Nets Are Scorching

The Nets got to win number 8, taking down the Tyreke Evans-less Sacramento Kings 93-79 at the Izod Center earlier tonight.

• Unlike the past two games, the Nets had a bit of a transition game going for themselves tonight, outscoring the Kings 21-10 on the fast break.
• Big night for Brook Lopez, who did it all, scoring 26 points on 11-21 shooting, grabbing 13 rebounds, and blocking four shots.
• Devin Harris was good enough, scoring 24 (6-13 shooting) and collecting 9 assists.
• The Kings were led by Beno Udrih, who scored 19 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
• The Nets only shot 39 percent, but the Kings did them one worse shooting 36 percent.
• This was the Nets first win in Jersey since their January 27th victory against the LA Clippers.

Of the Nets remaining 12 games the Nets have 4 or 5 that seem to truly be winnable.  Here is the first one of those games.  The Kings are coming in without Tyreke Evans who is still recovering from a vicious elbow last week.  Evans is their playmaker and has been flirting with triple-doubles over the past couple games he has played in (you can see his game against the Lakers here).  Take him out of the equation and the Kings are still an ok team, but a beatable team.

The Nets looked ok their last time out, but had their third quarter blues yet again.  Kiki has returned, but he is here with a heavy heart as his mother passed away this morning.  Hopefully the Nets come out with an inspired effort against the Kings for him.  Onto the lineups…(quick yet again.  School is beating my ass right now)

Devin Harris vs. Beno Udrih

Advantage:  Devin Harris

Courtney Lee vs. Francisco Garcia

Advantage:  Courtney Lee

Trenton Hassell vs. Donte Green

Advantage:  Donte Green

Yi vs. Carl Landry

Advantage:  Carl Landry

Brook Lopez vs. Spencer Hawes

Advantage:  Brook Lopez

The Sacramento Kings make their first and only trip to the Izod Center tonight, and both the Nets and their fans (including the bag-wearing ones), have to be licking their chops at a good chance for win number 8. Still, that’s why they play the games, and here to let you know who to look out for on the Kings is Zach Harper, from the great blog, Cowbell Kingdom.

NAS: Because of a jaw injury, Nets fans may not get to see Tyreke Evans play this time around. Still, as someone who gets to watch him day-in and day-out, how has he progressed as the season has gone along? Has he hit a rookie slump?

The thing about watching Tyreke Evans every game is that you forget he’s just a rookie. It’s cliche, I know, but it’s the truth. He’s been the best player on the team since the sixth game of the year and it hasn’t been all that close. When he first started terrorizing the league (November and December), he was just a wrecking ball. He’d dribble in an unorthodox fashion, barrel into the defense and control his body after the contact enough to lay the shot up. It was as simple as giving a power running back the ball and saying, “go get me three yards.” Now, he’s more like a well-placed set of explosives to demolish a building. He’s finally understanding the game more and getting a feel for what he’s supposed to do. He chooses his spots a lot better and sets up teammates by design, instead of more by instinct. He knows that when he gets into the lane and spins, the defense will be there. The result is he kicks the ball out to a lot of open jump shooters. Unfortunately for him, the shots don’t seem to fall when that happens so he gets cheated out of a lot of assists.

He’s definitely hit the rookie slump in many areas. His defense has been a bit slow the past couple of weeks. It’s still been decent defense but he has had a problem getting out on shooters or rotating properly. I think a lot of this has to do with tired legs and the same thing could be said about why his jumper has fallen completely off the map. Beginning of the year, he had a decent outside jumper (as long as it was between 16 and 23 feet). He’s never been a good three-point shooter but he could knock down long twos. Now, it’s pretty much all bad and he scores exclusively from the line or in the paint. But his shot is fixable. If he can add a respectable outside jumper over the next couple of seasons, he’ll have gone from wrecking ball to demolition explosives to an all out air-raid. It will be unfair.

NAS: After another season without a playoff berth, what do you think are the future prospects for the Kings organization? Are there enough building blocks in place to do what OKC is doing and become a playoff contender in the near future?

The future of the Kings looks bright but they still have to make some decisions going forward. They can’t just sit back like the Blazers and Thunder did, stockpile assets and wait for everybody to grow up. They have a good, young core with Evans, Landry, Thompson, Hawes, Casspi and Greene. Evans is clearly their franchise player and Landry is a good number two. But they need someone of the other four to step up and be an All-Star caliber player. On top of that, they need interior defense in the worst way. They have $17 million (roughly) to spend this off-season and they need to use it on a defensive big man. He doesn’t have to be an All-Star but you also don’t want to eat up all that cap space with a Tyson Chandler or Samuel Dalembert type of guy. You need someone that can actually play and play well. They also need a more reliable perimeter scorer to pair with Tyreke, whether that means at the point or shooting guard position. The Kings can definitely get back to the playoffs in the next two years but they have to be proactive in the way they build this team.

If there is one thing that can be taken away from this terrible season, it is that Yi Jianlian isn’t the long-term solution at power forward.  Also, despite the strong start of Kris Humphries’ Nets career, he doesn’t seem to be the answer either.  Going into next year the Nets are stuck with both of them, as both contracts do not expire this offseason.  I use the word “stuck” because both of these players are solid backup options (maybe good for a spot start here or there), but if you want a winning team, neither of them should be starting full time.  With the Nets looking to be set (though willing to upgrade by signing LeBron/Wade – drafting John Wall) at all positions except the PF spot, I expect it to be a position that the Nets focus on this offseason.  So what are their options?  Well, I can come up with three pretty good solutions:

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Al Iannazzone at Nets Insider calls tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings a “must win” for the Nets.

Courtney Lee sounds confident in the latest Ben Couch offering: “We look at every game like, ‘We have to win this one,’” said Nets shooting guard Courtney Lee. “But tomorrow, those guys are banged up and a couple of their guys aren’t playing, so that’s a game we should win and that’s a game we have to win.”

Filip Bondy asks a great question: who would win between the 09-10 Nets and the 72-73 Sixers?

Brett Yormark defends his decision to get chippy with a bag-wearing fan on Monday night.

AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

Hot Hot Hoops – Peninsula is Mightier – View from the Couch

Take another “winnable game” off the board for the Nets.

It sadly, has come to this. With just 12 games left in the season, the Nets will essentially need to play better than they’ve played all season and I just don’t know if they’ll do it. I don’t know because last night looked like another opportunity for the Nets that they just let sail by them in such effortless fashion, it’s hard to imagine things finally starting to “click” with just 12 games to go. If it hasn’t clicked after 70, why start now?

Maybe my expectations should have been lowered. Coming into last night’s game, the Nets were matched up against a team fighting for its playoff lives. But the Nets have also played these same Heat tough in two losses earlier this season, including a heartbreaker in November that was probably the game that cinched the now historic 0-18 start. And in reality, the Nets had a fighting chance this entire game, despite shooting 38 percent and allowing Miami to shoot 56 percent, including closer to 60 percent through the game’s first three quarters.

But things fell apart, once again, in the third quarter. Similar to Saturday’s game against Toronto, the Nets settled for too many jumpers, played too little defense, and got outscored by wide margin: in this instance 27-14. And just to pile on, one of the Nets better players the past few weeks, Terrence Williams, landing awkwardly on Jermaine O’Neal’s foot during a drive to the hoop during the quarter, and was limping pretty badly when he went back to the trainer’s room for more evaluation. Williams looked primed for a triple-double last night, scoring 9 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. However, in addition to his performance last night, I just don’t know if the Nets, as they’re currently playing, will be able to win three more games with Terrence Williams out. While the Nets are yet to win a game since TWill has been inserted into the starting lineup, I do think the team tends to play better when he’s on the floor. The Nets were actually playing their best earlier in the night when Williams wasn’t scoring, but he quickly amassed 6 assists and 5 rebounds. I think I can safely say he’s the only player currently on the roster that makes the team better without having to score.

A few more thoughts after the jump:
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Assistant coach John Loyer earned some praise from his players prior to last night’s game: And while his style is more intense than that of Vandeweghe, “he’s just really enthusiastic and positive, and he challenges you in a good way,” Trenton Hassell said.

Loyer believes his team is still trying: “I don’t think about that,” Loyer said. “I think about those 12 guys in the locker room. Looking those guys in the face the last couple of days with their will to win — these guys want to win. These guys want to play. These guys want to compete. I feel bad for them.”

It was a bad night for CEO Brett Yormark as well, who reportedly got into a shouting match with an Izod Center spectator wearing a brown paper bag over his head last night.

Terrence Williams on his ankle injury: “I told them I don’t even want to wear this boot — I already got [work] boots on,” Williams said.

The Nets assault of the 72-73 Sixers W.O.A.T. continued, as the Nets fell to the Miami Heat 97-87 at the Izod Center tonight, dropping New Jersey’s record to 7-63.

• So why did the Nets lose tonight? Without even getting into specifics you can start with shooting percentages. The Heat were good (55 percent) and the Nets didn’t (38 percent). Then there were more third-quarter blues, as the Nets were outscored 27-14 in the period.
• Unfortunately, the Nets also lost Terrence Williams for the foreseeable future, with an ankle/foot injury in the third quarter.  What was most frustrating was TWill looked well on his way to a triple-double, finishing with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in 23 minutes of play.
• Strange game statistically for Brook Lopez, finishing with 26 points, but only 1 rebound.
• Miami was led by the two-man game of Dwyane Wade (27 points, 12 assists) and Jermaine O’Neal (25 points, 9 rebounds). Michael Beasley also chipped in with 16 points.
• The Nets PF tandem of Yi Jianlian and Kris Humphries combined for 10 points on 3-14 shooting.
• The Nets only totaled 5 fast-break points and 34 points in the paint.