Nets Are Scorching

This is my favorite moment of all time.

I’m sorry for the rather short recap tonight. I’m feeling under the weather tonight, and I need to get some sleep. If you’d like to hear more from me about the game, feel free to send me an e-mail at savitzky@usc.edu.

As far as losses for the New Jersey Nets go, this one was pretty nondescript. 82 points scored? Ho-hum. 34 team rebounds? Nothing new there. 44 percent shooting? Naturally! The Nets went into Detroit and stunk in typical Nets fashion, and yet, this defeat seemed particularly disheartening.

Maybe it’s because it came against the Pistons, who are also very bad at basketball. Maybe it’s because I thought the Nets were due for a win on the road. Or maybe it’s because I subconsciously feel very bad for the Nets players who are forced to be in Detroit for a significant amount of time. Nevertheless, at the end of the game, I found myself saying: “These are my Nets.”

To be far, no one informed the Nets that the world had rolled its clock back to 2004, which is why Elton Brand and Vince Carter went off for 33 points each elsewhere, Tracy McGrady and Tayshaun Prince combined for 38 points, and Ben Wallace … scored. If they’d known that, maybe they wouldn’t have been so surprised and wouldn’t have started leaving Greg “DeMarcus and Derrick Who?” Monroe alone for 20 points and 11 rebounds. But there can be no shortage of kudos directed at Devin Harris lookalike Austin Daye, who found himself burying a three-pointer every time the Nets attempted to make a run and crawl back into the game.

As far as the Nets go, I breathed a sigh of relief to see Anthony Morrow back in the starting lineup, even though he deprived himself of heavy minutes early with a pair of quick fouls. By the end of the night, though, he had wracked up 22 points to lead the team on 8-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-6 shooting from downtown. Morrow was also indirectly responsible for the most important note in the box score all night: “Stephen Graham — DNP (Coach’s Decision). The last time Avery Johnson decided not to play Stephen Graham, people actually thought this team could make the playoffs. That said, Trenton Hassell 2.0 got 13 minutes tonight, so I guess you pick your self-inflicted poison in that regard.

Then there was the Brook Lopez standard. He posted 16 points and 4 rebounds. Not surprising. Not alarming. That’s just Lopez these days. But it is a testament to the fact that this team really can’t win without an assertive offensive performance from its center, rebounding aside.

Furthermore, while Derrick Favors was essentially a nonfactor as far as the play of the team went (4 points, 5 rebounds), it was thrilling to see him drain a face-up jumper from the short corner. Even an open one shows that he’s making progress. He really hadn’t done that at all up until this point.

But let’s talk about Travis Outlaw. He’s terrible. That is all.

You also have to be disappointed in what Sasha Vujacic provided off the bench, but his production is really going to hit or miss. Either he’s going to hit his jumpers or not, and tonight he didn’t. These are the breaks.

Moving forward, it’s appropriate for the Nets to just bide their time. They aren’t going to make the playoffs, and they aren’t going to win very often. Find someone to take Troy Murphy, and then ride the rest of the season out. The rebuilding can resume next year.

The New Jersey Nets head to beautiful Detroit tonight for a matchup laden with playoff implications with the Detroit Pistons. Here are a few keys to the game:

It’s on the road, which probably means a loss: The Nets have 15 wins this season, and only three of those have come on the road. Needless to say, the game tonight is probably going to be a bit of a struggle. Whether the decline in production comes on offense, defense, or rebounding, the Nets just can’t seem to get anything going when they play away from the Prudential Center.

On the other hand, it’s the Pistons: As poorly as the Nets do play on the road, the Pistons aren’t exactly in 2004 form anymore. In fact, the Nets have won both of their games against the ghosts of Chauncey Billups & Co. this season. That said, this will be the first time they play at the “Palace” of “Auburn Hills.”

Stephen Graham, still? Stephen Graham is still in the lineup per Avery’s discretion. The shooting guard, with the NBA’s lowest PER (at 4.13), is following in the footsteps of Quinton Ross and Trenton Hassell as a defender in reputation only, and it’s time for him to be removed from the starting five. Anthony Morrow has been back for some time, now, and he has been great. Give him some more quality minutes with the first unit, will you, please?

Catch up on the Detroit Pistons over at PistonPowered.

While no one can say for sure that the trade rumors were effecting Devin Harris’ play, you can certainly make the case that our point guard’s energy has increased since Prokhorov pulled the Nets from the Carmelo Anthony saga.

With that came a surge in Harris’ assist numbers. Before coming back to earth, slightly, in the loss to the 76ers, Harris set a career high in assists with 16 against the Bucks only to break that two nights later against the Nuggets, setting a new high of 18 assists. Let’s take a look through video at some of the ways Devin was finding his teammates.

The Pick and Roll

Always a staple in NBA offenses and the Nets are no different, utilizing the pick and roll with a lot of different players. In the video you will see Devin handling three different pick and rolls. Because Harris is such a threat to attack defenses, he’ll generally draw the help of the screener’s man. Twice you’ll notice Brook Lopez’s man, Nene, having to help on Harris’ penetration, allowing Brook the time to pop for a jump shot and then to catch a roll to the basket off a nifty pass from Harris. Especially note the craft Harris puts on the ball to deliver it to Brook in clip two.

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The Daily News’ Stefan Bondy wants to know if Derrick Favors has a mean streak to him, because nobody here has seen it yet if he does:

Whether he’s jamming an alley-oop or getting whistled for a bogus foul, Favors maintains the same even-keeled expression.

“That’s just how he is,” said teammate Anthony Morrow. “I’ve known him for a while. He’s just a laid-back kid.”

Come on Bonday … you know who else doesn’t show a lot of emotion on the court? Tim Duncan? If Favors was some demonstrative kid, say, like a DeMarcus Cousins, we’d then have people criticizing how his personality type was bad for the NBA. Of all the beat writers, I get the sense that Bondy is the one most fixated on Favors and his “potential” and while I get that his numbers currently don’t leap off the page, anyone who’s been following his career should realize they weren’t going to at this stage of his career. I think the fact that he was chosen to play in the Rookie Game (and Evan Turner wasn’t), is an acknowledgement from the league that people realize there’s something there – he just hasn’t accumulated enough experience yet to put it all together. Patience people.

Travis Outlaw is all like "ooo look at the pretty dunk." (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Boxscore – Philadunkia – Liberty Ballers

Avery Johnson was luckier than I was. He got himself ejected and didn’t have to watch most of the second half as the Nets got run off the court in their 106-92 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Newark last night.

This was a rough one. The Nets did so little right, and the Sixers did so little wrong – running a blistering transition game and scoring 35 fast break points (compared to 8 for the Nets), outrebounding the Nets 47-38 and getting a bunch of second chance points as a result, going a perfect 18-18 from the free throw line, and turning the ball over a meager 8 times. Just based on those numbers alone, the Nets had very little chance of competing in this game, and outside of a few moments – a nice stretch covering the last half of the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter where the Nets had taken a brief lead, and a mini-run in the third quarter after Avery’s ejection where a pair of Anthony Morrow threes temporarily sparks the team – the Nets didn’t compete. They looked old and lazy and worst-of-all complacent, like they had won their ring by manhandling the Nuggets on Monday and winning the ‘Melo war and forgetting that getting embarrassed by 21-26 team at home is…. embarrassing.

I have to give Avery his due. If ever there was time for an ejection, it was last night and considering Johnson didn’t even have a technical foul this season until now, I’m going to speculate that the Little General was taking a page out of the Bobby Cox playbook and got tossed to try and fire up the troops. Not that Johnson’s anger wasn’t justified. Devin Harris was literally thrown by Elton Brand while trying to pass the ball – of course Harris loses credit for jumping with no place to go on the pass – but the shove was clear as day. Instead it led to another fast break for the Sixers, who had their running shoes on all night.

The problem is, unless your Victor Frankenstein, it’s hard to reanimate a corpse. The listlessness was evident from the opening tip when the Sixers started 11-2 and yeah Brook Lopez, I’m looking at you. His missed his first four shots, including two long-two’s that he had no business taking while his team was desperate for some easy offense. One of his misses was a little sideline jumper that hit the side of the backboard. While I agree that Brook’s rebounding woes are a bit overstated, the Sixers gathered 11 offensive boards in the first half, and Philly’s C/PF combo of Brand and Spencer Hawes were all over most of those. Lopex finished with 16 points, but needed 19 field goal attempts to get there and didn’t attempt a single free throw. Just a terrible, terrible game, by any standards.

And when the Nets aren’t clicking the way they were last night, you then have to turn to the other usual suspect in Devin Harris. He only attempted one field goal in the first quarter, and after setting career highs in assists in back-to-back games, collected a modest 7 last night (the team had 16 total for 37 FGs). Towards the end of the second quarter, he made back-to-back bad passes, overthrowing Derrick Favors after leaving his feet (again!), and on the next possession, throwing a lazy pass to Brook in the post that was intercepted for a fast break (again!).

And if you want to believe that the Nets responded to Avery’s ejection because of their little run they went on to end the third quarter, keep in mind the following four possessions after the technical free throws: Lopez turns it over after traveling; Andre Iguodala misses a jumper which is rebounded by Hawes and put back for two; Anthony Morrow misses a layup and Kris Humphries blows the following tip; AI gets an uncontested reverse dunk before Sam Mitchell calls a timeout. If that’s inspiration, I hate to see uninspired. For what it’s worth, once AI decided to get cute and reverse his dunk, it might have been a good time for a nice hard foul from someone, but the Nets minds were clearly elsewhere.

A few more thoughts after the jump:

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The Nets (15-34) look to win their sixth home game in their last seven as the Philadelphia 76ers (21-26) come to town. Here are a couple of things I’m looking for in tonight’s game.

Stop Jrue Holiday: Holiday is not a name like Carmelo Anthony or Dirk Nowitzki who jumps off the page, but he’s given the Nets fits this season, averaging 19.5 points and 9 assists on 52 percent shooting. While Devin Harris is one of the speediest players in the NBA, he seems to have a hard time keeping Holiday in front of him on the defensive end.

Spelling Harris: With Jordan Farmar still nursing a sore back and Orien Greene joining the team on a 10-day contract, Ben Uzoh needs to repeat his steady backup performance from Monday when he scored 6 points, dished 4 assists and gathered 3 steals. He looked overwhelmed against Milwaukee on Saturday, and that’s to be expected for an undrafted rookie, but having a player who looks to pass first like Uzoh coming off the bench is a great asset for the Nets to have.

It’s Never Too Early to Dream: Don’t look now but the Nets are playing better the past two weeks and are only 6 games out of a playoff spot in the East. I know the idea of a top draft pick is better in the long-term, but it’s good for the Nets to be thinking competitively. The 76ers are 7 games ahead of the Nets holding the 7th seed, so it’s never too early to start trying to gain ground on the teams in front of you.

Rob Mahoney, writing for the NY Times’ Off the Dribble blog thinks that Devin Harris deserves more love. He may not be the up-and-coming PG of the future when he first came into the league, but Mahoney thinks with the proper offensive system and coaching behind him, Harris would be better appreciated for what he is – a very good players on a bad team:

Given the circumstances, it’s not difficult to see why Harris isn’t more heralded. In addition to the aforementioned factors that have barred Harris from reaching prominence, consider Nets Coach Avery Johnson. Not only does Johnson employ an offensive system that makes poor use of Harris’ speed, but he plays his starting point guard -– and one of his team’s top two players -– just 31 minutes a game. That’s fewer than most every starting-caliber point man in the league, and for no particularly persuasive reason; the Nets have no point guard controversy, and Jordan Farmar -– a decent but clearly inferior player to Harris -– is the beneficiary of Johnson’s apparent distaste for Harris’ style. Harris isn’t without faults, but he’s far too good to sit for Farmar’s sake, and Johnson’s allocation of minutes borders on inexplicable.

I do have to quibble with this idea that he should be playing more minutes. Harris has been battling the “injury prone” label for most of his career and I think Avery and the trainers have done a great keeping him on the court. And while Farmar is not the greatest, he’s a perfectly capable back-up in this league. I do agree that the Nets play at too slow a pace. They’re just not creative enough on offense (and good enough shooters), to milk the shot clock to 2 or 3 on every possession then force an 18-footer.

Brook Lopez once grabbed a rebound … by accident.

Brook Lopez couldn’t rebound from a breakup with Amy Winehouse.

Brook Lopez couldn’t smooth a silk sheet if he had a hot date with a babe … I lost my train of thought.

These are the jokes parading about the internet on a daily basis (except for the last one, which just parades around my mind like all the other suppressed Seinfeld jokes) with respect to the Nets center’s rebounding woes this season. The commentary is a vicious beast that’s just as comical as it is depressing, and personally I take delight in participating in different capacities.

In fact, Daily Dime Live regulars will attest to my joking, but they’ll also attest that I’m quick to come to Lopez’s defense amid the plentiful criticism. And there is some substance to my advocating on Lopez’s behalf.

Before diving in, let’s get one thing straight. Lopez has been a terrible rebounder this season; there’s no denying that. He’s grabbing 5.7 rebounds a game. He’s a side-splitting 60th out of 61 qualifying centers in rebound rate at a nauseating 10.0. After putting up 33 double-doubles last season, Lopez has just one this season — and it took him three overtimes to meet the landmark that night.

So what’s the point here? It’s not to argue that Lopez has been a surprisingly good rebounder or anything like that because he hasn’t. The point is to illuminate the circumstances surrounding his rebounding woes to those other than the three people who watch Nets Basketball. I don’t see any problem with ridiculing Lopez, but at least have some comprehension of it before deciding to do so.

Based on my observation, there are two main factors that have directly contributed to Lopez’s decline (read: plummet) in the rebounding category.

The first is one that’s going to be more agreeable among the critics, as it is verifiable based on the Nets’ reputation. Playing on a team with less talent than an audition for a nonspeaking role on Burn Notice, Lopez has to — absolutely has to — be an offensive presence to keep New Jersey from turning into Cleveland Lite. There simply isn’t enough firepower on the roster, even including Devin Harris, to churn out any sort of competitive scoring effort without appreciable input from Lopez.

Accordingly, Lopez is really feeling the pressure to take the reins on the offensive end. And if he increases focus and effort in that regard, then there has to be a sacrifice somewhere else. For Lopez, it’s on the boards. Watch a Nets game some time (believe me: your eyes won’t bleed) and notice how Lopez often chooses to avoid attacking the paint for rebounds in order to hustle down the court for either: (a) a quick fast-break bucket or (b) good post position in the next half-court possession. You’ll be surprised at what you see, if you’re not in shock yet from how bad the team is overall. Is it an excuse or justification? Absolutely not. But it is an explanation, which is all I’m trying to provide here.

The second factor, that will probably roll more eyes than a Brett Favre retirement speech, can’t really be confirmed without doing the grunt work of watching the games. It’s clear that Kris Humphries’ presence on the court is drastically hindering Lopez’s rebounding: not just because there are fewer rebounds for Lopez to haul in but also because Hump literally rips boards out of his hands.

Steals them. Like the Hamburglar steals crappy burgers. Like forgotten Nets first-round pick Marcus Williams steals laptops. It doesn’t really matter.

Here’s an excerpt from John Hollinger’s 2010-2011 player profile for Humphries:

Perhaps this vignette from Humphries’ time in Dallas will offer some insight into how he thinks on the court: In an early-season game against Minnesota, Dallas teammate Jason Terry found himself isolated against Eurostiff Oleksiy Pecherov — a total mismatch. All the other Mavs got out of the way … except for Humphries, who flashed to the low post calling for the ball.

The man is selfish. Yelling “SAME TEAM!” on a rebound to Hump is like commanding Eddy Curry not to eat the hot dog you just put in front of him: you might as well have done nothing. Maybe it’s because he’s playing in a contract year, or maybe it’s because his machismo makes Kim hot. Either way, it comes at Lopez’s expense. By a completely unofficial estimate, Humphries jacks between one and two boards a game from his frontcourt mate. He’s screwing him behind his back and right to his face, really.

The opponent here will argue that Lopez shouldn’t let Humphries push him out of the way for rebounds. In response, I say: have you seen Hump’s muscles? There’s no way in heck he’d ever outwrestle Hump for a board, not that it would help the team if he tried.

But that brings up another potential point of clarification. Lopez did suffer from mono last summer, which caused him to lose a ton of weight to the point that Jordan Farmar tried to use him as a Q-Tip, and some assert that it’s his thin stature that’s limiting him in rebounding.

Looking at his rest splits, it actually makes some sense. When Lopez is playing in the second game of a back-to-back or had one day of rest since his last game, he averages 5.3 rebounds a game; when he has two or more days of rest, he averages 6.8 boards.

Personally, I don’t buy it. For one, Lopez plays more minutes on average when he has more rest, so of course he’s going to have more rebounds. Also, I’m no doctor, but it seems like that could be a product of regular fatigue as much as a lack of endurance caused by mono.

Irrespective of why Lopez is playing like J.J. Barea this season, the other question is why people seem to care so much. They’re the Nets, people! So what if Lopez isn’t rebounding? They’re bound to the lottery tighter than Avery Johnson to Stephen Graham or Masai Ujiri to delusion. It’s not like Dwight Howard or Pau Gasol is pulling this nonsense on a team that could compete for a championship.

I don’t see anyone getting on Andrea Bargnani’s case for having the only rebounding rate in the league worse than Lopez’s. And he was a first overall pick, for cripes sake!

Conveniently, some will say that it is Lopez’s drop in rebounding compared to last year that is troubling. What a bunch of bologna that is. If you’ve seen him do it better before, then what is so worrisome? It’s just fair to assume he won’t return to that standard?

An opposing team’s color commentator made the regrettable suggestion that this season is the norm and that Lopez’s last two years of rebounding were the exception. How nice it was of him to predict the future. Claiming that Lopez is going to rebound like this for the rest of his career is no sounder an argument than contending Greg Oden’s four years of injury are the exception and that he’s going to play every game for the rest of his career.

And anyone really paying attention wouldn’t be all that surprised at Lopez’s struggles anyway. His mediocre rebound rate of 13.5 last season was good for only 40th out of 59 qualifying centers. It’s the pervasiveness of per-game stats that made him look so much better.

Meanwhile, the Nets’ team rebounding has improved from last season from about 39 a game to about 41 a game. So Lopez’s shortcomings have been really detrimental, haven’t they?

Look. Brook Lopez is a bad rebounder. I know it. You know it. Vegetable Lasagna here knows it. I can enjoy the jokes, too. But anyone who comes after Lopez had better know the context, or else the criticism is just meaningless drivel.