Thoughts on the Game: Dallas Spots the Nets in the First, Take Control From There
Mar 11, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Mavericks, Thoughts On the Game
Glenn James/NBAE Getty Images
Two Man Game – Mavs Moneyball - Hoopdata Box Scores
After last night, I refuse to believe the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets are the worst team in NBA history. Their final record may very well suggest otherwise and the schedule-makers certainly haven’t done them any favors as 12 of their final 17 games are against teams in the thick of their respective playoff races. But the Nets should be better than a 7-win team right now. Forget should. The Nets are better than a 7-win team right now.
If you want physical proof of why I believe this, look no further than the first quarter between the Nets and Dallas Mavericks last night. Yeah, you could say that the Mavs were caught napping and were taking the Nets lightly, and went on to eventually take care of business in their 96-87 victory, but the worst team in basketball history doesn’t come out on the road against a team that has just won 12 straight games, and knock them silly en route to a 33-19 first quarter. The Mavs missed some open shots in the period, but the Nets also took it to them, by being aggressive in the pain. During a two minute stretch where the Nets grew their lead from 9-1 to 17-3, Jersey made five consecutive field goals off layups and dunks.
Granted, NBA games are 48 minutes long, and no championship has ever been crowned after just one quarter of play. In the second and third quarters, the Mavericks demonstrated why their currently the second-best team in the Western Conference (pushing the draft pick of theirs we own, further back in the first round). Dallas tightened their interior D, took Brook Lopez completely out of the game (all 10 of his points were in the first quarter), and they methodically picked the Nets apart over the game’s next 24 minutes, culminating with an atrocious third quarter where the Nets shot 19 percent and were outscored 31-15. Brook Lopez epitomized the Nets frustration, when on the final play of the quarter, who caught a pass on a pick-and-roll and proceeded to get stuffed by the rim and turning the ball over. He then, stupidly, grabbed Erick Dampier to pick up his fifth foul, taking Lopez out of the game until there was about two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Lopez was so bad after the first quarter, it was the first time I believe this season where I wasn’t screaming at the television for the Nets to feed him the ball more down the stretch.
But even with the second and third quarter performance, the Nets showed me something tonight. Earlier in this season, when I honestly though the Nets were the worst team in NBA history (think back to those back-to-back road thrashings by Golden State and Utah and tell me you’d disagree), the Nets would have turned off the switch for good after that third quarter, maybe make a small run with about 5-6 minutes left to cut the Dallas lead to single-digits, before totally disappearing into the night and losing by 15 or 20 points. But the Nets hung in there, starting with Jarvis Hayes, who drilled a long two and two threes to open up the scoring for the Nets. Terrence Williams (18 points, 13 rebounds) came up huge, early and late in the fourth, as the Nets closed with two points. t the 6:20 mark in the fourth, TWill outleaped Shawn Marion to grab an offensive rebound. A few minutes later, a layup where Williams dribbled behind his back to get into the paint, cut the Dallas lead to 90-87.
The Nets were even playing better defense. Kris Humphries and Josh Boone both played a solid game defensive on Dirk Nowitzki, who had so many of his shots challenged early, that even when he started getting open looks down the stretch, he missed, en route to a 3-16 night. But two plays stand out to me for the Nets defensively. At the 5:16 mark and Caron Butler looking to take over for Dallas, Butler was trying to back down TWill in the post. After making a spin move to get around him, he was met by Kris Humprhies who disrupted the shot, causing Butler to miss the layup. About two minutes later, Jarvis Hayes was actually playing suffocating man defense on Dirk, who was trying to get space for his historically automatic elbow jumper. As Jarvis kept his body on Dirk, not allowing him his customary push off for the jumper, Courtney Lee blindsided Nowitzki and stole the ball, leading to a fast break. But a three pointer by old friend Jason Kidd, his fifth of the game, put Dallas up by 5, where they never looked back.
So you tell me: can the worst team in basketball honestly be expected to accomplish all this in a given night? After being legitimately angry with this team and organization for the better part of the last four months, I can honestly say I now sympathize with these guys. Between the young talent of guys like Lopez, Harris, Williams and Lee, and some veteran good-guys like Keyon Dooling, Hayes and Hassell, these Nets need to find a way to get out of this discussion as being among the worst ever, because they just don’t belong there.
A few more thoughts after the jump:
Quick Recap: Dallas Mavericks 96, New Jersey Nets 87
Mar 10, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Mavericks, Quick Recap
The Nets were literally scorching to start the game, leading 33-19 after the first quarter, but the Mavericks methodically picked them apart over the second and third quarters, and were able to withstand a late Nets surge, to beat New Jersey 96-87 in Dallas tonight.
- The Nets were shooting close to 53 percent at halftime and held on to an 8-point lead against a Dallas team that had won 12 in a row entering tonight. But 19 percent shooting in the third, where they were outscored by the Mavericks 31-15, put New Jersey in a deep hole entering the fourth that they could never climb out of, despite getting as close as two points down the home stretch.
- Terrence Williams keeps topping himself in the month of March, putting together another career game with 18 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
- Devin Harris had a solid night offensively against his old team with 21 points and 7 assists on 7-14 shooting, but turned the ball over 6 times.
- Kris Humphries had 13 points and 8 rebounds off the bench, while playing some solid defense against former teammate Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk had a particularly awful night, finishing with 12 points on 3-16 shooting.
- Jason Kidd finished with 20 points and 9 assists, and was 5-8 from three-point land.
- Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee each had a quiet night, finishing with 10 points each. Lopez picked up his 5th foul at the end of the third, and wasn’t seen again until about 2 minutes left in the game.
Game 64 Preview Vs. Dallas Mavericks
Mar 10, 2010 2009-2010 Open Thread, Game Previews, Nets vs. Mavericks
The last time the Nets played the Mavericks, it wasn’t pretty. At all. The Mavs might be missing a fair amount (Jason Terry and Erik Dampier are definitely out) of their pieces tonight, but Jason Kidd is still there. Before we talk to the game, I figured this was sort of Mavericks related and interesting. According to Wayne Winston (former stats guy for the Mavericks – see? Related) the Nets are on pace for 11 wins according to his rankings (more on that Friday). Wayne Winston is a pretty smart guy and these projections are pretty well respected, so take it for what it’s worth.
Now moving forward to tonight, the Nets are going to have to play a perfect to get a win tonight. They can’t do the little things wrong like take the foul-to-give early or going for steals that trigger fast breaks for the opponents. Onto the lineups…
Devin Harris vs. Jason Kidd
Last year Devin Harris got the best of Jason Kidd (and the Mavs), so it looked like the Nets won the trade. This year the Nets are awful and the Mavs are good (and there was that blowout game in New Jersey) and now the Mavs are thought to have won the deal. My opinion? We still don’t know who we are getting with the Mavs pick, so the deal is incomplete and since it was a longterm deal for the Nets, it is way too early to judge.
Advantage: Jason Kidd
Courtney Lee vs. Caron Butler
Courtney Lee has been playing out of this world as of late, and while I don’t think he will average 30 points a game for the rest of his career, he is starting to show what Rod Thorn saw in him that he was willing to give up Ryan Anderson for him. Combine his scoring now with the ability to play lock down defense, and you have a solid starter and a solid piece moving forward.
Advantage: Caron Butler
Trenton Hassell vs. Shawn Marion
Trenton Hassell is probably going to start again, but we probably will be seeing a ton of Terrence Williams tonight, because I don’t think Hassell will be able to hang with Marion’s athleticism (even though that has declined through the years).
Advantage: Shawn Marion
Josh Boone vs. Dirk
Josh Boone might start (he did have a solid game against the Grizzlies), but I don’t think he is going to successfully be able to hang with Dirk, which means you might see a lot of Kris Humphries. While Humphries has struggled on the offensive end as of late, he still continues to work on the offensive end. It is going to be fun to watch Dirk and Humphries go at it, and Humphries might be able to use his experience in Dallas to his advantage.
Advantage: Dirk
Brook Lopez vs. Brendan Haywood
When I saw Brendan Haywood got traded to the Western Conference, I was happy because this means Brook Lopez gets to face him less than when he was in the East. Brendan Haywood had the two best defensive performances against Brook (in my opinion), and he might have another tough night if his teammates don’t make shots.
Advantage: Push
Quick Recap: Dallas Mavericks 117, New Jersey Nets 101
Dec 2, 2009 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Mavericks, Quick Recap
Well, the Nets made history tonight in their 117-101 loss to the Mavericks (14-5). By falling to 0-18, the Nets now solely own the record for the worst start in NBA history. I would say congratulations are in order, but my gallow’s humor got used up in the second quarter tonight.
- So about that second quarter – the Mavericks scored 49 points on 17-19 shooting. That’s not a typo. It wasn’t like the Mavs were hitting a bunch of lucky shots either. These were wide open jumpers and layups. I guess, the Nets decided to take a quarter off on defense. Too bad, because they were actually able to hang with the Mavs every other quarter tonight.
- For the first half, the Mavs shot 80.6 percent.
- The Nets actually looked somewhat competent on offense tonight, breaking 100 points, and shooting 44 percent from the field – which isn’t really that good, but by Nets standards, those nets were almost scorching tonight.
- Jason Kidd tortured his old team with a typical 16 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. Just another day at the office for JKidd.
- Chris Douglas-Roberts led all Nets scorers with 24 points on 10-21 shooting, though he also turned the ball over 5 times.
- As Sebastian predicted, Erik Dampier had a solid game with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Brook Lopez meanwhile had 16 points on 2-6 shooting from the field.
- Courtney Lee chipped in with 13 points off the bench, but did it on 5-17 shooting, including 2-7 from three-point land.
- Bobby Simmons had his stroke going for one night, with 10 points, on 4-7 shooting, including 2-2 from three.
- The sparse Izod Center crowd loudly booed the Nets as the final seconds ticked off. I just don’t know how I feel about that.
- Kiki Vandeweghe: this is your mess now.
Bloggers Talk: Dallas Mavericks
Dec 2, 2009 Bloggers Talk, Nets vs. Mavericks
The Nets are back home, and on the verge of real history tonight, so today, Rob Mahoney, from the terrific Mavs TrueHoop site, The Two Man Game, joins us for another round of Bloggers Talk.
NAS: I need to start you off with a non-Mavs question first giving the historical nature of tonight’s match-up. With one more loss, the Nets will own the worst start to a season in NBA history. As a fan of the incoming team, do you sympathize with the Nets at all, or do you want to see the Mavs be the ones responsible for the record breaking loss?
I’m sympathetic. I don’t really care if the Mavs beat the Nets, but I do care if the Mavs lose to the Nets…if that makes any sense at all.
If Dallas wins, it’s not as if they chisel there names into the NBA record books. The Nets will be a team of historic misery, but the Mavs really have nothing to gain aside from being the team the struck last. That’s not a distinguished honor, and for all its importance this week, it’ll be forgotten in a matter of seasons, if not months or weeks. No team and no fan base should have to go through what the Nets and their followers are going through right now. That’s as plain as the look on CDR’s face, and as a fan of the game (which I consider myself first and foremost) and a fan of plenty of Nets’ players, I can’t in good conscience say that I like watching Jersey suffer. The sooner this streak is over and behind us, the better.
That said, the Mavs will have some explaining to do if they manage to lose to a team with zero wins. The Mavs have begun to show some defensive vulnerability amidst a string of injuries (Shawn Marion, Erick Dampier, Josh Howard, Quinton Ross), and losing to the Nets would pour acid directly into the wound opened last week against the Warriors. So while it doesn’t make a bit of difference to me whether or not the Mavs are the straw that breaks New Jersey’s back, I’d like to think this Dallas team is good enough to not have to worry about such things.