Nets Are Scorching

The Nets three game home winning-streak came to an end tonight, as they fell to the Phoenix Suns 116-105 at the Izod Center.

• The Nets may be playing better as of late, but even they could stop the Suns, who shot 57 percent from the field and 61 percent (11-18) from three. The key was the third quarter, where the Suns outscored the Nets 38-23 to take total control of the game. Steve Nash led the way with 24 points, 14 assists and 7 rebounds. Jason Richardson added 23 points on 10-17 shooting. The Suns also outrebounded the Nets 45-34.
• The Nets did get a strong showing from their bench. Terrence Williams ended his strong March on a high note, scoring 21 points (9-20 shooting), along with 9 assists and 5 rebounds. Kris Humphries had his best game in weeks, scoring 17 points on 7-11 shooting, grabbing 7 rebounds and blocking 2 shots.
• Tough day at the office offensively for Devin Harris, who finished with 9 points on 2-10 shooting. He was seen during the third quarter wearing a big wrap around his back, though he did play in the fourth quarter. Harris also had 9 assists.
• Solid nights for Brook Lopez, 19 points and 8 rebounds, and Courtney Lee, 17 points, 5 rebounds.

The Nets have won 3 of their last 4 and have just gotten their 10th win, which means the avoid being known as the worst team of all time.  I have been saying for quite a while now that once they get to 10, they will play looser and wins will be easier to come by.  I still believe in my theory, I just don’t know if that is going to happen tonight though.  The Suns ahve won their last 8 games, including a win over the Bulls, a team that just got done crushing the Nets.

Not only that, but the Suns’ style is really going to bother a Nets team that can’t but the ball in the basket.  Look at the teams that like to run and gun like the Suns.  You got the Hawks, the Warriors, and the Raptors (off the top of my head).  Those three teams along with the Suns have given the Nets a world of trouble, and I expect that to continue tonight, but hey, at least the Nets won something (via Garbage Time All-Stars):

Awesome.  Onto the lineups…

Devin Harris vs. Steve Nash

Advantage:  Steve Nash

Courtney Lee vs. Jason Richardson

Advantage:  Push

Terrence Williams vs. Grant Hill

Advantage:  Grant Hill

Yi vs. Amar’e Stoudemire

Advantage:  Amar’e Stoudemire

Brook Lopez vs. Channing Frye

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

Nets fans at the Izod Center will get their last look at Amare’ Stoudamire tonight before he potentially hits the open market this summer. Meanwhile, here to explain the future of Phoenix Suns organization is Michael Schwartz, blogger for TrueHoop Suns site, Valley of the Suns.

NAS:  If the postseason started today, the Suns would be the #4 seed with a tough first round matchup with the Nuggets. Do you think the Suns have the ability to go on any kind of a sustained run, or is there a “happy to be there” mentality with this team’s fans?

First off the Suns are going to have a tough first-round matchup no matter where they’re seeded. The West is just that good. I don’t think there’s a “happy to be there” mentality, not with how close this team was a couple years ago, especially since this could be the last hurrah of the Amare-Nash Suns. This team has won eight in a row and is the hottest squad in the NBA. When Robin was healthy, they were also starting to play the kind of D that combined with the league’s best offense made you think a run was possible.

NAS:  With Amare Stoudamire likely opting out and Steve Nash getting older, is the window officially closing on this organization and their recent run of success?

Like I say above, maybe. It all depends on Amare. If he re-signs, they won’t miss a beat. All of their young players (Lopez, Dragic, Dudley, Clark) will only get better, and Nash doesn’t look like a player who’s slowing down. But if they lose Amare, obviously it’s rebuilding time around those young guys, and this so-called window will be shut.

NAS:  Since the Nets are looking to spend some serious cash on this year’s FA class, and Stoudemire is one of the few guys out there who seems open to playing in NJ, make the case for or against him coming to the Nets.

Amare seems opens to playing in any city that will open the checkbook for him. If you look at the official record, you will see he’s flirted with every team that has cap space, while maintaining that 50/50 he might come back to Phoenix. The best chance the Nets have is winning the John Wall lottery. Amare wants to win and if he sees a young exciting crew headlined by Wall moving to Brooklyn eventually and willing to throw a ton of money at him, he might jump. From the New Jersey perspective, that could be a great investment because I don’t see Amare being the best player on a championship team ever, but if you have Wall as the lead guy flanked by a dominant big man duo of Amare and Brook Lopez plus a couple solid young swingman, let’s just say the Nets wouldn’t be threatening any worst records ever.

So, a team wins its 10^th game and steers clear of all-time infamy, and now all of a sudden they’re talking like world beaters. Well, not exactly, but if you followed the dialogue coming out of Monday’s surprise win against the San Antonio Spurs, there’s reason to believe the Nets have the 14-win Minnesota Timberwolves in their sights.

In Fred Kerber’s write-up in the New York Post, Brook Lopez said, “The way we’re playing, I think there’s a chance we can catch Minnesota.”  Meanwhile, in a breakdown for Fanhouse, Tom Ziller opines on the Nets chances of catching the Wolves:

Probably not: for the Nets to bottle this energy and win many more games on the way out would be surprising, and while most of the opponents over the Wolves’ last nine games aren’t cupcakes, six of the contest will be fought at the Target Center. But Minnesota has lost 16 straight, and the Nets are (dare we say?) hot. That it could happen is a huge indictment of the Wolves, who really weren’t supposed to be this bad.

For a vast majority of the season, the Nets have justifiably been tabbed the worst team in the league, despite the fact that many pundits and fans seemed perplexed as to how things got so bad in New Jersey. Yes, the Nets were clearly not a playoff team as currently constructed, but with Devin Harris and Brook Lopez playing like borderline all-stars, there was no reason for this team to resemble one of the worst in NBA history. With that said, statistically speaking, the Nets have played like a bottom feeder, and even comparing their numbers head-to-head with the Timberwolves, it’s difficult for me not to give the edge to Minnesota.

In terms of average point differential, Minnesota holds the edge there, -9.5 points per game vs. the Nets -9.7 points per game. At least both teams are under the double-digit negative point differential threshold, a stigma I worried would still potentially be attached to the Nets even if they got to 10 wins. Looking at the team’s Pythagorean records, according to basketball-reference, the Wolves have played like a 16-58 team, while the Nets are stuck at 15-59. In terms of offensive and defensive efficiency, the Nets are ranked 30^th in offense and 26^th in defense, while the Wolves are ranked 29^th and 28^th respectively.

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TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott on Mikhail Prokhorov: His strategic leadership alone would likely improve the Nets’ performance in the near term. But remember, this is the NBA team that has proved winning is not always the perfect medicine. This is the team that made it all the way to the NBA Finals, twice, and still somehow never became cool and never became the place to be. That’s why it matters that, in addition to business competence, Prokhorov brings the potential to be a bit flashy in a way that could go a long way to overhauling the team’s dreary image.

Sebastian, wearing his NBA Playbook hat, says the Nets may have created a blueprint for stopping Tim Duncan.

Al Iannazzone on the Nets need for a power forward: The Nets, who will have roughly $23 million in cap space, have little chance at Chris Bosh. Carlos Boozer will be high on their wish list, but he could stay in Utah. Stoudemire might be the best option for the Nets. They expressed interest in trying to acquire him from Phoenix the past two winters.

Kiki Vandeweghe on Steve Nash, as told to the great Ben Couch: “When I was in Dallas, he, Dirk (Nowitzki) and I for two years spent two hours every single evening shooting together, watching tape and doing different things, Vandeweghe explained. He’s a student of the game he’s studied (legendary Jazz PG) John Stockton a lot. He’s continued to work, continued to improve. But he’s also got a real drive to be good; he’s very competitive.

Dave D’Alessandro asks if too much winning is a bad things for the Nets. More on this from NAS later today.

Brett Yormark has lunch with the brown bag-wearing fan.

With the Nets up one point with 3:30 minutes left against the Spurs, I was unsure how the game was going to turn out.  A few times this season, the Nets have held leads late only to blow them and lose the game.  The reason this has happened in the past is because the Nets fail to get themselves easy baskets late.  As I was watching the game last night, I was worried the same thing would happen again.  To the relief of Nets’ fans, that isn’t what happened, and the Nets executed a real pretty lob from Devin Harris to Brook Lopez.  The Nets didn’t look back:

This play is actually a variation of a set that the Nets run very often (Under Little To Big Screen).  In the normal set that the Nets run, Brook Lopez gets a backscreen from a guard (this time Courtney Lee) and goes over it to post up on the block.  However this play includes a read option, according to Brook (when asked if the lob was planned), “We have been running that all year.  Yeah, it’s just a read.”  What Brook reads is his defender, Tim Duncan, and how he defends the screen.

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AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

48 Minutes of Hell – Pounding the Rock – View from the Couch

The 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets have been a lot of things: snake-bitten, lackadaisical, uncompetitive, underachievers, disappointing and unpredictable for starters. One thing they’re not, is the “Worst of All Time.” And on a totally personal level, that’s good enough for me.

Fans of teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers or Los Angeles Lakers will probably think it’s stupid and ridiculous that I’m so  relieved that after last night’s 90-84 victory over the San Antonio Spurs – a team the Nets haven’t beaten since 2002 when they were perennial playoff contenders – the Nets now have 10 wins, meaning they’re guaranteed to always be better than W.O.A.T. 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers. Yes, they still have 64 losses with April remaining. That’s a lot. I don’t care. I didn’t sign on to be a Nets fan more than 20 years ago because I thought it was going to be a cake walk. But I also never expected the franchise I’ve followed through thick and thin, Beard and Benoit Benjamin, would have come so gut-wrechinngly close to being declared the worst team in NBA history. There have been a number of downright terrible teams in NBA history that are but a mere footnote now. But there’s only one W.O.A.T. The Nets are not it. Thank God.

And the way the Nets staved off infamy last night was equally refreshing. The Spurs were without Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli last night, but so what. That’s why they played the games. Nobody gave the Nets any in wins in November when they started out 0-18 with Devin Harris, Yi Jianlian, Jarvis Hayes and Courtney Lee missing a chunk of games. What about when the Nets were only able to dress 8 guys, three of which were Bobby Simmons, Eduardo Najera and Sean Williams? The Spurs are still a well-coached enough team, and have one of the greatest NBA players of all-time in Tim Duncan to not use their depleted roster as an excuse. Regardless, while Spurs coach Greg Popovich was clearly giving Duncan an extended rest in the third quarter, the all-star was on the floor during crunch time, when the Nets used a combination of solid defense, timely shooting, and terrific ball control, to outscore San Antonio 28-18 in the game’s final 12 minutes. There was nothing about that game that wasn’t earned for the Nets. The moment was there, and instead of settling for it bouncing off the front of the rim, they seized it and dunked it home.

The Nets had their working boots on early in this game. There was some chippiness from the bench as assistant coach Roy Rogers was apparently barking at the officials in defense of his prized pupil Brook Lopez. The Nets were shooting in the 30-35 percent range for most of the first half, and the Spurs were able to push their lead to double digits, but the Nets capitalized on 16-13 second quarter advantage, to keep the game within three at halftime. Then when the third quarter started, instead of going to sleep for 12 minutes as they’ve done so many other times before this season, they kept themselves with striking distance. It was the little things – like Yi Jianlian, who struggled offensively going 3-12 from the field with 8 points, drawing a charge with about 9 minutes left in the third when he drew a charge while SAS had a 5-on-4 advantage on offense. Or when the Nets successfully converted a two-for-one at the end of the third quarter, leaving just enough on the clock for Keyon Dooling to get a jumper off as time expired. In the first quarter, the Nets mistimed their final possession, not getting a good shot off, and leaving SAS with more than enough to stretch their lead to six.

But the shots were falling in the fourth. Terrence Williams, who has struggled with outside jumpers all season, drilled a three with 8:11 to tie the score at 72. Then, as the Spurs tried to pull away again, going up 5 with 6:09 left, Devin Harris hit a 9-footer and Yi Jianlian hit probably his biggest jumper of the season, when he sunk a 19-footer from the top of the key, putting the Nets up by 1. The Nets never looked back as TWill and Brook – who was tremendous down the stretch – hit two more jumpers to distance themselves from the Spurs.

The game was iced when Courtney Lee – the “nice guy” who’s inexplicably one of the most polarizing players on this team – made a fantastic defensive play on George Hill, fronting him as Tim Duncan struggled to get rid of the ball with the final seconds of the game ticking away. Duncan threw the ball away, but it was Lee’s seal of Hill, that made that play happen. Lee was also consistent on offense, going for 19 points on 7-13 shooting, but it’s those little plays that have earned him the trust of the coaching staff, and I hope the adoration of the fan base. Lee may not be a budding superstar, but he’s a very good, intelligent player who should have a role with this organization for the foreseeable future.

A few more thoughts after the jump:
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Dave D’Alessandro on the Nets win last night: The more pertinent development was that the Nets showed more resolve in the last five minutes than they had shown in the last five months, outscoring Tim Duncan’s team 18-7 down the stretch to post a stunning 90-84 triumph before 13,053 grateful witnesses at Izod Center.

Devin Harris shows some restraint in Al Iannazzone’s report: “We’re not going to jump through the roof because we won 10 games,” said Devin Harris, who played a terrific floor game with 17 points, nine assists and zero turnovers. “We don’t want to be a part of the worst team in history. It’s exciting to get 10 wins. Then again it is 10 wins.”

Julian Garcia gives the team credit for hanging in: More perspective: The Spurs (44-29) have been without star point guard Tony Parker (broken hand), and they were also missing Manu Ginobili (back spasms) last night. But they did have Tim Duncan (13 points, 12 rebounds) and former Net Richard Jefferson (16 points), the kind of firepower the Nets would most likely have wilted against not long ago. But aside from a brief stretch during which San Antonio took an 11-point lead in the second quarter, the Nets hung tough throughout until finally breaking through in the fourth quarter.

Adrian Wojnarowski sees the light at the end of the tunnel now that the Nets have 10: The nickel-and-diming will be done, and Prokhorov’s mantra will hit the Nets like a tsunami: For every idea they’ll have here – every coach they want to hire, free agent they want to lure, organizational staff with which they want to invest – the mantra from Prokhorov is this: What will it take to get it done?

Greg Popovich continues the trend of head coaches who are disgusted by their team’s loss to the Nets in the NY Times report.

Dave D. talks with various Nets regarding their reactions to Mikhail Prokhorov’s 60 Minutes interview.