks to hot shooting all across the board.

Miami went 12-of-16 from the field and scored 16 points in the paint in the third while knocking down six of their seven free throw attempts in the quarter. In contrast, Brooklyn failed to get to the free throw line at all in the quarter. The Nets were outscored 33-23 in the frame and the score stood 79-66 heading into the fourth. Miami dominated the paint all night and outscored Brooklyn 52-28 in deep.

“They got the ball in the paint. They had five guys in double figures,” J-Kidd said. “We couldn’t protect the paint to start the game, and pretty much the whole game we couldn’t keep them out of the paint. That’s something that we have to look at to get better at. On the other end, we have to move the ball. The ball was sticking too much.”

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Jason made the decision to go with his reserve group to start the fourth and Miami continued to pour it on. Ray Allen hit a pair of threes and scored nine of his 19 points off the bench in the fourth while LeBron James scored six of his game-high 22 points in the final frame.

James finished the game 10-of-15 from the field with three assists, a catalyst behind an effort that saw Miami’s offense move the ball for 22 assists on the evening as they shot 56.8 percent from the field. Coach Kidd was complimentary of James after the game.

“We have a new MVP, but when you talk about the best players in the world, he’s 1a/1b with Durant,” Jason said. “When he gets in the post, he can cause a problem because of his strength and his IQ. If someone doubles, he knows who the open guy is. We just have to make it a little tougher on him.”

NEXT UP

Moving forward, Brooklyn will attempt to even up the series and break up Miami’s 5-0 start to the postseason on Thursday. Despite the loss, Coach Kidd’s veterans remained confident in the team’s ability to compete against Miami and take away home court advantage in Game 2.

“They won at home like they were supposed to, and now it’s our job to steal one in Game 2,” Garnett said.

Pierce echoed Garnett sentiments, saying that the game was closer than its final score indicated.

“It was a 3-point game at the half, fellas,” Pierce said. “I mean, we’re not overreacting. We feel like we still can get a game in this building.”

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals from American Airlines Arena in Miami is set for a 7 p.m. EST tip-off Thursday night, and the game can be viewed nationally on ESPN2.

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