Reid and Allen walk into Brooklyn and leave with it

Charlotte did not open the season with the roster people still picture. LaMelo Ball was traded to Minnesota for Naz Reid. Miles Bridges was sent to Phoenix for Grayson Allen. Coby White sat with a left calf strain, and Kon Knueppel, last season's league leader in threes, sat with a right hamstring strain. What was left beat the Nets 110-103 at Barclays Center.

Reid's Charlotte debut was 20 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, the 17th 20-and-10 game of his career. Allen, in 29 minutes off the bench, scored 21 on 6 of 9 shooting, made five threes, and the Hornets were plus-20 while he was on the floor. Dennis Schroder, playing for a 12th NBA team, had 19 and six assists. Eight of his points came in the fourth, including a finger-roll that made it 102-92 with 5:38 left, after he had personally outscored Brooklyn 8-2. Brandon Miller had 18. Moussa Diabate had 17.

Brooklyn's debuts were louder and not enough. Julius Randle scored 33 on 11 of 18 in his first game as a Net. Michael Porter Jr. had 26 on 10 of 21. They were the only Nets in double figures. Porter's floater cut it to 94-90 with 7:20 left, and that was the last time the game felt close.

Miller had 12 in the first quarter, eight of them in a row, and Charlotte led 27-23 after one. Diabate's layup with 1.2 seconds left in the half made it 54-48. The Hornets shot 44 percent, hit 15 of 48 threes, and got 20 second-chance points. For a team that missed the play-in a year ago, the opener was not about the names who used to start. It was about the ones who did.