Thoughts on the Game: Nets Do Enough For Eight
Mar 25, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Kings, Thoughts On the Game, Uncategorized
AP Photo/Bill Kostroun
Cowbell Kingdom – Sactown Royalty – View from the Couch
In their desperate scramble to avoid the worst record of all time, the Nets finally found a team that may be in worst shape than they are.
Yes, the Sacramento Kings came into the Izod Center last night with the better record, but with rookie sensation Tyreke Evans on the shelf with a concussion and jaw injury, this was as much of a “must-win” game as it gets for the Nets. If the Nets found a way to lose against this depleted Kings lineup, I would have been able to say with near certitude that the Nets were going to go down as the W.O.A.T.
Fortunately, for the sake of those watching the Nets these days just to see if they’ll surpass 9 wins and avoid infamy, last night’s game helped provide a touch more drama for the season’s final weeks. The Nets won rather easily, 93-79, and played consistently for all four quarters, moving their win total to 8 with 11 games to go.
But this is in no way an endorsement for the way the Nets played last night. Sure, beggars can’t be choosers, and given the mounting concern I’ve had about the lack of urgency of this team, it was absolutely refreshing to see them come out and for the first time in a few weeks, actually take care of business and beat a team they were supposed to beat. But outside a few stretches in the second and third quarters, there was nothing pretty about this win.The Nets only shot 39 percent for the game, got absolutely zero production from their frontcourt (starters and reserves), and hit a bit of a shooting slump in the fourth quarter which could have come back to haunt them if the Kings had any sort of a clue on offense last night. For stretches, the Nets looked like the second worst team on the court last night, not the better team.
They did end up doing somethings right. They grabbed 10 steals, only turned the ball over 7 times, and got strong performances from their two keystone players, Brook Lopez (26 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks) and Devin Harris (24 points, 9 assists). That’s definitely a recipe for winning.
The Nets were also able to put some distance between themselves and the Kings in the second and third quarters with a smooth-looking transition game, that led to fast-break points in bunches. Coming into the season, we heard all about run and gun, and the Lawrence Frank’s “wildcat” wing-heavy small ball, but the plan was derailed by injuries. Then when Kiki Vandeweghe took over, it looked like the emphasis on a more fast paced game was to be renewed, but we never saw it. Instead, the Nets looked content settling into a halfcourt game – which only seems to emphasize the weakest part of the Nets game – jump shooting. After having an aberration of a game against the Knicks a few weeks ago with the three-ball, the Nets really became trey-happy. In their last 5 games, the Nets had averaged 11 three-point attempts a game, despite being among the bottom feeders in the league in outside shooting. It wasn’t until Monday night, during the Nets’ loss to Miami where assistant coach John Loyer, in place of Kiki, was imploring his troops to run. It was like a lightbulb switched on: “oh yeah, we ain’t scoring squat in the halfcourt, let’s try something else.”
So, it’s only fitting that for the game’s first 18 minutes, I was screaming at the television as the Nets heaved brick after brick while Sacramento ran a high school-caliber zone defense. Then, the running game was kicked off with an interception and dunk by Chris Douglas-Roberts at the 4:43 and the Nets went on to score 21 points in transition – not exactly ticker-tape worthy, but a vast improvement compared with the past three weeks with games. With the reputation of the franchise hanging in the balance, it’s the least I can ask for.
A few more thoughts after the jump.
Quick Recap: New Jersey Nets 93, Sacramento Kings 79
Mar 24, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Kings, Quick Recap
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.
Game 71 Preview Vs. Sacramento Kings
Mar 24, 2010 2009-2010 Open Thread, Game Previews, Nets vs. Kings
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
Bloggers Talk: Sacramento Kings
Mar 24, 2010 Bloggers Talk, Nets vs. Kings
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.
Thoughts On The Game: Nets Can’t Play Only 24 Minutes
Nov 28, 2009 Nets vs. Kings, Thoughts On the Game
GameFlow, Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty, Josh Boone Interview, Devin Harris Interview, Lawrence Frank Interview
It was a tale of two halves for the Nets last night. Going into the game, many were wondering what kind of effort the Nets would give. I talked about it too, but in the back of my mind, I didn’t really think it was anything to worry about. It was the Nets only chance to get a W in quite a while, so why would they come out flat. I wasn’t wrong initially, the Nets offense looked as crisp as it was going to be, and the Nets were getting looks, but they weren’t going in. That can be expected though, especially with this team. What was disappointing though was the defense, the Kings came out, just tossed the ball all around the court and ended up with easy looks which they made (they shot 60% in the first quarter, and put up 33 points). The lack of effort was noticeable, the terrific Zach Harper from CowbellKingdom said this in the Daily Dime Chat:
I don’t want to say anything about the effort of this Nets team because you guys know better than me but Lopez and CD-R seem to be the only guys with any fire tonight.
It wasn’t just the players though, Lawrence Frank made some curious decisions in the first half of this game. Lawrence Frank decided he wanted to go small (what else is new), and he did it, playing the 6-5 Trenton Hassell at the 4 for most of his 20 minutes in the first half. Now, when Lawrence Frank goes small, it doesn’t really work, and that was only amplified when you took a look at the line-up that the Kings trotted out. They had a very big front-line in Hawes/Brockman/Jason Thompson. This was the reason the Nets were killed on the boards in the first half (27 yo 11). With a very big front line there is no good reason that the only two PFs on the roster get a total of 11 minutes (they weren’t in foul trouble either). The playcalling from Lawrence Frank also left much to be desired. Brook Lopez outclassed whoever was covering him in the post that first half, and everytime he touched it, he seemed to get a bucket. The thing is, he didn’t touch it that often. Again, quoting Zach Harper from the Daily Dime (I am doing this because it is good to see an outside perspective sometimes):
Brook Lopez is having his way inside against Hawes. I’m perplexed by the Nets offense outside of him.
The second half was a completely different story for the Nets though, and dare I say it, Lawrence Frank made some nice adjustments. He came out with the starting line-up, Boone playing the 4, and stayed with it, the entire 3rd quarter (save Rafer entering for Devin a bit).
The players came out and gave a whole lot of effort as well. In the post game interview aired by YES, Devin said that the team “had an emotional halftime” so that might have had something to do with it. Devin seemed to return to form in the second half, attacking the basket and finding the lanes he was so good at finding last year, and although he missed a lot of lay-ups (those will come with more minutes), I was happy to see him getting to the line and converting. Brook also got a lot more touches in the post, and along with Josh Boone, the Nets were able to control the frontcourt. Speaking of Boone, he played very well tonight, for the first time in a long time, it looked like he actually wanted to play tonight, and it showed. If he can play like he played in the second half for the most part of the year, I will be happy with the effort. Some bullets after the jump:
Quick Recap: Sacramento Kings 109, New Jersey Nets 96
Nov 28, 2009 Nets vs. Kings, Quick Recap
Well, in the pregame thread, I said that if the Nets let the Kings get going early, they were going to lose the game. I hate to toot my own horn, especially in a loss, but that is exactly what happened. The Nets gave up 33 points in the first quarter and let them shoot 60% from the floor. The Kings remained hot for the entire game, shooting 54.9% from the floor for the entire game. They were also 50% from three, hitting big ones anytime the Nets got close.
- Looking at the stats, it shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but the Nets took care of the ball 11 turnovers while forcing 15.
- 1st half Nets were outscored by 17. They outscored the Kings by 4 in the second half, but dug themselves in a way too big of a hole.
- Brook had another big night, going for 24 and 11.
- CDR had a nice night as well, going for 21 and 8.
- In the second half, Devin Harris started to regain his All-Star form. Though he is still getting a feel for finishing in traffic (it will come), he was able to get into the lane and draw fouls. He shot only 6-22, but got to the line 17 times and that is the reason he got 25 points.
- Josh Boone played well too, going for 10 points and 7 rebounds.
- In the first half, the Kings killed the Nets on the boards out rebounding them 27-11. The reason? It might have had something to do with the Nets’ PFs logging only 11 minutes combined in the first half. Against the Kings’ large front line, Hassell was playing the PF spot. Frank stuck with the small lineup way too long, but give him credit, he did make the adjustment, and played Boone for most of the second half. The Nets responded by winning the 2nd half rebounding battle 28 to 18.
- Beno Udrih wasn’t supposed to play and I really wish he hadn’t. He came off the bench for 21 points, including three or four big shots after the Nets got the lead down to 6 a few times in the fourth.
- Courtney Lee really must not be even close to 100%. 10 minutes last game, and 3 tonight.
Game 16 Preview vs. Sacramento Kings
Nov 27, 2009 2009-2010 Open Thread, Game Previews, Nets vs. Kings
With the Lakers coming up on Sunday, the national media is going to be all over this game, because if we win, no more losing streak, but if we lose, we are breaking the record. No questions asked. If the Nets can win tonight, all of the jokes about the Nyets, being terrible, and stuff like that goes away. Even though it is the same roster and everything like that, the jokes will be gone because the Nets won’t be breaking the record.
Before we continue to talk about the game, I wanted to point you guys to a great report by Chris Sheridan on the TrueHoop blog. He takes a look at the three games the Nets should have won. Those games? The Minnesota game, the Miami game, and the Milwaukee game. You have to go over there to read the whole thing, but his comments on the Bucks’ game were interesting:
Rookie Terrence Williams was on fire, hitting his final seven shots of the first half as New Jersey went to the locker room with a 48-41 lead. But rather than stick with the hot hand, Frank told the rest of the team at halftime to feed off the example being set by Williams. Bad idea. Milwaukee opened the second half with a 15-2 run before Frank put Williams back in with 6:35 remaining in the third quarter, and the rookie shot 0-for-6 the rest of the way.
Looks like I am not the only having issues with Lawrence Frank’s rotations at times.
Anyway, back to tonight’s game. Like New Jersey, Sacramento is a young team, if you let them get going early and allow them to build a big lead and gain confidence, they can blow you out (Like they showed against New York on Wed.). However, if you keep it close, you can stay in the game and the Kings will make mistakes to allow you to win the game. The Nets have a chance to avoid infamy here, they need to come out like they did against the Blazers though, not like how they came out against the Nuggets.
Beno Udrih vs. Devin Harris:
If anything tells you about Lawrence Frank’s thought process going into this game, it’s his start of Devin Harris. Devin Harris has been slowly added to the rotation more and more, and now he is finally starting against a team that the Nets have a chance to beat. Beno Udrih is no slouch though. He originally lost the starting PG job to Tyreke Evans, but with Kevin Martin’s injury, Evans slides to the 2-spot and Udrih is starting. He is a quick guard who is at his best when he gets into the lane.
Advantage: Devin Harris
Tyreke Evans vs. Chris Douglas-Roberts:
Though I have been hyping up a Devin Harris vs. Tyreke Evans match-up (and it should happen at least a couple times during the game), the CDR vs. Evans should be just as good, if not better. This battle of of former Memphis stars will be fun because both guys like to attack the basket, so they will be going at each other the whole game.
Advantage: Push
Andres Nocioni vs. Trenton Hassell:
Nocioni is one of those guys you hate to play against, but when he is on your team, you love him. He is one of those hard-nose types who will be physical to, and most of the times through, the whistle. He uses his physical play to try and intimidate his opponents and take them out of the game mentally. Don’t let all of this fool you though, he can play. Nocioni can knock down the open three, and when he attacks the basket, he is very aggresive.
Advantage: Andres Nocioni
Jason Thompson vs. Josh Boone:
Jason Thompson is like the anti-Josh Boone. He is a tall athletic PF, who has ball skills. He can handle the ball, hit the outside shot, and attack the basket. Josh Boone can’t do any of that stuff.
Advantage: Jason Thompson
Spencer Hawes vs. Brook Lopez:
What really impressed me about Brook’s performance on Wednesday was that he had a “give me the damn ball” attitude. I have never seen that from him, and just by looking how he was posting up made me think he was trying to break the streak by himself. Spencer Hawes is a big-boy, just like Oden, but in my opinion, Oden is more skilled defensively, and if Brook comes out and plays just like he did against Oden, he could be setting another career high.
Advantage: Brook Lopez
Prediction
Current Record 9-6
I have predicted the Nets would win 6 times so far this year. I have been wrong 6 times. This is the Nets best chance at getting a win for a little while, so how can I not pick them? Nets win.
This is your open thread, but I will be over at the Daily Dime most of the game, so join me over there.
A Look At Tyreke Evans’ Game
Nov 27, 2009 Nets vs. Kings, Other Teams' Stars
Zach Harper of the Kings’ TrueHoop Network blog Cowbell Kingdom made up a real good highlight mix of Tyreke Evans game against the Jazz on November 7th. This was the Kings’ first game without Kevin Martin, and he put up 32 points and 7 assists.
I have said it a bunch of times already but Evans vs. Harris (who is expected to start tonight) is going to be very entertaining.
Can the Nets Avoid Infamy Against the Kings?
Nov 27, 2009 Losing Streak, Nets vs. Kings
While NAS just recently called last week’s match-up against the New York Knicks the Nets best chance to avoid an 0-17 – or worse – start to the season, tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings also provides the organization with a glimmer of hope to avoid infamy as they face the defending champion LA Lakers on the road on Sunday and then come home to face the 11-4 Dallas Mavericks.
I personally thought the Nets matched-up better with the Knicks, which was why I was willing to go out on a limb last week and call it a got to have win last Saturday. The Knicks do very little right, but they obviously did just enough right (and got the right calls from the refs) to push the Nets losing streak onward.
As for the Kings, they are the worst defensive team the Nets have faced this season, currently 27th in the league in defensive efficiency giving up 107.6 points per 100 possessions. That’s a good thing for a team that has trouble scoring as much as the Nets do – who will likely insert all-star Devin Harris back into the starting line-up tonight. However, the Kings can score – they’re 11th in the league in offensive efficiency while the Nets toil at dead last in that category. So even if the Kings let the Nets score more than they’ve been able to do so far this season, the Nets still have to figure out a way to stop them on defense. That won’t be easy.
Fred Kerber in the New York Post today notes an important piece of coincidental history that could favor the Nets – when the Los Angeles Clippers got off to their 0-17 start in 1999-2000, a victory against the Sacramento Kings ended their losing streak. Of course, that was a Sacramento team that featured Oliver Miller and Jerome James.
Here’s what Brook Lopez thinks about the losing streak, from Kerber:
“It’s one game at a time. As good as those teams are, you’ve got to put it off,” said Brook Lopez, who is coming off his career game: a personal high 32 points and 14 rebounds (an NBA season-high 10 offensive) in the 93-83 loss to Portland, defeat No. 15, Wednesday. “Either way, you have to focus on the game you’re playing. You can’t play tonight worrying about tomorrow.”
For Nets fan looking for an injection of optimism, the Bleacher Report gives us five reasons why the Nets will win against the Kings. Some of the reasons include the aforementioned Kings’ defense, and the starting lineup return by Devin Harris, but the list also includes the Kings’ weak rebounding abilities, and the Nets “growing confidence” coming off a game where they battled the heavyweight Portland Trailblazers well into the 4th quarter before running out of gas.
Of course, the Nets have showed pluck and fight most of the season, with a few notable exceptions (hello Tuesday’s game against the Nuggets). None of this has led to a victory. And the article’s last reason doesn’t exactly inspire confidence:
THE LAKERS AND MAVERICKS ARE NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE. The first of those two games is at Staples Center. That means Friday’s game in Sacramento is pretty much New Jersey’s only chance for salvation. The Laker game is an automatic loss and the Mavs game is close.
Update: Over at the TrueHoop mother site, Chris Sheridan talks about the Nets chances for tonight, Lawrence Frank, and three games the Nets should have won this season: against Minnesota opening night, the heartbreaker against Miami, and last week’s second-half meltdown against the Bucks. I would have also added at least one of the two games against Philadelphia to Sheridan’s list, probably the home game where the Nets had three chances to tie or go-ahead and couldn’t hit a shot in the final minute.