Nets Are Scorching

I had the pleasure of going to Nets practice today, and I came away with some real good stuff.  First and foremost the thing that I noticed was that this team is still playing hard, the media only gets to sit in on the final few moments of the actual practice, but they were still going hard, and just by the look on all of the guys faces, you can tell they were really going at it the whole practice.  Courtney Lee was working too, but I couldn’t tell if he went the whole practice or if he was just participating in the drills at the end.  Either way it looks like he is still struggling with the injury a bit (at least to me), so I wouldn’t expect to see him playing either of the next two games.  Anyway, here is some stuff I took away from Nets’ practice today.

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Well, Mark and I got together once again for another podcast, and in this edition, Mark and I talk about the tough losses in Philly, Orlando, and Miami.  We also talk about the injuries (what else is new), the schedule ahead, and a little bit about the new ownership.

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Despite strong performances Friday and Saturday, Lawrence Frank is still not ready to commit to Sean Williams.

Julian Garcia talks more Sean Williams, and also makes note of the Nets ticket promotion Tuesday night – “10 is enough,” where certain tickets will be $10 as Bret Yormark looks to celebrate the team’s worst losing streak to start a season. Awesome.

Meanwhile, Brett Yormark is begging for fan loyalty.

Net Income at the Nets Daily blog looks at members from Mikhail Prokhorov’s old CSKA Moscow teams to see which ones could interest the Nets.

Atlantic Yards Report examines why Prokhorov may want to buy the Nets regardless of where they play their games.

GameFlow, Hot Hot Hoops

I guess it would be poor form for me to start off a game recap by saying “the Nets are jinxed.” No one is going to take me seriously if I start speculating about how maybe this is the “curse of Vince Carter” or maybe this is some retribution from the basketball gods who are trying to stick it to Bruce Ratner for desperately wanting to move this organization to Brooklyn.

That’s just ridiculous, right? Because 0-10 starts to the season, along with a horrific amount of injuries to key players and losing a game by 1 point because of a Dwyane Wade buzzer-beater after Trenton Hassell literally blanketed Wade during the possession, are just routine, totally acceptable occurrences in sports. Going the route of jinxes, or curses, or offended sports gods is just not rational.

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In all seriousness (yes, I was sorta joking above), these are the kinds of games as a fan that just give me nightmares. While the Nets have had some questionable end-of-game scenarios since the season began, there was nothing about how last night’s 81-80 loss to the Heat ended that I could kill the Nets for, besides the actual results. With about 25 seconds left in the game, Quentin Richardson drilled a three to tie things up while Chris Douglas-Roberts was playing him about as well as you could ask for from a defender. And still, the Nets came back with 4 seconds left with a tip-in from Brook Lopez off the Rafer Alston miss. Yes, the Heat still obviously had more than enough time to take the game back, but finally, for the first time this season, momentum was all on the Nets’ side in the game’s final seconds.

The Wade play, which ended up giving the Heat its final three points and the win, looked like it was about to busted up by Hassell. Wade had briefly lost possession of the ball during his dribble, but was able to recover to get the shot off, with Hassell still in his face. But Dwyane Wade is a superstar, one of the best players in the NBA who’s born to make these kinds of killer shots. There is nobody currently playing for the Nets right now that comes remotely close to Wade’s level of deliverance.

Trying to mention something positive about this game, the Nets saw a Sean Williams last night who looked like he had some legitimate star-power. I had mentioned after Friday’s loss to Orlando that Sean Williams seemed to be turning a corner, so during this period of win-lessness and injuries, he deserved to get his number called more by Lawrence Frank. Last night, Williams didn’t get an opportunity until the third quarter, but he ended up playing perhaps his finest 15 minutes as a Net. It wasn’t just that he scored 12 points on 6-7 shooting that was impressive, it was how and when he was doing it. He was grabbing offensive rebounds and scoring on a series of putbacks and jump hooks. Then, with 42 seconds left, he drilled an absolutely clutch jump shot from the right elbow as the Nets looked to be breaking down on offense. On the next play, Williams made a fantastic block on Michael Beasley in the corner while he was attempting a three-pointer. The only problem was he couldn’t keep the ball inbounds, so Miami regained possession, which of course led to the Richardson three-ball to tie the game.

After last night, there is no reason for Lawrence Frank not to play Sean Williams early and often. He doesn’t have to start at PF, but considering how Bobby Simmons (who missed last night’s game for personal reasons), isn’t really a very good option at the four, Josh Boone seems afraid to attempt any kind of field goal outside of garbage putbacks, and Eduardo Najera is just not a very good defender anymore, the time has come to just give the keys to the car to Sean Williams. If he ends up crashing it after a couple of games, then you take it away again, but after watching him the past two nights, it’s just outrageous to think about how this team has been playing with 8 healthy players for more than a week, and Williams is only now just getting into games. These are the kinds of fickle coaching decisions Lawrence Frank makes that make it very hard to defend those who want to give him the benefit of the doubt. You have to put your team in a position to win, and not using Sean Williams when your roster has been decimated by injuries because you’re still trying to teach him some kind of lesson about concentration and effort is just insane. Let the kid play. He’s earned it.

In a one-point game there are a lot of plays you can look back at as key plays, so let’s examine a few after the jump.
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Rafer Alston tries to see the bright side of things and compares the current Nets team to the Miami team he played for 2003-04 that started out 0-8 but still ended up making the playoffs.

Sean Williams is not deterred by his early-season lack of playing time and is ready when his number is called.

Lawrence Frank wants Terrence Williams to work more on his driving and ball movement.

Speaking of TWill, ESPN Insider’s John Hollinger lists him as a disappointment in the early going due to his poor shooting and turnover rates.

With the firing of Byron Scott in New Orleans, Celtics Blog looks at other coaches potentially in danger of losing their jobs and mentions Lawrence Frank.

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.

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

1. PG – Rafer Alston
2. SG – Trenton Hassell
3. SF – Bobby Simmons
4. PF – Eduardo Najera
5. C – Brook Lopez

Magic Projected Starting Lineup

1. PG – Mario Chalmers
2. SG – Dwyane Wade
3. SF – Quentin Richardson
4. PF – Michael Beasly
5. 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.

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:
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