Playing to win

The game was meaningless. Otherwise Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson would have played.

But it wasn't entirely meaningless the way Lawrence Frank substituted at the end of the game. He was coaching to win.

When he brought back Bostjan Nachbar and Antoine Wright with about 7 1/2 minutes left in Friday's preseason game, after the Nets' 20-point second half lead was trimmed to three, I questioned the move.

If one or both men, who will be regular rotation players, would have gotten hurt it would have been an awful decision by Frank. Neither did and both helped the Nets to the win, and Frank said everyone got something out of the game.

"It was a great experience," he said. "A big focal point of what we’ve done is end-game execution, poise, discipline. Our guys kept their poise, understood time-score-situation.

Frank's explanation for bringing them back as opposed to letting other guys finish : "A lot of it is, we want to see these guys and give them an opportunity to grow."

Chances are in tight situations Nachbar won't be the go-to guy - although the Nets did go to him for big shots late in the Toronto series last year. And if he continues to show this aggressiveness and confidence he would be a good decoy and/or option when Carter, Jefferson and Kidd are playing.

Chances also are that Wright won't be shooting gigantic threes late. But you never know when someone is going to get hurt or get in foul trouble and there's a need for Nachbar, Wright and Boone at the end of games.

In the end, this was part of the reason Frank sat his three best players - to give others a chance and see how they respond, to see if practice carried over to the game.

"Even though it’s the preseason and in games like this it doesn’t matter who wins, I think coach liked what he saw because we were fighting until the end and we pulled it out," Nachbar said.

"Darrell Armstrong said you have to learn how to win the preseason. It’s a great way for us young guys or guys who are not starters have to learn how to win because I’m pretty sure we’re going to find ourselves in situations where guys are going to be injured or fouled out and we have to step out there and finish the game."

It would have been good to see what Sean Williams could do, but you know how that went.

***

I couldn't believe how much Nachbar wanted this game.

Think Nachbar driving and dunking over Sam Dalembert or Jared Jeffries or Elton Brand. There weren't any big-time shot blockers on the floor, but Nachbar was as aggressive as we've ever seen him.

"One thing was for sure - I really really wanted to play a game," Nachbar said after his 35-point outburst. "When you play 100-plus games in a six- seven-month span and then don’t play again for four months you get anxious. I was just so happy to have a chance to go on the floor and I think it showed. I just really wanted to play a game. It’s been a really long time. I’m happy the preseason began.

"Boki the way he’s practiced and played he’s gonna put presure on guys," Frank said. "He’s done a really nice job."