Quick Recap: Denver Nuggets 122, New Jersey Nets 94
Nov 4, 2009 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Nuggets, Quick Recap
The Nets (0-5) will have to wait until at least Friday before getting their first win of the season as they were trounced by the Denver Nuggets 122-94 at the Izod Center in New Jersey tonight.
- After leading 51-50 at halftime tonight, the Nets allowed the Nuggets to score 72 points in the second-half, including 44 points in the third quarter.
- Rookie Ty Lawson led a very balanced scoring attack with 23 points off the bench.
- Carmelo Anthony (8-24) struggled with his jump shot all night, but still ended up with 22 points.
- Chris Douglas-Roberts led all Nets with 19 points. He chipped in with 7 rebounds.
- Eduardo Najera did an admirable job filling in for Yi Jianlian at the PF spot, finishing with 14 points and 7 rebounds.
- Brook Lopez finished with 12 points, and a team high 8 rebounds.
- Terrence Williams provided some energy off the bench with 13 points and 6 rebounds.
- Courtney Lee is still struggling to find his jumper, finishing with 10 points on 2-11 shooting.
- Bobby Simmons actually hit a shot tonight, but missed 8 others to finish with 2 points on 1-9 shooting.
- The Nuggets shot 55 percent from three-point land going 10-18. The Nets, on the other hand, still can’t buy a three, finishing 2-15 from beyond the arc.
- The Nets did manage to keep their turnovers down tonight, finishing with 13.
Game 5 Preview Vs. Denver Nuggets
Nov 4, 2009 2009-2010 Open Thread, 2009-2010 Regular Season, Game Preview, Nets vs. Nuggets
Before we get started talking about the Nuggets game, I just wanted to say I re-watched the Bobcats game, then I watched the third quarter one more time. It was really bad. I spared you guys by not doing the video breakdown because the whole quarter was so bad, it was difficult to pick anything out.
As for tonights game, the only thing the Nets have going for them is that this isn’t in Denver.
Quick Note: I know I said Tuesday, but I will get these rankings out before Friday’s game I promise.
Nets Starting Lineup
- PG – Rafer Alston
- SG – Courtney Lee
- SF – Chris Douglas-Roberts
- PF – Eduardo Najera
- C – Brook Lopez
Bobcats Starting Lineup
- PG - Chauncy Billups
- SG – Anthony Carter
- SF – Carmelo Anthony
- PF – Kenyon Martin
- C – Nene
Their Mismatches
Carmelo Anthony vs. Chris Douglas-Roberts - Carmelo is a mismatch for everyone right not not name LeBron or Kobe. He is playing out of his mind right now, and for a little perspective, his 25 points last night was his lowest output so far this year. Yikes. He also likes to work in the post so the fact that he has 30 pounds on CDR could pose a problem.
Chauncy Billups vs. Rafer Alston - Through all of the losing, Rafer has been playing pretty well on the offensive end. For the most part he has controlled his “shoot first” mentality, and he is getting the ball to guys in spots to score. The defensive end is a whole nother story however. Billups should be able to have his was with Rafer.
Our Mismatches
Courtney Lee vs. Anthony Carter – The only reason Anthony Carter is starting is because J.R. Smith is suspended right now. Lee looked like he had his stuff straightened out before the 3rd quarter fiasco, and maybe this string of playing against backups can get him going offensively.
Matchup Of The Night
Kenyon Martin vs. Eduardo Najera - Najera started his career with the Nuggets, so maybe there is some motivation there, but after all the injuries, he can’t compare athletically with Martin anymore. That doesn’t mean this won’t be a fun match-up to watch, especially with both of these guys’ “bulldog” attitude. Another reason to watch, to see if Najera can play well enough to keep Bobby Simmons glued to the bench.
Keys To Victory
Get Brook Touches Deep In Post - Nene is a good center, but he is at his best defensively when he is off the ball, helping. He isn’t the greatest post defender. So getting Brook the ball works for two reasons. 1, Brook should be able to score on him. 2, It will keep Nene occupied and not allow him to help.
Attack Carmelo When He’s On Defense - This is the only thing I can really think of when trying to find a way to stop him. He is in such a groove right now, nothing the Nets do defensively will stop him. If we attack him when he’s on defense, he could pick up some fouls. Also, making him play both sides of the ball rather than just offense will tire him out, and maybe some of his 4th quarter shots will fall short because of it.
Prediction
Current Prediction Record: 1-3
This could get ugly. Real ugly. If Denver stays motivated through the whole game (I think they will, they did it against Indiana last night), this could be a 30/40 point win for the Nuggets. Since we already know the Nets will lose, you want to watch for the type of fight the Nets put up. I don’t want to see this team giving up at any point during the game.
Bloggers Talk: Denver Nuggets
Nov 4, 2009 Bloggers Talk, Nets vs. Nuggets
As we plan to do before every Nets home game this season (or until another blogger tells us where to stick it), today we talk with Jeremy Wagner of the fantastic TrueHoop Denver Nuggets blog, Roundball Mining Company. Wagner answers some questions for us and lets us know how it feels to root for a team that might actually win an NBA title. And just to show what a good sport I am, I’ve done the same over at this site, sans the telling people what it’s like to root for an NBA title contender.
NAS: There’s been a lot of early buzz about Carmelo Anthony’s hot start. Is there anything that he’s doing differently that you believe could be at the root of this MVP-caliber of play?
Wagner: The best way I can explain Carmelo’s play so far this season is to compare it to the end of The Matrix when Neo realizes he is The One and what was once difficult or impossible became effortless. Melo is exuding a great deal of confidence and everything he does seems to have a purpose. He is very conscious of earning the best shot he can and will eagerly pass off if a teammate has a better opportunity to score.
In addition to his improvement on offense, he is playing very hard on defense. Last season he learned how much simply paying attention to what was going on around him can help improve his defense. This season he is coupling that with hard work and determination. In the second game of the season he welcomed the opportunity to go mano a mano with Brandon Roy on both ends of the floor and he won that game for the Nuggets in Roy’s building.
Obviously there will be nights when his shot is not falling, but as long as he continues his complete play, he should be a legitimate MVP candidate.
NAS: Do you feel the Nuggets are a forgotten team in the West by the pundits considering the attention the Lakers and Spurs got in the off-season?
Wagner: I did think the Nuggets were being undersold before the season started. Clearly the Lakers are the team to beat and even if Ron Artest does not make them better, they were still the best team in the conference by a comfortable margin.
I absolutely do not concede that the Spurs are a better team than Denver. I do not think Richard Jefferson is going to help as much as most observers expect him to and Portland’s big signing of Andre Miller is a poor fit for what they do as well. The acquisitions of Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson were not intimidating by any stretch of the imagination, but they both fit needs the Nuggets had much better than some of the players other contenders brought in.
NAS: Nets fans are always linked to Kenyon Martin. Do you have any hope that he puts together a full healthy season with the Nuggets this year?
Wagner: What I consider a healthy season from Kenyon is not what I would consider a healthy season from Dwight Howard or Chris Paul. Many Nuggets fans hold Kenyon’s big contract against him as well as his injury issues, but I think Martin deserves all the credit in the world for what he has done. No other player in the NBA, and probably any of the major sports has ever undergone two microfracture procedures and returned to play. Not only did Kenyon return, but he is as athletic and aggressive as ever.
While many people consider Kenyon and Nene to be injury prone players, I consider them to have had bad luck (I mean Nene had cancer, how many NBA players in their mid 20’s have missed a season because of cancer?). Kenyon has had a couple of major injuries such as the broken leg at Cincinnati and his two knee surgeries, but those were in the past. He will miss a week here or a week there with his balky back or an ankle turn here or there, but I expect him to play between 65 and 70 games ever year. Instead of rehabbing last summer Kenyon finally worked on his jumper he loves to shoot and so far it looks better thanks to the way he moved his left hand back on the ball. He no longer has to make an awkward twist of his wrists to get the shot off.
NAS: Given the financial situation in Denver and what the starting five is expected to make next season, do you feel this is Denver’s last shot with this current group to win an NBA title?
Wagner: Geez, can’t I just enjoy this season? The truth is you are absolutely right. The Nuggets have the potential for an $80 plus million payroll next season and as John Hollinger likes to point out, their five highest paid players alone could be over the tax limit. There is certainly a chance Nuggets fans could be facing a fire sale next summer.
Owner Stan Kroenke has been very much against paying the luxury tax lately, but he does not have much choice this season. However, he has splurged on the Nuggets before as just two seasons ago by my calculations he spent about $95 million in salary and luxury tax. Plus Mark Warkentien claimed just a few days ago that the Nuggets will pull the trigger on a big deal if it makes sense.
I cannot predict the future and if you doubt me I will show you my record on NFL picks this season, but if the Nuggets do indeed prove to be legitimate contenders, I think at the very least he keeps the team together and allows them to make another run. Of course with the success the front office has had with slashing costs while still improving the team, they may not hesitate to ship out a veteran or two and sign cheaper alternatives.
Whatever ends up happening with their track record over the previous two offseasons it will be difficult to argue with anything they do.
Game 5 Scouting Report
Nov 4, 2009 Nets vs. Nuggets, Opponent Scouting Reports
Game 5 vs. Denver (4-0)
Projected Starting Lineup
1. Chauncey Billups | 6′3″ | 202 lbs. | 35.8 MPG | 23 PPG | 6.7 APG | 43.1 FG | 48.1 3 | 88.2 FT
Strong physical guard with a knack to knock down the big shot. He is terrific at using his size to get his defender off balance, and then he can rise above them to get a shot off. Also a great passer and defender. Lost some speed with age.
2. Anthony Carter | 6′2″ | 195 lbs. | 22.5 MPG | 4.8 PPG | 3.3 APG | 38.8 FG | 42.9 3 | 100% FT
Starting until J.R. Smith returns. A decent shooter and average defender.
3. Carmelo Anthony | 6′8″ | 230 lbs. | 36.5 MPG | 34.5 PPG | 6.5 RPG | 50 FG | 45% 3 | 85% FT
Playing the best basketball of his life right now. He has put up some big numbers against good defensive teams. Likes to work in the post, but is a good jump shooter and can take the ball to the basket.
4. Kenyon Martin | 6′9″ | 240 lbs. | 35 MPG | 10.5 PPG | 6.5 RPG | 50% FG | 0% 3 | 25% FT
Hey, this guy looks familiar. Still crashes the boards hard and plays very physical. Can hit from 15 every once in a while. If he is on, he will be a pain to stop, because he will start pump faking, taking one dribble, and going hard at the basket.
5. Nenê | 6′10″ | 250 lbs. | 35 MPG | 14.3 PPG | 9.8 RPG | 55.8% FG | 0% 3 | 63% FT
Nene is a tough guy inside, but he has a nice touch and a polished post game. Even though he’s not a great leaper, Nenê is a terrific athlete for a center. He’s fast afoot and extremely quick when making moves at the basket, which is the main reason his foul-drawing rate is so high. He is a better help defender than a on the ball defender.
Bench
F/C. Chris Anderson | 6′10″ | 288 lbs. | 22 MPG | 6.3 PPG | 7 RPG | 47% FG | 0% 3 | 82% FT
A high energy guy who gets the crowd going or shuts them up (on the road) with his big blocks and dunks. He is a great rebounder, and he really gets the fast break going, and if he doesn’t he is usually finishing them.
G. Arron Afflalo | 6′5″ | 215 lbs. | 19.8 MPG | 6.3 PPG | 1.8 APG | 45.5% FG | 40% 3 | 100% FT
Arron Afflalo seems to be the Nuggets younger, longer, and more athletic version of Dahntay Jones. He can also play a little better on offense instead of Jones. Actually if you look at 82games.com opponent PER figures and plus-minus data, they say that Afflalo is a better defender.
G. Ty Lawson | 5′11″ | 195 lbs. | 19.5 MPG | 9 PPG | 2.3 APG | 50% FG | 40% 3 | 85.7% FT
Lawson’s game translates well to the pro level despite his height because of exceptional athletic indicators. As a Tar Heel, Lawson was a very efficient scorer and dynamic playmaker who excelled in Roy Williams’ frenetic style. As such, he’ll fit right in with the Nuggets.
G. Joey Graham | 6′7 | 225 lbs. | 10.8 MPG | 4 PPG | .3 APG | 50% FG | o% 3 | 85.7% FT
Graham rebounds well for a small forward and is a great finisher at the rim, but he generates few blocks or steals. He doesn’t have a solid outside game either.
F. Malik Allen | 6′10″ | 255 lbs. | 8 MPG | 4 PPG | 1 RPG | 50% FG | 0% 3 | 0% FT
A PF who doesn’t really go inside and he ends up settling for a good amount of jumpers.
G/F. J.R. Smith | No Regular Season Stats: Suspended
F. Johan Petro | No Regular Season Stats: 4 DNPs
G. Renaldo Balkman | No Regular Season Stats: 4 DNPs
Offensive Tendencies:
This team likes to run, and they have the personnel for it. They use Carmelo in ISO sets on different spots in the court. They do it on the low block and at the high post. They also run the pick and roll for Billups a good amount.
Defensive Tendencies:
After what seems like years of pleading from coach George Karl, this team is finally starting to play defense. They got a few good off the ball shot blockers, and they like to go for those blocks, using them to start fast breaks.
Keys To Victory:
Find a way to stop Carmelo. If we let Carmelo get his, we can’t let anyone else go off. Allow everyone but Carmelo/Billups to shoot the three. Without J.R. Smith (suspended), this team is lacking a consistent shooter from 3. Close hard on everyone and let Brook handle them if they get past the outside defender.
The Nets Need Rocket Fuel
Nov 4, 2009 Opinion, State Of The Nets
Let’s look at a team that a lot of pundits were picking against before the start of the regular season. A lot of the star power they had acquired over the years had been lost due to injury, free agency and plain-old circumstance. In order to win, they were going to have to lean heavily on youth and career role players to play like stars. They were going to have to play smart, fundamentally sound basketball to beat their opponents because they just simply did not have the roster talent to overcome inefficient play.
If any of these plotlines sound familiar to Nets fans, that’s not a coincidence. Unfortunately, the team I am describing in the above paragraph is not the New Jersey Nets, who are currently toiling at 0-4 with nary a “W” in sight based on the upcoming schedule, but rather the Houston Rockets, who have jumped out to a 3-1 record to start the season, including two road victories in Utah and Golden State, despite not having Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady or Ron Artest on their active roster this season.
Yes, in basketball, a talented roster generally wins the most games. There’s no reason to believe that teams like the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Cavs, Spurs or Nuggets won’t be the elite teams in the NBA come playoff time. But just because an organization is not blessed with the Lakers’ roster, doesn’t mean they’re destined to play games where they commit more turnovers than field goals, or they allow a team missing two of their star players to score 123 points in regulation.
Yes, it’s very early and the Houston bubble can burst as quickly as its inflated, but look at what their roster is doing right now. PG Aaron Brooks, who’s only been in the league for two years, is averaging 21 points and 8.5 assists, on 50 percent shooting, after averaging 11.2 points and 3 assists on 40 percent shooting in his sophomore campaign. Trevor Ariza, a career role-player who just never really got a chance to start in his previous stops in LA, Orlando and New York, is averaging 21.3 points in the early-going, including a mind-numbing 52 percent beyond the arc.
Looking at their team statistics versus the rest of the league, there’s nothing that really stands out. Their 10th in offensive efficiency averaging 108.4 points per 100 possessions, and they’re 14th in defensive efficiency, allowing 104 points per 100 possessions. They’re near the bottom in rebound rate (the Nets are the very bottom), their true shooting percentage of 56 percent is good for 11th overall, and their turnover rate is middle of the pack for the league.
So why are the Rockets off to such a good start and the Nets can’t seem to get out of their own way? Ask Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm:
You cannot outwork Houston right now. You just can’t. You can bust your ass all you want, they’re going to work harder, be smarter, make every single small play that you need. Teams with potential and no focus always wonder where those little plays are. The answer, as I tweeted last night, is that the Rockets have stolen all of those plays from your team and are keeping them for themselves. Shane Battier was +36 against a predicted playoff team last night. They have no star power! This isn’t supposed to happen! Even if they were to put together a fight and a few wins against overlooking teams or on back to backs, they weren’t supposed to come out and look like a team that could beat anyone, anywhere, any time. This squad has gone “Major League.” As in, “Well, I guess there’s only one thing left. Win the whole f*ckin’ thing.”
Interestingly enough, the day of the season opener, Brook Lopez talked about being that hardworking, lunch pail team that needed to get “scrappy” to win.
I can tell you a few things that don’t embody scrappy play. Letting the ball get ahead of all five players off a missed foul shot. Or not recognizing when the opposing team’s three-point specialist has the ball beyond the arc and his defender is being screened off him. Fans have every reason to question how hard the Nets are working, and how smart they are playing, when the players they root for are openly questioning each other’s heart and toughness.
It’s easy to make excuses for the Nets right now. They’re sporting the youngest starting 5 in the league after trading away their best player in the offseason, and their current best player is on the shelf and hasn’t been healthy since the first preseason game. Yi has now joined Devin Harris in the injury ward. But also consider that they’ve had two double digit second half leads, including one game where the opposing team shot 37 percent, and still lost. They went into Washington who was missing Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler and let up 123 points in a four quarter game.
Just claiming “the Nets suck,” and washing your hands of it, is only so effective. Especially when there’s a team like the Houston Rockets out there that’s proving you don’t need to have a star to win games in the NBA. You just need to play good basketball. A concept the Nets have yet to grasp this season.
Brooklyn Documentary Fundraiser
Nov 4, 2009 Brooklyn
Recently, NAS spoke with documentary filmmaker Michael Galinsky about his project “The Battle for Brooklyn,” which follows the eminent domain battle being waged against the Atlantic Yards Development, the Brooklyn site that would contain a new arena for the Nets.
Starting today, Galinsky and his colleagues who have worked on the project are raising funds to help see their film to completion. They are preselling digital copies of the documentary and will also release media snippets on their site to help promote the film and to generate feedback.
Whether you’re for or against the Nets move to Brooklyn, we thought you’d might like to check out the site and Galinsky’s hard word, which includes nearly 300 hours of footage.
Nets on the Net: 11/4/09 Edition
Nov 4, 2009 Lawrence Frank, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net, Yi
A combination of injuries and some players “doing it their own way” rather than listening to coach Lawrence Frank has led to a terrible start for the Nets, according to Julian Garcia of the Daily News.
In the latest installment of New York Magazine’s Mikhail Prokhorov Theater, they examine Prokhorov’s high-priced lunches.
A look at China’s two biggest stars, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, and their injuries.
Over on “The Couch,” Ben C. takes a look at the incoming Nuggets and why a little frustration isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Nets.