Nets Are Scorching

Have you ever watched Jack Johnson box? If not, take a few minutes to watch the video above. The man graced the ring with such power, force, and dominance. He was virtually unbeatable. It’s not a shot in the dark to compare him to the Miami Heat of today’s NBA — so vicious yet so hated. Johnson faced wrath merely because of his race. LeBron James and the Heat are loathed because of The Decision.

In some ways, the Heat’s win over the Nets yesterday was emblematic of Johnson’s fights. While Johnson was markedly better than basically anyone he ever faced in the ring, he had a habit of toying with his opponents: taunting them, egging them on, making them feel like they had a chance to win. Well, the Heat embraced that school of thought on Sunday.

That the Heat would emerge victorious from this game was essentially an afterthought, and they proved that in the early going. James was a man among boys on the offensive end, beating Sasha Vujacic about six different ways for his first six field goals. In fact, he, Dwyane Wade, and Erick Dampier started the game 12-of-12 from the field. Meanwhile, the Nets couldn’t get even a trace of offense going. Alas, by the end of the first quarter, the Heat were up 34-18, and it was looking like an old-fashioned blowout. The Heat shot about 70 percent in the period (I’m rounding here) and the Nets fired about 30 percent.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on where you stand on the Nets re glass-half-full or glass-half-empty at this point in the season), the Heat weren’t content with just winning by a country mile. Maybe James, Wade, and Chris Bosh actually wanted to play in the second half, so they kept the margin out of hilarious territory. And the Nets started to “fight back.” In fact, they outscored the Heat 51-45 in the second and third quarters.

It helped that Wade missed a large chunk of the first half with a leg injury, and it didn’t hurt that Travis Outlaw (17 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 6-of-12 shooting) took his blindfold off to play this game. That said, probably my favorite part of this game was watching Mario West play. And I really doubt that those words have ever been said before in that sequence.

No, he’s not going to give you any offense or rebounding. But, as John Hollinger put it on Twitter:

“Nice to see former Hawk Mario West getting some run w/ Nets. No skill at all, but nobody in lg. plays harder.”

And Hollinger even sells him a little short if this game was any barometer. West proved to be the only Net capable of inhibiting LeBron at all, hounding him on the ball and keeping him from exploding on offense. West is no long-term fixture of the team, but it’s nice to see someone display some interest in defense for a team that hasn’t shown up on that side of the ball since November.

Speaking of which, the Brandan Wright experiment encountered yet another road block Sunday. He got the start with Kris Humphries out, but that didn’t last long. Just three minutes into the game, Avery Johnson was so fumed as his lack of defensive effort that he pulled him for the remainder of the evening. I understand wanting players on the court who care about defense, but NO ONE on the Nets cared about defense in this game. Is it really fair to pick on Wright for maintaining the status quo, however terrible it is?

Oh, well. This was a bad game for the Nets at a point in the season when the games rarely matter at all. There’s nothing to get terribly upset at. Hey, at least those who watched the game got to see this doozy:

The New Jersey Nets lose to the Miami Heat for the third time this season — maybe I should hold off on that until they actually play the game, though, to keep things spontaneous. The Nets and Heat play tomorrow evening at 6 PM eastern in the Prudential Center. The Nets have lost nine of their last 10 games, and the Heat have won 10 of their last 12. Here are a few keys to the game:

No one on the Nets can guard LeBron James: Regardless of what Avery Johnson might tell you, Stephen Graham can’t guard LeBron James. Neither can Travis Outlaw. Neither can Sasha Vujacic or Anthony Morrow. He’s going to score, and he’s going to score a lot — that is, unless Erik Spoelstra pulls him after playing 20 minutes because the Heat are up by 40.

No one on the Nets can guard Dwyane Wade: You get the idea.

Brook Lopez and Deron Williams might have good games: If there are any weaknesses to the Heat, they are at point guard and center. Fortunately for the Nets, their two best players also play those positions. The Heat are going to have some trouble containing Lopez in single coverage, so expect them to double team him a fair amount, opening up shots for Morrow and Vujacic.

For Deron Williams, it’s likely he’ll put more effort into getting on the scoreboard himself, taking whoever is guarding him one-on-one rather than dishing to a player besides Lopez who will have a tougher defensive matchup.

For more on the Miami Heat, check out the Heat Index.

Avery Johnson must have thought his game plan sounded good on paper last night. Then again, that's what people said about New Coke.

Box Score – Philadunkia – Liberty Ballers

You know it’s a bad day for the Nets when you look at the box score afterwards and say to yourself, “well, hey, at least Brandan Wright and Mario West showed us a little something tonight.”

After Tuesday’s drumming at the hands of the Houston Rockets, Devin waxed poetic about the old “mercy rule” for little league/pee wee sports. I say, let’s take the mercy rule a bit further and just forget these next seven games, give the Nets seven more losses and call it a season, because the way the Avery Johnson has his squad playing right now, there’s not going to be a better outcome than that. Why should anyone put the remaining few Nets fans through the torture of more performances like last night’s 115-90 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers?

In a lot of ways, the past two weeks have felt worse than last season. Maybe not worse than 0-18, but certainly as bad as Nets basketball in January and February 2010. The team has bottomed out so miserably after that five-game win streak, punctuated by the crazy young fan in the pink shirt against Boston, they don’t even resemble an NBA squad. While there’s a lot to be optimistic about going forward – a hopefully healthy Deron Williams, a new arena in Brooklyn, a wealthy billionaire owner – watching luminaries like Johan Petro, Travis Outlaw, Stephen Graham and co. is reminding me that for this team to be competitive again next season, for them to convince D-Will to stay beyond 2012, the Nets front office is going to have to blow this whole roster up AGAIN. It is just a total and utter indictment of the braintrust who put this roster together (interestingly enough, the guy who is now the GM of the Sixers – Rod Thorn – and a head coach in Avery who apparently ran him out of town) when a guy like Kris Humphries misses a game and the next best option in the starting five in a seven-footer who’s afraid of the painted area around the rim and whose interpretation of defense is to stand in one spot with his hands in the air, regardless of where the ball is. I don’t mean to come across as a whiny, negative nellie, but I’m just tired of what the Nets are trotting out there as a team these days.

Let’s start with the silver lining of this roster and present a rain cloud. After another poor shooting night, can we all just agree that Deron Williams (2-8, 4 points in 22 minutes) is better served sitting out the remainder of the season to rest his wrist? In addition to the fact that this team is playing for nothing, there’s also some validity to the argument that he’s not helping this team much. The devastation of his crossover is negated when he can’t step back and reliably drain a jumpshot. So while he can still find other members of the team with more efficiency than Jordan Farmar or Ben Uzoh, I don’t see how trotting out Williams for 20 minutes a night in games where the Nets are still losing by more than 20 points is really doing anything for anyone.

Second – enough with Avery’s pet projects. I don’t care how thin the roster is – Stephen Graham is not an NBA player. Period. He played 22 minutes last night which featured such electric plays as dribbling a ball off his knee while leading a fast break and missed open corner threes – because why would anybody from the opposing team be guarding Stephen Graham? He’s anemic on offense. He can’t play defense. I get that he’s a live body, but there’s got to be somebody in the D-League who can give the Nets what Graham has given them all season. The fact that he’s lasted on the roster this long is a joke and I sometimes feel like Avery is trotting them out there on games like this out of spite. The Sixers shot 56 percent last night and were close to 60 percent through the first three quarters. Graham wasn’t stopping anybody. Enough with this stupid experiment.

Ibid for Johan Petro. Apparently, Nets fans are supposed to be warm and fuzzy about Petro because he grabbed 8 board against the Knicks on Wednesday. No mention of the fact that I grabbed 5 boards against the Knicks on Wednesday from the comfort of my living room. Petro’s highlight last night involved taking off from the blocks and dropping the ball while attempting a tomahawk jam in the first quarter. Maybe the French can’t palm the ball? I’m not stupid enough to think Brandan Wright is the answer – he shoots way too much and I don’t think I’ve seen him make a proper rotation and provide help on defense since he’s become a Net – but do you know what? In a game like yesterday, Wright should be starting and playing until his legs fall off. And when you need to get Brook Lopez off the court (he of 11 pounds and 6 rebounds, which is mildly impressive considering its Brook Lopez), throw Dan Gadzuric out there more often, because while his offense leaves a lot to be desired, he can at least play a little help defense and he’ll hammer someone trying to take an easy lay-up. Johan Petro shoots 17-footers. That is all Johan Petro does. That and grab 8 rebounds against the Knicks.

Think I’m being over the top here? Good. Because that’s what happens when the team looks like a lifeless sack of slugs for the past two weeks worth of games. I find it dubious that the only competitive game the Nets have played of late came against the Knicks – on national television when the team’s owner has had bloodlust for that team since taking the reins last May. Did Brett Yormark give these guys a pep talk before Wednesday to let them know about all of the potential season ticket packages at stake if they flopped at MSG? Because every other game since the team went down flailing in Milwaukee two Fridays ago has been a flat-out disgrace. Even the team’s lone win against Cleveland was a joke – and hey, at least that organization got out of their slumber long enough in the past few days to notch a win against LeBron and the Heatles. If I’m Avery Johnson, I’m pulling the starting lineup out of a hat on Sunday, because it’s not like the players deserve to be treated any better. And it’s not like that randomization would do any worse than some of Avery’s intentional rotations of late.

Now where’s my paper bag?

The Nets travel down the Turnpike tonight to face a very good Philadelphia Sixers team that currently stands at 39-36 and has leaped in front of the Knicks for the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference. Here are some keys to tonight:

Who Cares? The Nets are mathematically eliminated and after getting on national television for the first time in nearly two years on Wednesday, they blew an early double-digits lead to the rival Knicks. It’s easy not to care about this game if you’re a fan, but the fact that Deron Williams is going to suit up despite his hurt wrist indicates that these games should still matter. Anyone not giving 100 percent effort (like every game we saw prior to Wednesday since DWill went down) should be benched by Avery Johnson. Send a message. There’s still a season to finish out here.

The frontline: Kris Humphries is going to sit tonight with an injured foot and Avery said in practice that Johan Petro is getting the nod. Apparently Avery was taken by Petro’s scoring/rebounding line from Wednesday (9 points/8 boards) and forgot about the ugly turnovers and non-existent defense during a critical swing in the late 3rd quarter and early 4th quarter where the Knicks regained control of the game. Then again, it was Johnson was apparently wanted Petro this past summer when no one else was biting for three years and $3 million per, so I’m glad the Frenchman has a fan in somebody. Meanwhile, get ready for some PT Brandan Wright.

For the Philly viewpoint, make sure you check out Sixers’ TrueHoop blog Philadunkia.

On Wednesday’s episode of TrueHoop TV, writers from around the network espoused on what they thought was the worst deal in the NBA this past year.

Check it out here, and see if you can guess correctly who I chose.

Remember last year when the Nets and fans were not-so-secretly hoping that Kris Humphries would bypass his player option, becoming a free agent and giving the Nets more cap space to play with so they could sign ALL those superstars (Travis Outlaw, Johan Petro, Stephen Graham …). Well the good news is, after the year he’s put together, Hump has seemingly forgiven the Nets for their ignorance and has explicitly said he wants to be back next year, when he’s  free agent for real and will likely command more money:

“You want to make the most money you can and have a great career and all those things,” he said. “I want to be here. They’ve helped me get a lot better and rolled with me this year. It would be great to be back here. We’re looking to do that.”

I think if the Nets can find a way to upgrade themselves at other positions this summer (notably SG and SF) then keeping Hump keeps too much sense. However, I would also like to see them get one more big who can rotate in at either PF/C (Big Baby?) and after watching Johan Petro neither single-handedly blow the game agains the Knicks on Wednesday, I hope the segment of the fanbase who was defending that signing last summer understands why others were furious with the idea that the Nets gave a stiff like that a decent chunk of change just because he was the only one who would seemingly take it.