Quick Recap: New Jersey Nets 91 – Indiana Pacers 107
Dec 11, 2009 Nets vs. Pacers, Quick Recap
Alright, that was a tough one to swallow. The Nets didn’t really show any effort defensively negating a decent night offensively. The Nets had trouble stopping penetration all night, allowing for the ball handler just to get walk in the lane without any protest. There were 3 or 4 points in the second half where the Nets cut the lead to 5 or 6, but they just couldn’t get that one stop to allow them to cut into the lead anymore. The last one came after a nice little run cutting the lead to 5, but then Tyler Hansboro hit two open jumpers from the top of the key extending the game to 9, and it was over from there. In the fourth quarter the Nets got it to 11, but Dunlevy drilled a 3, putting the game out of reach for the final time.
- Terrence Williams made his return, getting 18 minutes. I think the benching had a positive effect as T-Will attacked the lane (all four of his shots came inside), and he had a big dunk in the lane. He finished with 6 points and 5 rebounds. A step in the right direction. Just a step though. Expect for his box score to look like this for the next couple games.
- Second straight night CDR was a non-factor. Only got 7 shots, making 2 of them. He finished with 7 points.
- With 6:20 left and in the middle of a pretty nice run, Devin Harris goes to the floor for a loose ball and gets his hand stepped on. A sprained pinky was the result, and he only played one minute after that. He netted 18 points and 3 assists before that point.
- Lee played well. Missed 3 3s late, but other than that he was active both offensively and defensively.
- Roy Hibbert is a certified Brook Lopez stopper. In two games, Lopez is 18-50 while settling for way too many outside shots. Hibbert’s big body really bothers Brook, and he uses it well and keeps Lopez out of position.
- Troy Murphy and Tyler Hansboro both had big games on Josh Boone, who didn’t box out yet again.
- Roy Hibbert made a three. Sums up everything nicely.
Game 23 Preview Vs. Indiana
Dec 11, 2009 2009-2010 Open Thread, Game Previews, Nets vs. Pacers
So this Terrence Williams saga is going to get a lot worse before it will get better (if that is even possible at this point). Today, he told the beat writers to stop talking to him. From Fred Kerber:
I approached him with Al from The Record.
Me: “How are you handling all this?”
Williams: “What?”
Me: “Have you spoken to Kiki? It’s two games you haven’t played.”
Williams: “Let me ask you a question.”
Me: “Sure.”
Williams: “Like what do you guys get out of asking me these questions? Like, you guys get a better story? You guys feel better about yourself asking me these?”
Me: “Okay, would you rather we don’t talk to you?”
Williams: “Yeah”
Me: “Okay, fine”
So I walked away with Williams mumbling something as incoherent as his shot selection.
Nice little dig by Kerber at the end, but can you blame him at this point? I already talked about my experiences with Terrence (which were pretty similar to this one), and this is sad. Especially for me, since I had so much hope for him, both as a personality and as a player. This isn’t anyone over-blowing anything either, this is Terrence Williams putting himself in a bad situation, and he is just making it worse and worse. All this being said, Terrence still has the potential to make an impact on this team if he gets his head on straight. The talent is there if he can just focus on defense and attacking the basket. He doesn’t have a NBA-level shot right now (we knew that going in), but he is just settling for too many jumpers. Fans won’t forget about the Tweets if he starts playing better, but it sure will be put on the back-burner if he can perform well in some Nets’ wins. Who knows when he will get back on the court though?
Onto the game, the Nets are finishing up a stretch of 5 winnable games with the chance of going 3-2. That isn’t the worst, but it isn’t great either. I would have loved to see this team go 5-0, but I can live with 3-2. If you notice, the two losses came against teams who can score and like to run up and down the court. In both games, the Nets faced long-cold streaks while their opponent continued to score. The Pacers aren’t an up and down team, so that is a good sign for the Nets. Keyon Dooling is out with a hip-pointer, Bobby Simmons should be back, and Tony Battie might not be available. Onto the matchups:
Devin Harris vs. T.J. Ford
Look for Devin to have a good game here. T.J. Ford isn’t as quick as him, and he should be able to get into the lane and cause mayhem. Devin has been doing everything right except for making shots. I think he has enough games under his belt to the point he will start hitting those shots.
Advantage: Devin Harris
Courtney Lee vs. Brandon Rush
Brandon Rush is an athletic shooter who can play pretty good defense. Courtney Lee has quietly been coming out of his funk, and I think that that could continue here against the Pacers.
Advantage: Push
CDR vs. Dahntay Jones
CDR has been very good the second game off of a bad one. I would love to see that trend continue, but Dahntay Jones is a very good defender. I know this sounds funny, but I would love to see CDR exert himself a little more on the offensive end. I don’t mean take more jumpers, I mean I want to see him drive the lane, his awkward game should help him here, because guys don’t know how to defend his dribble or block is shot.
Advantage: Push
Josh Boone vs. Troy Murphy
Troy Murphy is pretty underrated for what he can do on the court. He can shoot, he can rebound, and he can score out of the post. Josh Boone is the opposite. He can rebound a little bit, but he can’t shoot, or score out of the post.
Advantage: Troy Murphy
Brook Lopez vs. Roy Hibbert
If you don’t read Hardwood Paroxysm, you need to start doing so. In the site’s daily 15 footer segment, he talks about the Brook vs. Roy matchup:
If you want something to focus on tonight, how about Hibbert-Lopez? Hibbert’s been less than phenomenal, but his per40’s are still pretty good (16, 10.9, 2.5 blocks and 5.9 fouls per game- he’s not necessarily fouling out every game! He was at 8.5 PF per 40 last year. Seriously.), and the size matchup is interesting. I believe Brook Lopez deserves an All-Star nod that he will never, ever get because the system is moronic. It’s fun to watch Lopez against bigger guys because he uses more of his skillset. Now that I’ve said that he will shoot 10% and not play due to foul trouble. Damn you!
I totally agree. Let’s hope he doesn’t shoot 10% though.
Advantage: Brook Lopez
The Nets Would Like To Wish You Happy Holidays
Dec 11, 2009 Videos
And they do so with this awesome video:
That’s awesome. You can find it in its natural habitat here.
Home Movies: The Nets Ineffective Pick & Rolls
Dec 11, 2009 Analysis, Home Movies, Videos, Xs and Os
The Nets run the pick and roll a good amount, but they haven’t been the most effective doing it:
Free Throw Rate Key To The Nets’ Season
Dec 11, 2009 Advanced Statistics, Analysis
Free Throw Rate (Free Throws Attempted/Field Goals Attempted) is a very important metric to look at when evaluating a team’s performance. Free Throw rate measures how often a team gets to the line in comparison with how many shots they take. In fact, it is so important that Dean Oliver listed it as one of the four factors to winning in his book “Basketball On Paper.” When looking at the Nets’ FTR in wins and losses, it becomes obvious that FTR is the most important four factor for the Nets:
The Nets’ FTR in wins would have them ranked 10th in the league. Their FTR in losses would have them ranked 19th, which is their ranking in all games. If you stop and think about it, it does in fact make sense. The Nets’ are one of the worst teams in the NBA when it comes to just about every offensive category (They are last in TS%, 3P%, and Offensive Efficiency). There are going to be stretches where they just don’t score, and during those stretches, they are going to have to a find a way to put points on the board. That way is getting to the foul line. If they don’t get to the line during their dry spells, they don’t score, and when they don’t score that is when teams pull away from the Nets (or more recently, come back against them).
Think I am blowing this out of proportion. Lets look at three games that illustrate my point. The first game resulted in a one point loss for the Nets. But how did the Nets keep the game close, especially since the Heat have more talent than them?
The Nets FTR (in blue) was 30%, while the Heat FTR (in black) was 17.8%. Next we are going to look at the two games against the Knicks. A Knicks team that is equal/lesser in talent than the Nets. In these two games, the Knicks won going away. Why? The Free Throw Rate:
The Knicks (in blue) had a FTR of 35.5% in the first game and 44.1% in the second game. Meanwhile the Nets had a FTR of 22.1% in the first game and one of 18.7% in the second.
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So why is the Nets’ Free Throw Rate so low? Well the first reason is that Devin Harris (who ranks 8th among players who play 20+ minutes a game) missed a lot of time. Not just on shot attempts either, he is great at drawing contact on the outside, accumulating fouls and getting the Nets into the bonus early in the quarter.
The second reason is they have way too many players who settle for outside jumpers. Terrence Williams, Bobby Simmons, and Josh Boone are all guys who have gotten a lot of minutes so far this season, and they all have a Free Throw Rate of under 20%. CDR’s Free Throw Rate is also very low for his style of play (22% when the league average is 30.4%). That means he has been settling for too many jumpers.
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What all of this means is that if the Nets want to win or keep games closer, they need to attack the basket and stop settling for jumpers. Attacking the basket allows them to get easy points and keep games close, especially during stretches when they can’t hit shots.
Nets on the Net: 12/11/09 Edition
Dec 11, 2009 Brook Lopez, Brooklyn, Devin Harris, Keyon Dooling, Nets on the Net, Rafer Alston, Terrence Williams
Some positive press for Brook Lopez. Dime Magazine says Brook Lopez has a legitimate shot to be an all-star this season. David Thorpe at ESPN ranks Lopez the top sophomore this season. He also makes John Hollinger’s top young big men list.
The Nets trio of point guards are going to try and help the team out of its offensive muck.
The Nets say they’re looking forward to this road trip. They’re also looking forward to getting more practice time together.
Terrence Williams may finally see some of his playing time return tonight. He would help his cause if he drove to the basket more.
Meanwhile, TWill tells the Lousville Courier-Journal that he’s “happy with the Nets.”
Citing a separate case involving Columbia University and the Empire State Development Corporation, Atlantic Yards opponen want another day in court.