Nets Are Scorching

AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

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Since the calendar turned to February, the Nets have done a solid job of keeping games close and competitive. It hasn’t exactly translated to any wins, but at least the effort was seemingly there, providing a glimmer of hope that if some things bounced right for them, they might be able to pull a few “W’s” out and avoid becoming the worst team in NBA history.

Last night was following a similar script until about the 3:30 mark in the third quarter, when an innocent enough substitution by Kiki Vandeweghe turned the game on its ear, resulting in a in 97-77 blowout loss for the Nets against the Milwaukee Bucks, mercifully ending New Jersey’s first half with a 4-48 record headed into a much-needed all-star break.

Kiki subbed in Chris Quin for Devin Harris with the Nets down 60-59 in a back-and-forth game with the Bucks. Harris was in the middle of probably his best game of the season, finishing with 27 points and 9 assists, but after missing Tuesday’s game due to injury, it’s understandable that Kiki needed to sit Devo for at least some portion of the second half. The problem was, the rest of the Nets looked like they had had enough by that point, and packed it in, getting outscored 37-18 the rest of the way, including a fourth quarter where the Bucks started the period 8-10 from the field. It was the usual array of Nets problems that were most evident during their embarrassing west coast swing in January, that reared their ugly head again. Poor rotations and help defense allowing easy buckets on the interior (the Bucks outscored the Nets 48-26 in the paint for the entire game), along with just awful, awful shot selection from the Nets down the stretch.

Don’t believe me? Let’s use a little visual aid here to demonstrate the Nets shot selection in the fourth:

Note that the two shots taken at the rim (a make by Kris Humphries with 23 seconds left and a miss by Chris Douglas-Roberts with 1:53 left) didn’t come until the game’s final two minutes. Outside of those two shots, the next closest attempt was a missed 6-footer by Kris Humphries. Every other shot attempt by the Nets in the fourth was from 10-feet out or more, including a mind-numbering 12 attempts from beyond 15-feet. The emotional side of me just wants to jump to the conclusion that these guys were going through the motions, but I guess that’s a little irrational of me to think a 48-loss team headed into the all-star break with their head coaching situation in potential flux for the second time this season would phone in the last 15 minutes of a basketball game being played in front of 1,100 people during a blizzard.

A few more thoughts after the jump.

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First a programming note. I understand I missed “Hump Day” yesterday. My brain is still a little scrambled from basically moving from one end of New York City to the other. Hopefully, next week I’ll remember it’s Wednesday and you’ll be able to start in Hump’s dreamy eyes again.

Over at ESPN’s Daily Dime, our boy Sebastian writes about Brook Lopez’s selection to the 2010-2012 Men’s National Basketball Team.

With the arena all but empty last night, Al Iannazzone captures some color from the fans: There were chants of “CD-R,” who didn’t play until garbage time, and one fan screamed, “Kiki, fire yourself.” In this setting, Vandeweghe had to have heard it. You could hear everything the fans were saying.

Meanwhile, on the agenda this weekend in Dallas, Rod Thorn will meet with Mikhail Prokhorov over dinner to discuss how those two can turn the Nets around.

So the shameless endless marketing of the Nets continues as the newest promotion is courtesy of Zappo’s: enter to win to be coach of the Nets for the day alongside Kiki Vandeweghe. Of course, the contest doesn’t explain what happens if Kiki gets canned in the next couple of weeks. Maybe if you win, they’ll just let you be the coach without a proper assistant.

For those of you with ESPN Insider, David Thorpe does his usual rookie/sophomore rankings but combines them this week in advance of All-Star Weekend. Thorpe determines that Brook Lopez is the No. 1 rookie/soph in the NBA currently.

Rick Pitino is apparently lobbying the Nets for their head coaching job. Rod Thorn is denying it.

Tom Robinson of the Virginian-Pilot writes about the Nets being on pace for all-time futility and includes the line of the day in his column: I’m not a Nets hater. Trying to think, but I can’t remember a time when I was more than vaguely aware there was a Nets.

Come to think of it, what’s the Virgnian-Pilot and how do they have a columnist dedicated to the general NBA in this world of shrinking print media?

The Nets lost what was actually a pretty competitive game against the Milwaukee Bucks with about 3 minutes to go in the third quarter, 97-77, as the offense completely stalled in the game’s final 15 minutes. The Nets enter the all-star break at 4-48.

• If you want to take anything positive from the way this game shaked out, at least Devin Harris came back from injury and scored a season high 27 points on 9-17 shooting. He also had 9 assists and a steal.
• The problem for the Nets (of many), was that their next highest scorer was Courtney Lee with 11 points. Yi, Brook Lopez and Jarvis Hayes, had 9 points a piece, and the bench was largely ineffective again outside of Kris Humphries 7 points.
• The Bucks outscored the Nets 48-26 in the paint. Andrew Bogut led the way for Milwayukee with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Luke Ridnour continued to hound the Nets with 17 points and 8 assists.
• The blizzard-like conditions in the Northeast made a usually empty Izod Center even emptier, with an announced crowd of just over 1,000.

Before we talk about the game, Brook Lopez was named to the US National team from 2010-2012.  He was one of 27 players selected.  This is a pretty big honor, made even bigger when you realize how well he has had to perform to get those selecting the team around the stigma of the Nets.  Some may not believe there is one, but I do.

This game is a winnable game for the Bucks, especially with the way the Nets have been playing as of late (competing with high quality teams like Boston and Cleveland).  Nothing much else to say about this, besides the fact that there are probably going to be like 10 people at this game.  I know I am not leaving the house tonight…onto the lineups (a shortened version because I need to get outside and shovel snow)!

Keyon Dooling vs. Brandon Jennings

This is a match-up where I would like to see Devin Harris in there.  Devin Harris vs. Brandon Jennings, could be a whole lot of fun if you like speedy score first point guards.  I think Dooling will have some trouble stopping Jennings.

Advantage:  Brandon Jennings

Courtney Lee vs. Charlie Bell

Courtney Lee has been playing pretty well as of late.  I think this can continue against Charlie Bell, who is a pretty nondescript player.  Of course with the way things have been going lately, that just means he is going to go off for 30 something.

Advantage:  Courtney Lee

Jarvis Hayes vs. Carlos Delfino

Hayes looked good against the Cavs in terms of health.  Which is good, I was really worried about him after that collision.

Advantage:  Push

Yi vs. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

Yi is more offensive orriented, while Luc focuses more on the defensive end.

Advantage:  Push

Brook Lopez vs. Andrew Bogut

This is going to be real fun.  I think the mobility of Bogut on the offensive end will cause problems for Brook.  However, Brook’s size will cause problems for Bogut.  This is going to be a fun battle.

Advantage:  Push

The improving Milwaukee Bucks hit the Izod Center for the last time tonight (weather permitting), so here’s Jeremy Schmidt from the TrueHoop Bucks blog, Bucksketball (say that three times fast):

NAS: You recently asked your readers their thoughts on the future direction of the Bucks. What are your personal thoughts? Do you believe the Bucks have the capacity to build towards something meaningful in the future?

Do the Bucks have the capacity to build towards something meaningful?  Yes, they certainly do.  Will they?  That remains to be seen.  Thus far, John Hammond has stuck to his plan of ridding the team of poor contracts and loading up on short-term deals while they ride out the Michael Redd and Dan Gadzuric deals. The near $30 million of expiring contracts in the summer of 2011 gives Bucks fans hope that with such wiggle room and two pieces that look solid in Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings, the Bucks can get back on track.  Now if before the trade deadline Hammond swings for the fences and takes on a big contract that extends past 2011, that would be troubling.  Laying out a plan for long term success is one thing, sticking with it is another.  So far Hammond hasn’t done anything to lose my trust, but the NBA is a crazy place so who knows what will come next.

NAS: In your opinion, is Andrew Bogut finally evolving into an elite center?

Yes, yes, yes a hundred times yes.  I’d love to stand on rooftops and let everyone know how great Bogut has been since the new year began, but my voice isn’t that strong and my market isn’t big enough for anyone to care anyway.  Don’t let his good but not great full season numbers fool you, Bogut has been a terror on both ends since January 1st.  What bogged down Bogut earlier this year was an abnormally low shooting percentage in December of 45 percent, but since January first he’s shot 58 percent and averaged roughly 17 and 11 while blocking more than two shots a night.  Those sound like elite numbers to me.  The funny thing is that Bogut’s game extends so far beyond the numbers.  He takes more charges than any center in the league and controls the entire Bucks defense.  On top of that his relationship with Brandon Jennings has resulted in a pick and roll combination that has an extraordinary feel for each other despite playing less than 50 games together.

NAS: For some reason, Carlos Delfino has the Nets number. Yet he seems like quite an ordinary player against the rest of the league. So what’s the deal here? Is this a fluke, or is there some level of talent there that’s not showing up consistently in the box score?

Delfino seemed to use the last Bucks-Nets game to jump start his season.  He was very inconsistent for the first few months and struggled mightily with his shooting, but shortly after a strong showing against New Jersey in the start of January he went on a terror.  Delfino bumped his scoring by about six points a night in January and has stayed on track in February despite not shooting as well from deep (40 percent in January, 32 in four Feb. games).  Delfino has been getting extended serious minutes for the first time in his career over the past 13 games and looks to really be settling in.  He has a lot of different talents and is the Bucks biggest guard/forward so the tools are there for him to be successful even if he’d never put it all together before.  Will Delfino keep up his strong play for much longer?  It’s tough to tell.  This could be who Delfino really is and it’s possible he never showed it because consistent minutes weren’t there.  It’s probably more likely that Delfino will taper off again at some point and return to his previous inconsistent form.  Either way, I wouldn’t bet against him having a very strong game against the Nets.

As if watching the Nets chase all-time infamy wasn’t bad enough for fans, those working in the front office appear to be emulating the comically inept and embarrassing play on the hardwood – to the point that the resignation of an interim assistant coach has seemingly exposed the complete and utter chaos that has swallowed this organization.

The recent and unexpected resignation of Del Harris as assistant coach has produced somewhat conflicting stories regarding the circumstances behind his departure. The Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro reported earlier this week that Harris’s agent asked team President Rod Thorn about Del becoming the next head coach, returning Kiki Vandeweghe to the GM spot, an idea which Thorn rejected. A Peter Vescey report from Tuesday, says that Kiki, Harris and Harris’ agent allegedly concocted a plan behind unbeknownst to Thorn where Harris was promised the head coaching spot later this season, moving Kiki back to GM, where he could hypothetically prove his worth before the house cleaning that is certain to commence when Mikhail Prokhorov takes over as owner.

This morning, Al Iannazzone reported that Thorn is now investigating the details from the Vescey report. If a side deal was made behind Thorn’s back, Kki could get the axe.

All of these stories contain elements that are both plausible and outrageous.  Regardless of who’s got the story right here, what ties all of these accounts together is the reported lack of cohesion in the front office.

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When looking at a few Nets’ shot locations for yesterday’s post, I was surprised to see that Devin’s shot attempts at the rim are higher than the average PG.  This is surprising, because you would think that more attempts at the rim would mean easier shots, meaning more points.  However, this isn’t the case.  Devin’s numbers (both in terms of PPG and APG) have dropped considerably from last year’s all-star season to this year.  Why has this drop-off happened?  Well, let’s take a look at some numbers that can help explain the drop-off.

Once again, all of these numbers are from the great Hoopdata.com.

% Of FGs Assisted

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Cavs the Blog – Fear the Sword

If there was a way to stop all Nets-Cavs games after the first quarter, the Nets might be the team looking like the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.

For the second consecutive match-up for these two teams, the undisputed worst team in the east took it to the best team. The Nets jumped out to an early 8-point lead in Cleveland last night, with Jarvis Hayes and Courtney Lee combining for 19 points in the first quarter. Hayes was especially sharp, drilling three treys in the first, while LeBron James was more methodical, waiting until the second half to erupt for his eventual game high 32 points.

But like the previous games against Cleveland, once the Cavs were able to get ahead, there never was any doubt that they were going to have to look back. A common analogy used in sports is the “switch” a championship level team is able to turn on and off, especially during the regular season against lesser opponents. The Nets-Cavs dynamic this season embodies the “switch” comparison to a “T.” In this case, Shaquille O’Neal jammed home two points at the 9:52 mark in the second quarter, putting Cleveland up 32-31. From there, Cleveland’s lead was as high as 17, though the Nets were able to chip away down to 5 a few times, and managed to keep the final score within seven points.

On the surface, you could say the Nets have laid Cleveland surprisingly well this season – in their three games they’ve lost by 10, 10 and 7. But in all of these games, Cleveland’s lead in the second half just felt so much more insurmountable.  The Nets were down 6 going into half when I realized that LeBron James had only scored 9 points. How could anyone reasonably expected the game’s leading scorer to have such pedestrian numbers for the entire game. Naturally, he didn’t. He scored on five of the team’s first eight possessions in the third quarter. At that point, I realized: there was no way the Nets were going to win this game. It was all about whether or not LeBron or the Cavs were interested in keeping it close or not.

To the Nets credit, they got some overall good performances from Courtney Lee (24 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), who’s starting to bunch more of the positive games together than bad, and Brook Lopez (23 points, 14 rebounds), who I was relieved to see smiling a bit during the fourth quarter’s final minutes. While some fans may bristle at their star player looking at ease when the team is about to lose its 47th game of the season, I’ve become so accustomed to the look of dejection and frustration on Brook’s face at the end of games, I’ll take a smile at this stage of the season. If we were charting the 7 stages of grief here, I think Lopez is finally at acceptance, or at the very least, he’s becoming more functional.

What was most concerning to me in this game was what a big fat flop the reserves were. With Keyon Dooling pushed into the first unit for the ailing Devin Harris, guys like Kris Humphries and Terrence Williams needed to step up their production, and they did just the opposite. While +/- numbers are not always the greatest indicators in small, 48 minute sample sizes, last night’s differentials were very telling: Tony Battie (-19), Trenton Hassell (-14), Chris Quinn (-11), Kris Humphries (-22) and Terrence Williams (-23). The starters meanwhile, all had positive differentials. A strong showing from some of these guys could have been the difference in a 7-point game if you believed the Nets were capable of catching Cleveland napping. As for a curious development for the bench – an “available” Chris Douglas-Roberts earned the nefarious DNP-CD.

Some final thoughts after the jump.

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