Around the point he became the Nets’ go-to scorer in crunch time Tuesday, Trendon Watford inched closer to his minutes restriction.
A preseason hamstring injury prevented him from debuting until Sunday, when he logged 13 minutes and left the Garden court, admittedly, gassed. Two days later, he entered with a cap of 18 minutes.
But Watford’s adrenaline was “out the roof,” he said.
He begged Jordi Fernandez to ignore the restriction, with the Nets down leading scorer Cam Thomas — whose lower back tightness prompted a last-minute absence — yet still on the verge of winning after a 17-point comeback.
“Just let me rock,” Watford told his coach.
Watford only needed to play an extra minute — he scanned the final box score during his postgame news conference, noted the 19:03 and said “we’re good” as a grin stretched across his face — during the Nets’ 116-115 victory over the Hornets, but after checking back into the game with 7:15 left, he eventually closed over Ben Simmons for the final three-plus minutes and collected seven consecutive points to help the Nets clinch their NBA Cup win.
Those shots will belong to Thomas when he returns. Those minutes will belong to center Nic Claxton when he recovers from a lower back strain.
But as the Nets experiment with lineup combinations and navigate injuries, Watford’s 10-point, four-rebound, two-block outing provided a reminder of the role the 24-year-old — in his second year with Brooklyn after being an undrafted free agent dumped by the Trail Blazers — could fill when needed.
“He took advantage of that matchup and just does what we’ve seen him do a million times,” Cam Johnson said. “It is not out of character for him. He can score the ball. He can get to his spots and create for others. So that lift in the fourth quarter, that extra dimension of somebody to go to when they’re trying to take away what we’re doing, was huge for us.”
Watford’s cameos last season were limited until interim head coach Kevin Ollie’s lineup combinations became more about deciphering Brooklyn’s future than salvaging the present. He topped 30 minutes with the Nets for the first time April 1, and over the final seven games, which featured two starts, Watford averaged 12.1 points and shot 48.4 percent from the field.
But then Fernandez replaced Ollie. Watford sustained his hamstring injury. It takes time to build trust with a coaching staff, Watford said Tuesday, and that difficult task was only magnified by his 11 consecutive absences. His 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame hadn’t prevented him from being a ball handler before, and it allowed him to plug a variety of spots.
Until he returned, though, Fernandez distributed those minutes elsewhere.
“There’s some things I have to get used to because I’ve been out,” Watford said. “So I’m still trying to get used to where I’m at on the court and still being able to pick my spots and just sort of show what I can do on the offensive end. I know that’ll come.”
Tuesday became a glimpse of his Nets potential. After a Hornets turnover, Watford drove, drew a foul and hit a foul shot to put the Nets up nine in the third quarter.
And in the fourth quarter, when he stayed on the court even when Simmons checked out with 3:03 left, Watford ended up with a mismatch. On the first possession, he backed down 6-3 Tre Mann and converted an and-one.
Then, Charlotte switched 6-5 Josh Green onto Watford, and he took two dribbles before flinging an off-balance shot that banked in as he fell to the court — putting the Nets up six with 38 seconds remaining.
“He was very impactful with his drives, his control,” Fernandez said. “He’s a big body. It’s really hard to switch on him because he’ll make the right play.”
The Nets fed Watford again during their final possession, but this time, Green blocked his shot and gave the Hornets a chance to force overtime. Watford’s teammates “messed with me” after that, he joked.
But even with the empty possession, and even with Johnson erupting for 34 points, the Nets went back to their young forward. They went back to the mismatch.
Perhaps most importantly, Fernandez went back to Watford in the fourth — and then didn’t take him out.
“I’m glad he stuck with me,” Watford said.