Thoughts on the Game: Nets Botch Another Layup
Mar 18, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Sixers, Thoughts On the Game
AP Photo/Matt Slocum
A week ago, I made a plea on this site that despite whatever their record ends up being, the Nets are in no way the worst team in NBA history. After last night’s game, I might want to rescind those comments.
So is the life of a beaten down, albeit, devoted follower on the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets. A four game west coast road trip last week where the Nets lost all of those games, but were highly competitive in every single one, provided a glimmer of hope that the 9-73 mark set by the 72-73 Sixers would be safe. I was comfortable that the Nets were going to find a way to win at least three of their last 16 games, maybe even a few more, to distance themselves from any all-time records.
Then there was Tuesday night’s game against Atlanta. Sure, it was a lackluster effort for the Nets, who can’t afford to sleepwalk against anyone, but a case could be made that the Hawks are a very good team and the Nets were without Devin Harris. I don’t necessarily agree with that case – I think the Nets should be playing every game with absolute urgency – but I was willing to look past Tuesday if the Nets took care of business against a struggling Sixers team the next night. They didn’t. They looked just as flat early-on, and even after a second-half surge that was captained by Kiki Vandeweghe’s forgotten sixth man, Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Nets were never even remotely close to overtaking a team that had lost five in a row headed into Wednesday and was missing a slew of key players themselves.
At the risk of being accused of copping out of my recapping responsibilities, I must admit it’s getting harder and harder to think of new and creative ways to break down the obvious – the Nets stink. With their game against Dallas last week being an outlier, the Nets continue to fall behind early because they don’t do simple things like get back on defense and guard the perimeter. Meanwhile, on offense, the Nets settle for way too many low percentage shots and don’t take advantage of the fact that they have one of the best post-up centers in basketball on their roster. The Sixers shot more than 66 percent in the first quarter, and went on to shoot 56 percent from the game. At one point in the second quarter, the Nets had only two fast break points while the Sixers were in double-digits. Overall, the Nets were outscored 22-10 on the fast break and 52-34 on points in the paint.
Just look at the shooting percentages of some key players to get a sense for all of the settling that’s going on. Courtney Lee, 1-8; Terrence Williams 4-16; Brook Lopez 2-9. The Nets needed big games from all three of these games, and got one from none. Major props for CDR’s 23 points on 9-15, probably his best game in more than two months, but like Josh Boone’s 13 point, 20 rebound effort from Tuesday, it was all nullified by the lack of offensive and defensive support from the rest of the roster. Lopez didn’t attempt one single FG from the blocks and took jumpers on five of them. I understand that the rigors of the long season are starting to wear on Lopez, but if he can’t be even somewhat functional when he’s on the floor, then maybe Kiki needs to rest him for a game. I would have loved to see Terrence Williams to seize his opportunity after getting the starting nod, but it felt like a TWill game from November – complete with long jumpers, sloppy passes, and missed defensive assignments. Was Williams even aware that in Andre Iguodala, he was responsible for guarding the one guy on this Philly roster that can consistently kill you? Yet AI had a phenomenal game scoring 20 points and collecting 8 assists.
Within the first two minutes of the third quarter, Josh Boone received a great pass from Keyon Dooling that left him wide alone under the basket. In typical Boone fashion, he chose to attempt to bank a layup home rather than play above the rim and dunk the ball. He missed the shot. Is there a better analogy for this game? A struggling team, right for the picking. The Nets had a wide-open dunk here and blew it. Now, I’m not so certain if they’re going to get many more opportunities.
Thoughts on the Game: Nets Get Smacked Around By The Hawks … Again
Mar 17, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Hawks, Thoughts On the Game
AP Photo/Bill Kostrun
Hoopinion – Peachtree Hoops – View from the Couch
From the onset, last night’s game just seemed like one of those nights that was going to be totally forgettable for the New Jersey Nets. The Atlanta Hawks are everything the Nets are not: athletic, deep and offensively efficient. The last two times these teams met, the Nets lost by a combined 53 points. Then consider that the Nets were without the services of Devin Harris last night, who looked probable earlier in the day yesterday despite having a respiratory infection, but obviously was not in any kind of game shape. So the Nets were throwing a lineup out there consisting of Keyon Dooling, Courtney Lee, Trenton Hassell, Josh Boone and Brook Lopez. Umm, yeah. I guess I should be thankful the Nets only lost by 24 and not by 50.
Even when the game was tied at 22 in the first quarter, it was difficult for me to get excited. The Nets were only shooting 35 percent, and were in a close-game early because the Hawks matched their ineptitude by throwing up a 36.4 percent first quarter. Given what we know about the Hawks and what we know about the Nets, it was a bad first quarter for one team, and par for the course for the other. We did get the highlight of two consecutive free throws made by Josh Boone, which means someone should be doing a temperature check in hell. Actually, it’s a little unfair of me to rip on Boone after last night. He finished with a career high in rebounds with 20 rebounds and added 13 points to boot. That’s a double-double for Boone if I did my math correctly. He looked energized, especially in the first half and this may have been the best game I’ve seen Boone play in three seasons.
The problem is, the Nets need other players to perform for them to even stand a chance against most teams, no less a team that gives them match-up nightmares like Atlanta. You could just feel the foundation starting to shake towards the end of the first quarter when Terrence Williams – playing point guard point guard for the first time in a long while, and not point forward – turned the ball over on an 8-second violation. It set the tone for an out of sync second quarter where the Nets only scored 17 and Jamal Crawford scored 15 (and the Hawks 33 total). The Nets were going to need someone to have a stand-out offensive performance from at least two guys tonight and barely got one. Brook Lopez was solid, finishing with 21 points on 8-15 shooting, but didn’t do much else to help the team and may have been involved with the most bizarre offensive foul call I’ve ever seen when he set a screen for Keyon Dooling on Mike Bibby in the third quarter, and Bibby proceeded to jump into Lopez, grab his shoulder, and still draw a foul on the big man. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the refs botched the call there. But they probably looked at the game they were reffing and figured it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.
A few more thoughts after the jump:
Thoughts On The Game: The Luis Scola Show
Mar 14, 2010 Nets vs. Rockets, Thoughts On the Game
Advanced Box Score | Red94.net | The Dream Shake
Luis Scola scored 44 points against the Nets last night. Let me repeat that, Luis Scola scored 44 points against the Nets last night. Despite Chuck Hayes starting the game at center, he only played 10 minutes, and when Hayes wasn’t on the court Scola is the player who slid to the 5 spot. With Brook Lopez struggling with foul trouble throughout the game (only played 37 minutes and had to sit during a key 2 minute chunk in the fourth quarter when the Rockets went on a 7-0 run), Scola was able to out-work the rest of the Nets undersized frontcourt and get his baskets in the lane. As he started to hit his shots, and as he started to see the ball go in, he got more comfortable. He ended up taking 25 shots, and making 20 of them. I don’t think a Net has made 20 shots in a game all year. Lopez’s foul trouble effected Scola on the other side of the court. When Brook was in, they worked it inside against the undersized Scola and it was effective. Pounding it inside against Scola probably would have been able to wear him down and possibly got him in foul trouble, limiting his chances.
Even with Scola going off for 44, the Nets were still in this ballgame late. After Jarvis Hayes hit a three pointer with about nine minutes left, the Rockets lead was cut down to two points, 87-85. The next three possessions for the Nets were a bad shot, a turnover, and another bad shot, and just like that the Rockets’ lead stretched out 9 points, 94-85. Some of it had to do with Brook being out (he re-entered the game after this run and instantly got an easy bucket in the post), but this is starting to become a trend with the Nets. They work to get a game close late against a solid team, and then when it comes down to a key possession, they just lose their mind. Friday night in OKC, the Nets were down for with about a minute thirty left. Jarvis Hayes rushed a three and didn’t even hit the rim. Last night, the lead was two points and Terrence Williams made a bad pass that I haven’t seen him make since his struggles early in the year. I don’t know if it is the pressure of trying to get past this record, but the Nets just lose their mind when the game is close late.
Speaking of Terrence Williams, the start Terrence Williams movement is gaining some steam (it is almost as popular as the trade Terrence Williams movement from the early part of the year), and I have to agree with the guys calling for T-Wiill to start. However, you can see why Kiki is having him come off the bench. For one, if T-Will starts and they bring in Trenton Hassell off the bench, the Nets second unit weakens tremendously. The Nets’ second unit gets killed as it is, you take Terrence Williams out of that second unit, and it is even worse. Also, there are guys in this league who are good in limited amount of minutes. Maybe Kiki and the coaching staff believe that Terrence Williams at 35-40 minutes isn’t as effective as Terrence Williams at 25-30 minutes. They have evidence of this. Remember the beginning of the year, where Terrence was playing 40 minutes a game? He wasn’t nearly as effective as he is now. Some more thoughts after the jump.
Thoughts on the Game: Not As Close as it Looked for Nets
Mar 13, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Thunder, Thoughts On the Game
AP Photo/Alonzo Adams
Daily Thunder – Welcome to Loud City – Hoopdata Box Scores -
NBA basketball can be funny sometimes. Immediately after Wednesday’s 9-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks, I bemoaned the fact that the Nets had played a relatively good game that they deserved to win. Two days later, the Nets got thoroughly outplayed by the Oklahoma City Thunder for about 45 minutes, but a short burst in the game’s final minutes turned this into a two-point, 104-102 loss for the Nets. In this case, the final score was absolutely deceiving. The Nets could have lost this game by 20 and I wouldn’t have been the least bit shocked based on the way things were unfolding.
I hope it doesn’t make me too much of a grump that I can’t get all that excited by the final score of this game and say – “well, they gave the Thunder a scare.” Or, “the Nets got mediocre to bad performances from Brook Lopez and Courtney Lee, but they were still in a spot where they could have stolen one.”
To start things off on a positive, I was very impressed with the Nets role players tonight. In the first half, Keyon Dooling and Terrence Williams each came off the bench to save the Nets from letting this game get away from them before it started. Dooling had 12 of his 15 points in the first half while Terrence Williams continued his impressive run of all-around games in March with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. His shooting is still atrocious. One three attempt wide open in the corner in the second quarter missed the rim and the backboard entirely. But you have to be happy with how TWill is finally starting to mature as a player.
In the fourth quarter, the starters got a boost from Jarvis Hayes, who single-handedly pulled the Nets within four after sinking back-to-back treys with about two minutes left in the game. Still, it was a shot-putted jumper by Hayes with about a minute left that has epitomized this Nets season. With an opportunity to cut OKC’s lead to two or less, the Nets looked disoriented on offense. A pass from under the basket by Devin Harris was almost picked off but skipped its way over to Williams, who then moved it quickly to a heavily-guarded Hayes at the top of the key. With about three seconds left on the shot clock, Hayes looked like he was trying to force contact and heaved it. If this was baseball, it probably would have been good for a double in the gap, but since this is basketball, the shot missed badly and capped off just a terrible possession for the Nets in crunch time, something the franchise should trademark along with “Brooklyn Nets” before the end of the season.
I saw a lot more bad than good from the Nets in this game and it really would have been a shocking collapse for a very talented Thunder team if they lost this thing in the final two minutes. J.G. Marking at the Daily Thunder blog says it all:
Boy am I glad this one is over and there’s a “W” in the good column instead of a “I want to bash my head in because I can’t believe they lost” in the bad column (what, there was a couple “L’s” in that sentence). This was one of the most anticlimactic games I can remember that I was waiting for the Thunder to blow open and they never did, letting the Nets hang around…and hang around…and then absolutely frighten me in the last few minutes.
The first quarter especially demonstrated the talent discrepancy between these two teams. The Nets continued their dangerous trend of getting run off the floor early because of poor transition defense. And as I mentioned in a post earlier this week, you can’t even blame the presence of Yi on this one. Josh Boone was Yi-esque, frequently losing track of Jeff Green early on, who was in double-digits in points by the end of the first quarter. The Nets also didn’t help their cause by making a plethora of lazy passes that led to transition baskets. By the end of the first quarter the Nets had 6 turnovers and the Thunder had 13 fast break points. Considering the finally tally for both these statistics by the end of the game was 12 TOs and 20 fast break points, and you can see just how bad the Nets were early.
Meanwhile, the Nets big three were up and down and mostly down. Devin Harris had a solid night statistically with 19 points and 8 assists, but it took him 20 shots to get there. I loved how he picked up the offensive foul on Russell Westbrook with less than a minute to go in the game, but Harris didn’t do that much to get himself to the free throw line, only attempting three FTs for the game. Before the start of the fourth quarter, Mike Fratello did a great telestrator breakdown of how Lopez was allowing OKC’s defenders to move him out of the post and essentially turn him into a jump shooter. And this wasn’t much ado about nothing either as Lopez attempted five of his 14 FGs from outside of 17-feet, only hitting one. A lot of his other shots were short range jumpers and hooks below the foul line. Considering Lopez was up against Nenad Krstic, who I think is fair to say is a tad soft on the interior, Lopez should have fought through some of OKC’s defensive formations to stay closer to the hoop. This is his third mediocre game in a row, and I wondering if the strain of the full NBA season is finally starting to affect Lopez who was a bit more coddled playing-time wise by Lawrence Frank last year.
As for Courtney Lee, early on, I was curious to see how his banged up hand was going to affect his jumper. Looking at his final shooting line, 2-9, 6 points, no field goals until there was about 4 minutes left in the game, I guess you could conclude that the injury affected him, but from the naked eye, I just saw Lee force a lot of jumpers that he shouldn’t have been taking. He did get one open look from three towards the end of the first quarter that he missed, but otherwise I think I need to see more from Lee before I can determine whether it’s the injury or his shot selection.
A few more thoughts after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »
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:
Thoughts on the Game: Nets Give Memphis a Scare, but Falter
Mar 9, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Grizzlies, Thoughts On the Game
3 Shades of Blue – Straight Outta Vancouver
At the risk of overstating things, last night’s 107-101 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies could be one of those games that will really stand out at season’s ends if the Nets fail to get to 10 wins and avoid infamy. Not so much because this looked like much of a win on paper for the Nets, especially the way they played in the first half when they were down 67-51 at halftime. But because Memphis all but giftwrapped an opportunity for the Nets to steal win #8 by playing about as bad as an NBA team could play in the second half.
After looking unstoppable in the first half, the Grizzlies laid an egg in the third, shooting 29 percent and earning hearty boos from the Memphis faithful. But that’s where the “what ifs” come to play. The Nets pulled as close as two points when Devin Harris hit a step back 17-footer with about 11 seconds left in the third. But the Nets had the first of their many breakdowns when they fouled Marcus Williams with just a bit too much time left on the clock, allowing Sam Young enough time to get a clean look at the rim to swing the momentum back towards Memphis.
In the fourth, the Grizzlies weren’t nearly as bad, and the Nets weren’t nearly as good, but New Jersey still had their chances. With Yi Jianlian out with a knee injury and Josh Boone seemingly dinged up in a play in the third, the Nets went with a small lineup for a few minutes and settled for too many perimeter shots. And when they still managed to grab a few breaks, like when Kris Humphries intercepted a bad pass from Williams under the rim with about 7 minutes left and the Nets trailing by four, Hump rushed the putback and missed – another opportunity gone.
But the biggest “what if” was regarding the offensive play of the Nets frontcourt – namely Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries. Lopez looked out of it early, and was getting played tough by Marc Gasol (and had the bloody scratches to prove it – in job refs). But he mostly a non-factor from the field finishing 3-10, though he was fairly effective in the give-and-go fame with Devin Harris and Courtney Lee, tallying up 6 assists.
And with a lot of Nets fans scratching their heads as to why Boone got the call over Hump at the starting four, Humphries did very little, if anything to distinguish himself offensively. In addition to shooting 1-7, he just looked tentative out there, getting the ball 16-18 feet away from the basket and knowing he shouldn’t be shooting those shots, but not making a strong enough move to the hoop to either to a higher percentage shot or draw a foul. The saving grace for Hump came on the defensive end, where he blocked three shots and drew an offensive foul when Sam Young pushed Hump away while taking what looked to be, an easy lay-up with 6:37 left in the fourth and the Grizzlies hanging on to a four point lead. But again, the Nets were never able to take the next step. Terrence Williams had a layup attempt blocked by Young and a DeMarre Carroll layup later put the Grizzlies back up by 6.
Final thoughts after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »
Thoughts on the Game: Nets Turn Aside Rough First and Whip the Knicks
Mar 7, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Knicks, Thoughts On the Game
The Knicks Blog – Knickerblogger.net – Posting and Toasting – View from the Couch
I have a confession to make about last nights Nets/Knicks game. I almost didn’t stick around long enough to watch what was initially shaping up to be a major-league blowout for the Knicks, but ended up being a laugher and win No. 7 for the Nets.
Do you blame me? It’s a Saturday night match-up between two teams who are really only competing for the long-shot chance of signing a major superstar this coming summer. In the games first 6 minutes, the Nets were shooting 1-13 from the field and were down double-digits, as the Knicks were just running them off the floor, scoring 10 fast break points during that timeframe. The Nets looked inept on offense and outright lazy on defense. Seriously, how does Danilo Galinari get ahead of four Nets defenders and score on a 65-foot inbounds pass the way he did in the first quarter? So, pardon me for being tempted to shut the television off, go out for a few hours and come back in time to watch the last few minutes of what I was assuming was going to be another Nets loss so I could fudge a recap and some bitter, angry “thoughts.”
Fortunately for you, dear readers, my desire to maintain the high standards of Nets Are Scorching kept me watching long enough to see some kind of light switch on for the Nets. Similar to their game last weekend against the Boston Celtics, where the Nets fell down by 10 early, they used the long-ball to get back in and eventually distance themselves from the Knicks. And unlike the Celtics, who gave the Nets a run for their money in the fourth quarter, the Knicks looked very disinterested down the stretch, as the Nets continued to make ridiculous shots, drawing hearty boos from the MSG faithful, who act like their team is on the verge of making nefarious history, and not just in the midst of another lousy season. Then again, the Knicks did set an NBA record last night by attempting the most amount of threes (18) without a single make. So now the Knicks and the Nets both have 0-18 scarlet letters on their respective resumes.
Going back to the positive, I think the Nets are finally starting to consistently get the Courtney Lee they expected to acquire from Orlando back in June. In his return from an ankle injury, Lee picked up exactly where he left off before injuring himself in Boston last week. The long-range shooting from Lee (5-7 from three) adds an element to the Nets offense that’s otherwise missing unless Jarvis Hayes gets into a groove. But where Lee has been really impressive lately is with his mid-range pull-up jumpers. Lee finished 4-8 from the 15-18-foot range, and when he’s doing it off the dribble, it opens up so many more possibilities on offense for both he and his teammates.
It was also great to see the Devin Harris of February make his return to the ranks of the NBA last night. For three straight games, I’ve been wondering if Harris was dealing with a relapse with his wrist injury based on the vast number of misfired jumpers he was taking (most of which were coming up short off the front of the rim, sure sign of a wrist injury). Harris attacked the basket early – even scoring on a dunk at the 6:20 mark of the third quarter, something I haven’t seen Harris do for almost the entire season. He led all scorers with 31 points, including 9 in the fourth quarter, taking over the game in a way he’s only really done a handful of times this season.
I’d also be remiss in mentioning that Yi Jianlian left the game towards the end of the first quarter with an ankle injury. While, I would never wish an injury on anyone, the timing was pretty good in this case, as Yi was making a number of his trademark low IQ plays early-on which were contributing to the Knicks early onslaught, which put New York up by as many as 16. Yi was looking to have one of those games where even when he did something positive, it was tinged with something negative, like when he grabbed a loose ball at around midcourt with about 6:25 left in the first and proceeded to barrel over the Knick defender for a layup. I was shocked he wasn’t called for a charge, and even Mike Fratello was admonishing Yi for not hanging the ball over to Keyon Dooling, who was right there.
A few more thoughts after the jump:
Thoughts on the Game: Nets Left Chasing Orlando For All 48 Minutes
Mar 6, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Magic, Thoughts On the Game
Orlando Magic Daily – Orlando Pinstriped Post – Howard the Dunk
Coming into last night’s game against the Magic, I know I was particularly looking to see how the Brook Lopez/Dwight Howard match-up was going to shake out. Howard had out-and-out dominated Brook in the team’s previous two match-ups, despite the fact that I maintain that the two should be considered selections #1 and #2 in the conversation for best centers in the Eastern Conference. However, by the game’s end, Howard/Lopez almost seemed like an afterthought for me since neither on them had a particularly fantastic game offensively (Lopez score more points with 18, Howard (11 points) was more efficient shooting-wise and was his usual monster self on the boards (16 total). The difference was Dwight Howard has a great supporting cast, while Lopez is truly an island to himself most games, and last night was no different.
Two things spring to mind as difference makers last night. Matt Barnes early, and the Nets offense in the third quarter. That’s not to say the Magic, who never trailed in this game, still wouldn’t have found a way to win without these factors, but it certainly looked really easy for Orlando because of them.
Similar to JJ Hickson on Wednesday night, in Barnes, the Nets let a guy who’s not typically the focal point for a team’s offense take them to the woodshed early. He scored 14 of his 16 points in the first quarter, and so many of them were transition buckets, I was, and still am, legitimately puzzled as to who was supposed to be guarding him. Here’s what I came up with: it looked like in a lot of man situations Trenton Hassell was on Rashard Lewis, which makes sense since Lewis is a threat offensively who’s big, but plays small from the outside, which is a good defensive match-up for a guy like Hassell. Lopez was on Howard in post situations, with the occasional switchover by Yi whenever there was penetration from Orlando’s backcourt. Devin and CDR had Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter respectively. So when figuring the odd man out on Barnes, we come back to Yi. It’s a logical conclusion, since it would make sense that Kiki Vangeweghe would put Yi on Barnes while Hassell was on the floor because Barnes is supposedly Orlando’s least dynamic player offensively. The only reason I can’t formally confirm Yi was the defender in question because I can’t recall ever seeing Yi actually near Barnes at any point in the first quarter. But that’s not unusual when it comes to Yi and defense.
Thoughts on the Game: Nets Do a Poor Job of Wooing
Mar 4, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Cavs, Thoughts On the Game
View from the Couch – Cavs the Blog – Fear the Sword
When you’re watching your team play the Cleveland Cavaliers, you absolutely expect LeBron James to completely dominate, and with Antawn Jamison now in the fold, I was prepared to see him have a big game last night against the Nets as well.
But when you get big games from those two guys, and then have to rummage through the carnage left by a player like JJ Hickson, that’s when you know your team is in trouble. Then again, it’s by no accident that the Nets have 53 losses on March 3 – no matter what Boston Celtics fans are currently telling you.
Despite playing the Cavs relatively well earlier in the season the Nets seemed destined to get smacked around in match No. 4, so the final 111-92 score was not a huge shock to me. But I’m still having a hard time getting over this Hickson thing. Filling in for the injured Shaquille O’Neal, and the absent Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Hickson, who’s averaging 7.6 points and 4.4 rebounds for the season, is exactly the kind of player that can’t beat you. With 20 points and 13 rebounds, that’s exactly what he did.
What’s worse was how he did. In the first quarter, within the first 90 seconds of the game, Hickson was able to grab two offensive rebounds because of poor boxing out by the Nets. Unlike Yi Jianlian, who grabbed a ton of offensive rebounds on Sunday night but had zero points on cutbacks, Hickson got four points off those two boards.
Maybe you could have chalked the early Hickson buckets for the Nets being a tad unprepared to deal with him, but with about three minutes left in the third, Hickson jumped in for an offensive rebound again, untouched.
It was so frustrating, it almost made me overlook the performances by LeBron (26 points, 14 assists, 7 rebounds) and Antawn Jamison (19 points, 9 rebounds). LeBron was really pushing it early. I remember checking the box score at one point in the second quarter and saw he had 16 points already and I thought he could have gone for 50 if he wanted to, but the Cavs checked into cruise control, only revving the engine again when the Nets cut their lead down to 12 or 11 points.
When the Nets did go on their runs, Terrence Williams (21 points, 8-16 shooting, 7 assists, 5 rebounds), was the primary catalyst. In the second quarter, Williams made three separate plays in the span of four minutes, where he demonstrated what an absolutely dominant player he can be offensively, when he just focuses on scoring near the hoop. He capped off the scoring spurt with a one-handed dunk with about 2:30 left in the quarter. TWill was setting the offense at the top of the key, when he exploded with his first step, carving his way around the entire Cleveland defense before getting the dunk.
A player I was disappointed in was Brook Lopez. Lopez has been pretty successful against the Cavs when Shaq has been in the lineup, averaging 21.7 points in his three previous games. While he finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds last night, it was about as quiet of a double-double from Lopez as you could get. He struggled in the early going, while Hickson was doing his damage, and Lopez didn’t seem to get into a groove until the second half, when he scored 12 of his points.
Final thoughts after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »
Thoughts on the Game: Another Bad Second Half Dooms Nets
Mar 1, 2010 2009-2010 Regular Season, Nets vs. Wizards, Thoughts On the Game
Truthaboutit – Bullets Forever – View from the Couch – Hoopdata Box Score
It’s not often that the Nets appear to have the most talent on the floor, but that certainly was the case last night against the Washington Wizards, who have watched their roster get blown up the past month due to the trades of Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood. But this is the Nets we’re talking about here, and while a part of me thought they would be able to ride the momentum of their shocking victory against the Boston Celtics on on the road Saturday into last night’s game against the lowly Wizards, New Jersey just showed once again why they’re going to make all of us sweat as they get closer and closer to breaking the 72-73 Philadelphia 76ers all-time infamy mark.
With Courtney Lee nursing an injury, and Jarvis Hayes just returning from sitting a few games and looking out of sync, the Wizards were able to counter an early double-digit lead for the Nets by going all-but-exclusively to a zone defense, daring the Nets to shoot from the outside. The Nets had no answer, missing jumper after jumper, and shooting 35 percent for the game. Devin Harris, who was off to a tremendous start with 11 points and 8 assists in the first quarter, finished with 18 points, and was one of the key culprits for the poor shooting, going 7-24 from the field. So despite 50 first-half points, the Nets only finished with 85 for the game.
Last time the Nets and Wizards played, it was Earl Boykins who hit the game winning shot. The Nets were spared that indignity, but instead, found themselves giving up back-to-back jumpers to Randy Foye (20 points), both of which coming over the outstretched arms of Yi Jianlian, who looked more concerned about picking up his 6th foul, than getting up in the face of Foye to challenge those shots.
Yi put forward one of those games that really just drives you nuts as a Nets fan. The numbers in the box score look great: 20 points and a career high 19 rebounds. But in addition to the two Foye shots on his watch, he was consistently getting burned by Andray Blatche (36 points), who at this point is the only real offensive weapon left on Washington’s roster. Also, in the fourth quarter, Yi made back-to-back bonehead plays that almost put the Nets out of it for good: a travel off an offensive rebound, followed-up with a frustration offensive foul the next time down the court. He did redeem himself over so slightly with about 3:45 left when he grabbed a defensive rebound and found Terrence Williams streaking down the court with the outlet pass for the easy slam and the brief lead. But that’s what you seemingly get with Yi at this point – two bad plays, followed by one good to give you some hope. Kiki Vandeweghe seemed to be more smitten with the good last night, playing Yi 40 minutes.
More thoughts after the jump: