Quick Recap: New Jersey Nets 97, Charlotte Bobcats 91
Dec 4, 2009 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Bobcats, Quick Recap
And the streak is over… the Nets win. Thhhhheeeeee…. NETS WIN!
OK, so we can stop talking about 0-82, as the Nets (1-18) ended their historic losing streak and got their first win of the season in a 97-91 victory against the Charlotte Bobcats (7-11) tonight at the Izod Center in New Jersey. The Nets are now 1-0 in the Kiki Vandeweghe era.
- This was a crisp offensive game for the Nets, despite only shooting 39 percent from the game and getting outrebound 51-39. They only turned the ball over nine times, and they never had one of their “infamous” quarters that seem to kill them every game. To boot, the team was clearly hustling all game, punctuated by a spectacular, Derek Jeter-esque dive into the fourth row by Devin Harris in the fourth quarter, while trying to save a ball from going out of bounds.
- Game ball to Courtney Lee who was back in the starting lineup and scored 27 points, with 3 steals. He was hitting his jumpers early, and despite some foul trouble, he never went cold the rest of the game, shooting 11-16.
- Brook Lopez had a terrific night with 31 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks.
- Devin Harris struggled from the floor (2-12), but he finished with 16 points and 8 assists, and he also hit three huge free throws in the closing minutes to put the Nets up 7.
- Keyon Dooling and Tony Battie returned from injury for the first time this season. They scored two points between-them (both for Dooling) but they both did a lot of little things to help the team tonight, especially Dooling, who was the biggest cheerleader on the bench.
- Josh Boone looked great on defense tonight with 3 blocks.
- Stephen Jackson and Raymond Felton each scored 28 points to lead the Bobcats, who are now an answer to a trivia question.
Game 19 Preview vs. Charlotte Bobcats
Dec 4, 2009 2009-2010 Open Thread, Game Previews, Nets vs. Bobcats
So here we go, the Nets are going into their easiest stretch yet, starting with Charlotte tonight. As Mark noted yesterday, Keyon Dooling is going to be back today. The official Nets twitter confirmed this:
For tonight: Keyon’s in, Battie’s in, Yi’s close, Jarvis is up after that. Also, Kiki did not offer up the starters. Bet on Lee, though.
So not only Dooling, but Battie too. That’s another big key, since Battie can play both the center and the power forward spot. Which means less Josh Boone. Less Josh Boone is always a good thing. On to the match-ups:
Devin Harris vs. Raymond Felton
Raymond Felton is a very serviceable point guard who can score when needed, but can distribute the ball and get his guys in position to score. I think it is safe to say that Devin is 100% right now, and his production is showing that. He has been getting to the foul line a ton, and his shots are starting to fall. He didn’t get many assists last game, but as I pointed out earlier, just his presence on the court gives his teammates a better look. This could be key with Dooling back.
Advantage: Devin Harris
Courtney Lee vs. Stephen Jackson
Also from the Nets twitter, there is no hints from Kiki’s first lineup besides Courtney Lee is probably a bet to start. This is good, because it means Lee is 100%. He has looked much better the last two games, and I really think that it will continue. Plus he brings a defensive presence to the court, and it also means that Trenton Hassell is now removed from the starting line-up. He has been a serviceable guy, but he has struggled the last couple, and that was probably his age catching up with him.
Advantage: Stephen Jackson
Chris Douglas-Roberts vs. Gerald Wallace
Wallace killed the Nets last game, putting up a 20-point/20-rebound performance. He could have another big night because he is so much bigger than CDR, but you know what? I don’t want anyone else but CDR on him. With all the talking about lack of effort and giving up, you know that CDR will go hard the whole game. You need someone going 100% the whole game on Wallace, or else he will kill you.
Advantage: Gerald Wallace
Josh Boone vs. Boris Diaw
I wouldn’t be surprise to see Tony Battie starting at the 4 a few games down the line. Josh Boone is just not getting it done, and if Tony Battie is back playing at the same level he was last year for Orlando, that is better than Boone. Or Sean Williams for that matter.
Advantage: Boris Diaw
Brook Lopez vs. Tyson Chandler
When these two met last game it was weird neither of them had a good game. Yeah Lopez had 18 points, but he only had 5 rebounds, and Tyson Chandler only had 8 points and 8 rebounds. As I pointed out yesterday, Brook should get a ton of touches, so expect for him to play better tonight
Advantage: Brook Lopez
This is your open thread, so use it guys!
Bloggers Talk: Charlotte Bobcats
Dec 4, 2009 Bloggers Talk, Nets vs. Bobcats
Remember when the Nets forgot how to score against the Bobcats? That was, what, 14 losses ago? Anyway, the Bobcats are playing better since early November, and Queen City Hoop’s Brett Hainline is here for our next edition of Bloggers Talk.
NAS: The last time these two teams met, it was one of the uglier games of basketball in the NBA this season. Do you expect Charlotte to keep it ugly on their end for round two?
The Bobcats will do their best to keep it ugly. Even since adding Stephen Jackson, they are still slightly below average on offense (104.0 offensive efficiency since Jax joined, league average of 105.5 for the year). So, despite the uptick, they are still not good, let alone mediocre. The Bobcats have begun to win by being aggressive on both ends of the court, which means turnovers, fouls, and strong rebounding – which can all make for some ugly basketball.
NAS: In what ways has Charlotte been able to improve on the offensive end recently?
The improvement has been built around two things: The Bobcats are starting to realize they can’t make threes and they are doing a slightly better job of protecting the ball. Before the trade for Jax, the Bobcats were attempting over a fifth of their shots from 3-point range, nearly 22% – that is down to 19% since the trade. Not a huge difference, but when you are shooting them at just a 28.4% clip, it matters. Down more significantly are the turnovers – in the last games, the Bobcats have turned the ball over on just 15.6% of possessions, compared to 19.6% prior – that works out to over 3 fewer wasted offensive opportunities per game, which is huge when a team struggles to score like the Cats.
NAS: What is wrong with DJ Augustin?
Confidence issues – D.J. has been second guessing himself all season, passing up open looks, careless turnovers, and generally playing tight. He is struggling to become the point guard that Larry Brown requires – and of course having so much competition for minutes this year probably has not done anything to help. Between Raymond, Flip, and now Stephen Jackson being available to act as a nominal point guard, D.J. has been relegated to a lesser role and he seems to be having a difficult time knowing how to respond.
NAS: Gerald Wallace got headlines for his performance against LeBron James and the Cavs recently. Is this the best you’ve seen Wallace play as a Bobcat?
Despite the ugly night against the Celtics the last time, I would still have to say yes. Prior to that game, Gerald had 6 straight double-doubles, averaging 20 points and 12.3 rebounds per game while shooting over 51% from the floor. That’s just incredible from the small forward spot (with some minutes at the 4, but still). He got slowed by foul trouble against Boston (and by Larry Brown’s antiquated notion of how to handle it) but Gerald has still been playing a very high level – his increased focus on rebounding this season has helped the Bobcats exceed expectations defensively – they were expected to be good, but so far they have been great.
Game 18 Breakdown
Dec 4, 2009 Nets vs. Mavs, Video Breakdown, Xs and Os
Ah the record breaker. Before we look at some stuff in depth, I wanted to post this awesome video by Rob Mahoney of the Truehoop Network’s Dallas Mavericks blog, The Two Man Game:
Alright, back to the breakdown. As you might expect, we are going to look exclusively at the second quarter. You know, the one where the Nets gave up 49 points. The Mavericks shot over 80% in the first half, and the reason was the Nets defense gave up too many wide-open looks, due to very poor rotation:
This Losing Streak is Exhausting
Dec 4, 2009 Losing Streak, Opinion
The Nets have to win tonight. Not because they are trying to avoid records (though, longest losing streak of all time is up for grabs, and while we’re at, 0-82), or because Charlotte, despite playing better of late, is a totally beatable team.
The Nets have to win tonight, because I’m absolutely tired of talking about this losing streak. If they can’t do it for themselves, at least do it for the bloggers, and the sports writers out there who just want to move on to covering Tiger Woods’ affairs, or where LeBron James is going to play in 2010.
Never have there been truer words spoken by Chris Douglas-Roberts then what he said at practice yesterday:
“It seems like everybody I talk to … I really just get angrier,” CDR said. “It really doesn’t make me better. It’s just, ‘Okay, keep your head in it. Keep playing. … Whatever you do, stay focused.’ I’m really just tired of hearing it, honestly.”
Preach on, CDR.
Seriously, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski is a great basketball writer, but it’s a bad sign when he, and other national writers, are following a specific team like the Nets like it’s their beat. It’s even worse when that press coverage is coming in December, and not say, May, or better yet, June. Besides, I can never spell his name right the first time when I’m trying to credit him in our daily link dump.
I preferred the good old days of late October, when the Nets were heading into the 2009-10 season as a bad, yet anonymous, team. The Nets were so vanilla, they weren’t scheduled for a single game on national television. Now, I have to turn on NBC’s Today Show in the mornings and hear about their losing streak as part of their headline news.
This losing streak has gotten so out of hand, ESPN’s Chris Sheridan is utilizing it for some writing exercises reminiscent of J-School. You know – that sights and sounds, “show me, don’t tell me” stuff for all of you aspiring writers out there?
Don’t believe me, check out these two paragraphs from Sheridan on Wednesday night:
I am sitting where no man has ever sat before, typing this sentence while sitting against the back wall of the locker room of an 0-18 NBA team, and I am getting a dirty look from a security guy who doesn’t seem to like the idea of someone hacking away on a laptop inside this den of misery.
On the bright side, that means there’s still someone on the Nets, even if his nickname is Pinkerton, capable of producing a fiery look in his eye.
That’s some deep stuff there – casting the scribe as a character in the story. Capturing dirty looks from a security guard who in reality was probably more interested in what was left on the post-game buffet spread than what some reporter was clacking away about on his laptop.
So there you have it Nets. This is all on your shoulders. You’re tired of it. We’re tired of it too. Just win a damn game tonight, and hopefully all of this negative attention will go away – until you’re stuck on 5 wins for the season and the calendar reads April 1.
Everyone Needs To Stop Thinking About The 1972-1973 Sixers
Dec 4, 2009 Advanced Statistics, Links, Positivity
For those who don’t know, the 72-73 Sixers are the team that currently holds the record for worst record in league history.
Lost among all the negative articles about the Nets and their record breaking loss is one from Basketball Prospectus’ Kevin Pelton. It probably wasn’t talked about much because it actually takes a positive tone when talking about this year’s record breaking team. Well, as positive as you can be when talking about an 0-18 team.
Pelton explains that the Nets record breaking start can be explained away, at least partially, by the injuries:
In New Jersey’s case, we can trace some of the difference between their projection and reality to the injuries. With players forced to take on larger role, their shooting percentages have inevitably suffered. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the difference suggests some Nets are simply performing worse than they will the rest of the season. Harris, for example, is certain to improve on his current 39.2 percent on accuracy on two-point shots, while Lee (36.6 percent on twos) has also struggled much more than expected, probably because he’s dealing with his groin injury.
Don’t underestimate what this means to New Jersey’s bottom line. Adding 117 points to the Nets’ total improves their point differential all the way to -4.8, which would be better than six other NBA teams.
The poor shooting has undermined the fact that Lawrence Frank had New Jersey playing good basketball before he was fired on Sunday. The Nets came into Wednesday’s game ranked 14th in the NBA in Defensive Rating (they then managed to waste one of their better offensive efforts of the season by allowing 49 points in the second quarter to the Mavericks). New Jersey is dead last on offense, and making dubious history in this regard as well. Including the game against Dallas, the Nets have been 12.5 percent worse than league average in terms of points per 100 possessions, which would be the worst offense since the ABA-NBA merger.
Say what you will about Devin being a shoot first point guard, but one thing is for sure, when he is on the court teams need to account for him, and that makes it much easier for the Nets’ lesser players to get easy looks.
With guys coming back from injuries, Pelton explains, the Nets offense should come back to expected levels. The level that allowed SCHOENE, Basketball Prospectus’ projection system, provide mean prediction of 29.5 wins.
Besides giving an explanation for the streak, Pelton explains that one of the key things Pelton notes is that despite the start, the Nets have a good chance at getting their fair share of wins the rest of the way:
First, let’s try to establish what a streak like this really says about a team. Dean Oliver considered the issue in a chapter of his seminal Basketball on Paper devoted to winning and losing streaks. Oliver showed that a team with a 20-game losing streak at any point in an NBA season has a 19 percent shot of finishing the year with 21 wins or more. So while an 18-game streak is certainly a bad sign, it’s hardly proof the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers‘ 9-73 record is in grave jeopardy.
I actually have the book that Pelton talks about here, and I grabbed it from my desk, and reread the chapter he references. The chart that Pelton talks about says that teams who have 20 game losing streaks has a 28% chance of finishing with 8-13 wins. Which means that they Nets have a 72% chance of winning 13+ wins.
Dean Oliver is…well…the dean when it comes to using advanced statistics, but if that isn’t enough for you, lets look at the schedule moving forward, since it is, without question easier moving forward. Looking back at my schedule breakdown, I had the Nets going 5-13 through their first 18 games. Take into consideration that the Kings are much improved and that we caught the Pacers when they were rolling (I had projected both of those as wins), so that goes to 3 wins right there. I still had this team going for 30 wins. So far this season the Nets have already played Boston, Orlando twice, Dallas, LA, Denver, and Miami. All real good teams. Look at their next couple of games:
- vs. Charlotte
- @ New York
- @ Chicago
- vs. Golden State
You could say the Nets will come away with 3 wins in that stretch, and they take their record from 0-18 to 3-19. It still isn’t good, but that should be enough to get them going to the point where they won’t be challenging for the record late.
This is a well thought out and well written article. If you are a Nets’ fan on the edge of the cliff, you need to go out of your way to read it, it will help back you up off of it.
Nets on the Net 12/4/09 Edition
Dec 4, 2009 Barclays Arena, Brooklyn, Bruce Ratner, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Kiki Vandeweghe, Lawrence Frank, Losing Streak, Nets on the Net
Brooklyn basketball fans tell Bruce Ratner, thanks but no thanks.
Ex-Net Rory Sparrow, a member of the original 0-17 1988-89 Miami Heat, is feeling sorry for the Nets organization.
Kiki Vandeweghe wants to put the “fun” back in basketball.
USA Today looks at the tough task ahead for Kiki.
Another profile of European coach Ettore Messina, a potential long-term replacement for Lawrence Frank.
The naming rights deal for the Barclays Arena is reportedly worth half of what was originally expected.
The Daily News looks at the worst NBA teams of all-time.
The losing streak has actually improved TV ratings for the Nets.
The New York Times City Room blog looks at the history of futility in New York-area sports.
The Times is also seeking your opinions on how the Nets can market their future games at the Izod Center.
Looking back at the history of the Izod Center, and all of its previous iterations.
The AP takes a cue from Nets Are Scorching, and blames everything on Bruce Ratner.
Some comparisons with the 1988 Baltimore Orioles.
Jay Mariotti calls the Nets as currently constituted, “consumer fraud.” Meanwhile, CDR continues to question the heart of this team.
Should we pity the ticket scalpers working Nets games? Seriously, is there any angle of this losing streak the Times hasn’t covered?
Some audio of Lawrence Frank on WFAN yesterday.
One observer: don’t feel sorry for the Nets.