While Durant and Harden were each sidelined with hamstring injuries, Aldridge opened up opportunities for Irving (15 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists) and Jeff Green (game-high 21 points and eight rebounds), among six Nets in double figures. Landry Shamet, who scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting with a 5-for-7 clip from long range, delved deeper than the box score.
"Yeah, it is important," Shamet said. "The game's changing, the NBA's changing and he's kind of a rarity now, LaMarcus. There's not many guys like him anymore. Used to be all over the league, littered all over the league ... but he adds an extra layer. So we've got the perimeter scoring, great guard play and those are our three guys.
"You add LaMarcus and that's just another real weapon and layer that we can utilize."
The rich could get richer Monday if Durant ends a 21-game absence and returns for a 7 p.m. game against the Knicks. Even without Durant and Harden entering Sunday's 2 p.m. tip-off at the Chicago Bulls, Aldridge alone gives Nets head coach Steve Nash a lot more to work with.
"We have a lot of possible combinations from Kevin, Jeff at the five all the way through Blake (Griffin), Nic (Claxton), 'Marcus -- those handful, lots of options, almost the same options at the four," Nash said. "So we can play extremely small at times. We can play with James at the four. We can play big with Kevin at the three and two traditional bigs. So it gives up a lot of optionality and, at the same time, we have to get some runway of time together to go to those edges of our possibilities, I think, but it's there and it's possible.
"So I think that goes back to (general manager) Sean (Marks) giving us lots of options, the roster. Now it's a matter of how quickly can we create a connectivity and understanding and jell in various combinations and how effective can we be, because it's all great to have a plan -- but when you get punched in the mouth, how are you going to respond? So that's the layer to this that's out there for us to strive for and realize how many of our combinations can face adversity and then overcome it."