Quick Recap: Miami Heat 81, New Jersey 80
Nov 14, 2009 Nets vs. Heat, Quick Recap
Welp. Well you are 0-9, that is kind of how it works huh? The Nets played great tonight, but great wasn’t enough as the Heat win 81-80. The Heat came down and hit two big threes to take out the Nets, winning by 1. Some quick bullets:
- Richardson banks in a three. Wade hits one at the buzzer. Sometimes, it just feels like this team isn’t supposed to win.
- Both threes were defended well. Just better offense…that and luck…
- I felt very smart today when Marv and Mike talked about how Brook Lopez was floating too much. He did it again tonight, but at the end, finished in the post. He was even floating when he wasn’t setting the screens, they need to run some sets to get him in the post.
- The Nets held Dwyane Wade to only 22 (he has been averaging over 30), but let Udonis Haslem go off for a new career high.
- Chris Douglas-Roberts looks to be back, he was getting in the lane finishing and drawing fouls, a good sign to see.
- If Sean Williams can do that (I am not even talking about scoring, I am talking about the energy) every night, I will be a very happy man.
- The one place where the Nets struggled was on the defensive boards. At one point, they gave the Heat four attempts at the basket.
- Who knew that Trenton Hassell could play with his back to the basket in the post?
- All in all great effort, and I am very confident we can go into these next three games and get at least one win out of it.
Game 10 Preview vs. Miami Heat
Nov 14, 2009 2009-2010 Open Thread, 2009-2010 Regular Season, Game Preview, Nets vs. Heat
Just a quick thing about Brook Lopez. People have been criticizing him for his poor play both games against Orlando, and that is fine. But for anyone saying this proves that he won’t be an elite big man (and there are some people saying that), let’s take a deep breath. Dwight Howard makes most big men look like Brook did last night, he has a combination of strength that isn’t often seen, and he knows how to use it. Also, Brook Lopez is only 21, in his second season, and he is getting the attention of every team right now with all of the injuries. If you want to criticize him for a poor game, that’s fine, but its just a game, not a trend. With all that being said, Sean Williams looked great last night, and if he can produce while getting the backup C minutes, that allows for Boone to be Yi’s backup full time (and start when he is out). I like that rotation.
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Another tough game for the Nets and they will once again face a tough team with a great SG. Dwyane Wade is playing some good basketball now, and he is adding a nice shot from the outside to is repertoire. A very scary player.
Nets Projected Starting Lineup
- PG – Rafer Alston
- SG – Trenton Hassell
- SF – Bobby Simmons
- PF – Eduardo Najera
- C – Brook Lopez
Magic Projected Starting Lineup
- PG – Mario Chalmers
- SG – Dwyane Wade
- SF – Quentin Richardson
- PF – Michael Beasly
- C – Jermaine O’Neal
Their Mismatches
Dwyane Wade vs. Trenton Hassell - Trenton Hassell did a pretty good job on Vince Carter last night, and tonight will be even tougher. Vince Carter likes settling for those outside jumper, Dwyane Wade on the other hand, he will drive, and once you go to stop that, then he will shoot from the outside.
Our Mismatches
Brook Lopez vs. Jermaine O’Neal – I am going to be honest, I don’t know how well O’Neal is playing this year, but he was awful, just plain awful, last year. Maybe he was hurt, but he just looked lost on the defensive end. Let’s see if Brook can have a nice bounce-back game.
Matchup Of The Night
Rafer Alston vs. Mario Chalmers - The sage veteran vs. the young rookie. Vague, I know, but I couldn’t come up with anything else.
Keys To Victory
Don’t Let Wade Get Hot – When he is “on,” there is nobody who can stop him. So you don’t want to see him start hitting from the outside, because if he does, it will be a long night.
Limit Turnovers – When you limit turnovers it does two things. It gives you more opportunities to score, and it prevents the other team from getting easy baskets. Both are very important to the Nets. As they continue to struggle to score, they need as many chances at the hoop as they can get. Also, they have been playing very well defensively, so you don’t want to give teams easy buckets. You want them to try to score on your half-court defense.
Prediction
Current Prediction Record: 5-4
Heat win.
Thoughts on the Game: Nets Keep it Close Until the Fourth
Nov 14, 2009 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Magic, Thoughts On the Game
GameFlow, Orlando Magic Daily, Howard the Dunk, Third Quarter Collapse
There appears to be a pattern developing for the depleted Nets, aptly named the “frenzy unit” by Mike Fratello during last night’s 88-72 loss against Orlando Magic down in Florida. The Nets, which was up to 9 live bodies with the addition of a very haggard and fatigued looking Chris Douglas-Roberts, has gotten off to a strong start in each of their last four games, seemingly lulling the opposition to sleep, to keep the game amazingly close until the fourth quarter. Yes, in the first half last night, you could say there was something “off” about the Magic, but we also heard about how there was something “off” with the Celtics last week, and with the Philadelphia 76ers twice the past week. Could it just be that the Nets, for at least three quarters, are doing good things on the court, like playing decent team defense, and not settling for ridiculous low percentage shots?
Where last night seemed to deviate from the previous three games was how the Magic were able to truly pull away in the fourth, finally hitting some of their three-pointers, and capitalizing on some sloppy play on the offensive end by the Nets. Prior to that, the Nets were either up, or were within single digits for most of the night. With about 8:30 left in the game, Jason Williams hit a three to put the Magic up 13, and the shot just felt like a definitive turning point. Chris Douglas-Roberts was then blocked by Marcin Gortat on the other end of the court, and old friend Vince Carter hit a three to drive the lead up to 16. Just so nobody got their hopes up, Rafer Alston, who overall had a great night with a 20-10-10 to notch his first career triple-double, committed a bad pass to CDR, turning the ball over, and essentially sealing the game for the Magic, who never looked back from there.
Speaking of Alston, while a lot of the focus in these two early match-ups against the Magic has been on Vince Carter and Courtney Lee (who was out with his groin injury last night) playing against their former teams, it was Rafer who looked like he had a chip on his shoulder last night. On the Nets’ very first offensive set of the game, he took the ball strong to the hoop drawing the foul and sinking the free throws. With about 54 seconds left in the half, Alston had a jump ball with Dwight Howard. Rather than actually attempting the jump, Rafer backed off the from the tip and directed his teams to the other end of the court, where Mickael Pietrus was cheating out ahead of the pack. Bobby Simmons got to the other end quickly and met Pietrus’ attempt with a blocked shot. It was a nice subtle bit of leadership by Rafer.
Unfortunately, Brook Lopez’s string of good games came to a resounding halt last night as he went 1-12 from the field, scored 4 points, and sported an unsightly -26 in the +/- department. There is just something about Dwight Howard that brings out the very worst in Brook Lopez. While I’m certain you could say that about a number of NBA centers when they match-up with Howard, but Brook can’t get any sort of position in the post against him, while allowing himself to get emotionally out-of-whack. As noted in the quickie recap last night, Brook got clobbered by Howard towards the end of the first quarter, but didn’t get the foul call. When he ran back down to the other end of the court, he whacked Howard in clear view of the refs and picked up his second foul – a stupid foul. Lopez then berated the refs all the way back to the bench, though in his special-kind-of-way, avoiding a technical foul. Lopez never seems to get T-ed up in those situations, so I wonder if he’s just yelling quotes from Star Wars or Transformers to avoiding pissing off the refs.
On the flip-side, Brook’s foul trouble got us a Sean Williams sighting last night, and I hope he showed Lawrence Frank enough to get his number called more often going forward. Sean Williams was a presence on defense, blocked a shot, had two steals, grabbed four boards, drew two charges, and in one of my favorite plays of the game, got Vince Carter to commit an incredibly entertaining foul at the 6:01 mark in the second, where Swat was setting a screen, and VC tried plowing into Williams to break through it, and eventually wrapped his arm around him to try and move Sean. Williams just stuck with the play and didn’t react, and there was almost a Rodmanesque zen-like quality to how he stood there during the screen while VC lost his mind. I know Williams has done this before – looked good for a game or two and then followed it up with some boneheaded games to get himself out of the rotation, but after an 0-9 start and a ton of injuries, could Lawrence Frank do any worse than let him play a few games consistently to see if this guy is finally getting it?
Let’s look at a couple of more key plays and some final bullets after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »
Nets on the Net: 11/14/09 Edition
Nov 14, 2009 Brook Lopez, Brooklyn, Lawrence Frank, Mikhail Prokhorov, Nets on the Net
Following up on a previous report, ESPN’s Marc Stein in his Daily Dime, said Mikhail Prokhorov is so “geeked out” about the prospect of owning an NBA team, he’s willing to renegotiate the price if the Nets can’t get their move to Brooklyn off the ground.
Meanwhile, Forest City Ratner is still waiting on bond ratings for the Barclays Arena, a necessary precursor to financing the arena.
John Schumann on NBA.com talks about the miserable starts for the Nets and Knicks.
Vince Carter thinks Brook Lopez resembles a 7′2″ power forward with his jump shot.
Dwight Howard is a Hardwood Paroxysm “Lion Face” recipient for his stingy defense on Brook Lopez last night.
Lawrence Frank lends his support to Byron Scott, who was fired by the New Orleans Hornets earlier this week, and is the coach Frank replaced on the Nets.
Utah Jazz blog, Jazzbots looks at potential trading partners and sees the Nets as a match in a deal that could net Jersey Andrei Kirilenko for some of the team’s expiring contracts like Bobby Simmons or Tony Battie.