Nets Are Scorching

Get it?  Because it was Halloween last night?  No?  Well, Mark will be back to do these after the next game, he is obviously more clever to me.

The game didn’t start off too bad defensively, as the Nets held the Wizards to 28 points (should have been 25 – Gilbert Arenas drilled a 40 footer) that quarter and were only down four.  On the offensive end, the Nets started off solid as well, with Rafer easily getting into the lane for a lay-up, Yi looked as if he was going to continue his hot shooting as he nailed a 20 footer, and CDR got to the foul line for the first time this season.  The Nets had a 6-5 lead, and it looked as if this game was going to be competitive the whole way through.  I was way off.

Brook also got a couple of touches early in the first, converting on a few nice passes.  After the first quarter Brook didn’t do much of anything, but it wasn’t necessarily his fault.   Brook had four points in the first quarter, and he was removed from the game with about 1 minute left.  He didn’t return until there were 6 minutes left in the second quarter.  Now this is where Lawrence Frank loses me, you are without Devin Harris, and Brook Lopez had an off game the night before.  Tonight is a perfect example of when you give Brook the ball, ride your horse, and let him do work.  You show that you have confidence in him.  You don’t give him an extended rest as the Wizards (mainly Andray Blatche) start to score at will.  In the meantime, when Brook was sitting out, Lawrence Frank decided to trot out a lineup of Terrence Williams, CDR, Bobby Simmons, Eduardo Najera, and Josh Boone.  Does he really think that gives him the best chance of winning ball games?  One more little rant on the rotation, Terrence Williams, who was making things happen the first half with a few nice passes (and one ridiculous put-back jam), only got 8 minutes in the first half.  The same amount as Boone, and only 3 minutes less than Simmons.  **Takes a deep breath.**  OK, I think I am done venting.

Speaking of Andray Blatche, he absolutely killed the Nets last night.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not taking anything away from this kid, he had a great game, and he will be a great talent in the future, but you can’t let him get 30 points exclusively taking jump shots (15-18 shooting).  When you allow Gilbert Arenas to go off, you have to stop everyone else (the let him get his philosophy).  When you let 2 players score 62 points on 24-31 shooting, you probably won’t win the game.  Despite being a bulldog, Najera wasn’t quick enough or tall enough to stick with Blatche.  I don’t know how Sean Williams has been doing in practice, but you need to give him a chance to stop him.  Instead, Lawrence Frank just sat on his hands while he watched Blatche embarrass Yi and Najera.

The offense generally looked clunky tonight too.  It seems that this offense only works when your team is hitting jump shots (the threat off of screens isn’t there if the Nets shooters aren’t making the shots).  We were running the same sets over and over, despite them not working…over and over.  Something that I have noticed is that we are running the same sort of sets with CDR instead of Vince.  Now CDR is a great scorer, but he is no Vince Carter, and we shouldn’t be running double screens for him as the only option.  This team has a lot of quick guards who can get into the lane, but it seems like Lawrence Frank making the correct calls (I don’t even know if he has the correct calls) to take advantage of the Nets strengths.  It is 3 games in and I miss Brian Hill already.

Key Plays

(The time of these plays are going to be vague because the notebook I keep with me got thrown across the room when Arenas hit that buzzer beater.  I was too lazy to pick it up)

25 seconds, First Quarter

Terrence Williams showed why he can be a special player in this league on this play.  Crashing the boards hard off the weak-side on a shot attempt, Terrence Williams took off, basically stole the ball from Josh Boone and Brandon Haywood, and finished all in one motion with one hand.  Pretty sweet.

0 seconds, First Quarter

A little miscommunication by the Nets (Najera ended up pushing Williams trying to get him to Arenas) gave Gilbert Arenas an open look from 40.  Usually this doesn’t matter, but with Gilbert Arenas it most certainly does.  He drilled it effectively stealing the momentum from the Nets after Terrence Williams big dunk.

9 seconds, Second Quarter

In another brilliant Lawrence Frank substitution,  he took out Courtney Lee and replaced him with Terrence Williams.  Why?  Because he probably wanted to defend DeShawn Stevenson full court with him.  The problem?  Terrence Williams allowed him to go coast to coast and make a lay-up at the buzzer.  I don’t even want to start to try to figure out that move.  My head hurts enough.

Other Bullet Points:

• CDR played well.  I just wanted to type that before I type the following because it is going to look like I am bashing him.  That isn’t the goal.  With that being said, CDR doesn’t look good coming off the screens, he pounds the ball on the ground too much.  He has to be quicker with his decisions there, he needs to take the shot or hit the roller.  A few times tonight (and plenty of times in the preseason) he has had Brook open on the roll, but he takes too long picking his head up coming off the screen and by the time he does that, Brook isn’t open.
• Rafer Alston has adjusted to backing up Devin Harris very nicely.  I love the way he has been playing the past 3 games.  So much so, I am going to suggest something crazy.  When Devin comes back, why not start Rafer at point and Devin at 2?  Keep CDR or slide C. Lee at the 3 and have the other coming off the bench with Terrence Williams.  Am I crazy, or does that make sense.
• Courtney Lee must be pressing.  It is the only thing I can think of.  Fundamentally his shot looks good, he is landing in the same spot he is taking off in.  The release looks good and he is taking smart shots.  They just aren’t going in.  Let’s be patient with him guys, the shots will start to fall.
• Continuing with Mark’s +/- theme, our winner last night was Sean Williams scoring a whopping +3.
• I will be breaking down the game later today if I don’t punch out my laptop screen while rewatching the game, so look for that.

The Orlando Magic are coming off a trip to the NBA finals and feature a roster that’s fit for a return trip this season. The Nets, by most accounts, will struggle to win 30 games this year and are destined to experience a lot of growing pains this season, especially in the early-going. That’s what last night’s pairing of the Magic and Nets looked like on paper. The end results didn’t deviate.

This was one of those games where I looked at the score at halftime and couldn’t believe the Nets were only down 6 points. “Superman” Dwight Howard had posted a double-double in the first quarter, en route to a 20 point, 22 rebound (and 4 block) effort. Brook Lopez, who looked like a superhero himself in the season opening loss to Minnesota, wasn’t even in the class of one of Lex Luthor’s henchman against Howard. Lopez was struggling to get any kind of position on Howard in the post all night and picked up three fouls early in the first half, and then two more in the third quarter, which limited him to 25 minutes and 11 points for the night.

As for one of the big headlines going into the game – Vince Carter got off to one of those fast starts where you thought he was about to get his eff-you Toronto game going.  The very first possession, Carter blew by Courtney Lee for a quick lay-up and two points. When he made his first three-pointer at the 6:39 mark, he even got a trademark, “VC, Three!” from PA-man Gary Sussman. By that point, the fascination with Vince’s return had passed for me, and I just wanted to see somebody stop the guy.

As it turned out, Lee was finally able to stop VC after Vince stepped on Courtney’s foot towards the end of the second quarter. Carter went down in a heap, spraining his ankle and did not return for the rest of the game.

But even with these somewhat ill-gotten breaks, the Nets were just never in this game. At one point, play-by-play man Ian Eagle described it as “an arm’s length” lead for the Magic and I thought that phrase just summed things up perfectly. The Nets would chip away, getting the lead down to 10 or 9 points. Rafer Alston even found some semblance of a jump shot tonight, hitting a pair of treys en route to 10 points off the bench. But the Magic always seemed to have an answer.

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To quote the immortal Alec Baldwin from one of my favorite movies, State and Maine, “Well, that happened.”

What else can you say? The New Jersey Nets 2009-10 season started off with a bang – a comfortable, double-digit lead. The big man in the middle absolutely dominating. The new rookie off the bench having a stellar debut. The game ended with a punch in the gut. And I only say gut because I’m trying to be kind to the actual part of my anatomy that was crushed by the last second offensive rebound and putback by Damien Wilkins (natch when the Nets were going with their “small” lineup of Harris-Lee-TWill-CDR-Lopez) giving the depleted Minnesota Timberwolves the 95-93 victory at the Target Center in Minnesota tonight.

These are the kinds of games that give recappers nightmares. As I’m watching through three quarters, the postgame reaction is basically writing itself. If you can just forget the closing minutes and go back to when the Nets led by 19 points in the second half, you’ll remember an absolutely incredible performance from Brook Lopez. All eyes have been on Lopez since the summer when the Nets traded Vince Carter, their number one scoring option. Analyst and fans alike wanted to know if Lopez could grow from his 13 and 8 rookie season and become a go-to guy on the offensive end, while still playing solid defense. If tonight’s game was any indication, Brook Lopez should start getting his plane ticket to Dallas ready for the NBA All-Star game.  Lopez had 16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists … at the end of the first half. He finished with 27, 15, 5 and 4 respectively. Brook was scoring from all over the court, 18-20 foot jumpers, post moves, high-post pick and rolls with Devin Harris. For three quarters, the Wolves had no answer for Lopez, and YES commentator Ian Eagle even joked at one point that it looked like a scrimmage out there for him.

The other major plotline was the debut of Terrence Williams. TWill did everything you could ask of him in his 31 minutes. He was forced into action early when Chris Douglas-Roberts got into foul trouble in the first quarter, and Williams never looked back. He scored 15 points, showing off his jumper, and his aggressive moves streaking towards the rim. During a two minute stretch in the first quarter, he got into a two-man game with Lopez, who was settled at the high post to run a couple of give-and-go sets, producing four quick points for Williams. He also showcased some of his versatility, grabbing 10 rebounds. On the whole, he looked comfortable and poised out there, being aggressive on defense, and only making a handful of careless turnovers on overly-fancy passes that concerned me during the preseason.

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The last time the Nets gained a victory, in any shape, form or iteration, was an April 13, 91-87 victory against the Charlotte Bobcats at the Izod Center. In that time, the Lakers won the NBA Finals, Vince Carter was traded to the Magic, the King of Pop died, the U.S. Government officially began its debate on health care reform, a nation was hoodwinked by a reality TV crazed father who said his kid was stuck in a weather balloon, and the Nets lost a score of summer league and preseason games.  Yes, until last night’s wire-to-wire dominant 110-88 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers at Carneseca Arena in Queens, NY, it had been a long time since Nets players – and their fans- last saw what a victory looks like.

We certainly saw, and can remember, what the losses looked like. Key players, like Devin Harris, Courtney Lee Keyon Dooling and Jarvis Hayes on the sidelines in suits. Inconsistent play from young players like Yi Jianlian, Terrence Williams and Brook Lopez. Porous defense on the perimeter as teams – mainly the Knicks who played the Nets three times in the preseason – drained three after three. Failed opportunities by players like Courtney Lee, who were improbably in position to tie the game with seconds left, despite being down 5 points only a few seconds before.

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Blink and you would have missed Courtney Lee almost single-handedly pull off a miraculous comeback for the Nets in their game against the New York Knicks last night. With about 6 seconds left, and the Nets down by 5, Lee sank a free throw, intentionally missed the next, grabbed the loose ball, hit the “and 1″ to cut the score to two, missed the free throw and then came up with another loose ball and a foul, with a chance to tie the game with 1.1 seconds left.

The last time I saw so much offense is such a short amount of time against the Knicks, Reggie Miller was wrapping his hands around his throat – the universal “choke” sign – as superfan Spike Lee writhed in agony courtside. Granted, the circumstances were much, much bigger that time around as the Pacers went on their way to shocking the Knicks in the playoffs, but I think it’s only natural for basketball fans to come back to that game when you see something equally improbable happening before your eyes.

Except last night, in front of about 16,000 fans  at the Prudential Center (talks of a sellout were a wee bit exaggerated, but not by much. And Joe Jackson seemed entertained by the game during the MSG feed) Courtney Lee missed the free throw he needed to sink, and the Nets lost to the Knicks 94-92. The Nets still haven’t won yet this preseason, and they get one more shot on Friday night. Yes, the team is sorely missing Devin Harris, and to a lesser extent, guys like Keyon Dooling and Jarvis Hayes would sure help too, but the Knicks were able to pull away in the fourth playing a lineup of four rookies and Larry Hughes.

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For Lawrence Frank, game five of the preseason was about “experimentation” with the rotation due to the injuries that had left him without Devin Harris, Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling. We saw things in last night’s game like Bobby Simmons at the four (yuck), Will Blalock getting time at the point (eh), and a Sean Williams sighting in the third quarter – who was surprisingly more productive and active on defense than he was in the preseason opener when he looked like he had about 20 other places he wanted to be instead of the basketball court.

But to me, the night belonged to two players who are likely going to be key parts of the Nets rotation without any experimentation – well maybe some tinkering with one of these players because of his versatility (which I notably assailed on this site only a few days ago). Yes, last night was another loss, and the Nets are now 0-5 in this preseason and have often looked about as bad of a basketball team as many preseason analysts have predicted them to be. But I left Madison Square Garden last night with a good feeling about Yi Jianlian (21 points, 7-14 from the field, and 11 rebounds) and Terrence Williams (21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists). Yi especially showed me things last night that I don’t think I ever saw from him last season. Aggressive basketball. Driving to the hoop and moving towards the ball on offensive sets. As a whole, smart field goal attempts. This is where the word “potential” is always attached to his name like his uniform number.

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Let me start things off with a mantra: this is only preseason, this is only preseason, this is only preseason …

These games still mean nothing, even if it was the first opportunity for New Jersey Nets fans to see their team on the home YES Network. Still, you have to think on a night where the Boson Celtics were sitting all of their “Big Three,” and the Nets were playing with a healthy starting lineup before their anticipated first-ever game at the Prudential Center in Newark, that maybe, possibly, this was the night the Nets would pull down their elusive first win of the October “doesn’t count” segment of the season.

Instead, the healthy bodies became unhealthy as Devin Harris left another game, this time with a groin injury, bringing Yi Jianlian with him, who was suffering from a shoulder strain. A halftime lead of 13 (by way of 60 points), evaporated as the Nets were outplayed in the fourth quarter by a Celtics unit led by Rajon Rondo and Glen “Big Baby” Davis. The Nets, who looked soft and confused without Devin Harris running the point, scored only 11 points in the fourth quarter. The Celtics owned the offensive glass, grabbing 14 boards. Players like Eduardo Najera were airballing critical three-point shots in the closing minutes, while the Nets were apparently trying to set a screen for Brook Lopez from beyond the arc in a final attempt to tie the game – nevermind that he’s never sunk a three-pointer in his pro career.

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It wasn’t pretty, and it didn’t count, but there was Nets basketball for the first time since April. And even though it’s the first preseason game, and you can never read much, if anything, into the first preseason game, there were things to take away from this 115-107 loss to the New York Knicks up in Albany, that were both positive and negative signs for the upcoming regular season.

All summer long, the talk was about if Devin Harris was going to be able to carry the scoring load with Vince Carter now suiting up in Orlando. It was almost as if the prognosticators forgot that Brook Lopez proved he could be a dynamic offensive force in his rookie year last season. The Nets went to Brook early and often this afternoon. He ran the floor better than I’ve seen him do before, and by the end of the first half, he already had a pretty nice scoring line for himself with 19 points, including 9-11 from the free throw line. The way Lopez dominated the smaller Knicks frontcourt made you forget just how special Devin Harris is in his own right. But Harris reminded us on a few occasions. With about 6:10 left in the first quarter, Harris unlocked just a filthy spin move, breaking down the Knicks defense and laying the ball in for two points. It felt even more special because it happened as the Knicks play-by-play team on MSG was touting the new and improved New York defense. Yes, the Knicks had 7 blocks in today’s game, and the Nets look inept on the offensive end for long stretches, but they certainly didn’t resemble the Pat Riley/Jeff Van Gundy defensive bruisers of the 1990s, so let’s calm down MSG.

Another guy we heard a lot about this summer who made a good impression today was Yi Jianlian. The “muscle devil,” as he’s being referred to now after putting on some bulk in the offseason, chipped in 9 points and 5 rebounds in 25+ minutes of play. But it was a few individual plays, which showcased some of his newly found aggression and confidence that caught my eye. With about 9:30 left in the second quarter, Yi gave a little head fake at the top of the key and then took it strong to the interior, getting the bucket and the foul. Did Yi ever make a play like that last season? Early in the third quarter at the 11:13 mark, Yi grabbed an offensive rebound off a Jarvis Hayes missed jumper and put the ball back in. It was a surprising play since I grew accustomed to watching Yi lingering on the perimeter during plays like that last season.

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