New Jersey Nets

[xeanxyza]

i really think they need somebody downlow they can count on...

vince i think is too much for the team... he shoots too much without

real guarantees... if they had a powerful rebound player, i would be ok if they shoot

hell from the outside since they'll be confident somebody's getting their

misses.

[Eddy Syet]

WOO-HOO!!! A WIN... FINALLY!!!

 

It isn't a big win but it's still a WIN! The NETS exacted revenge on the Hawks defeating them 87-85.

 

Great closing out efforts by Carter (22p 9r) and splendid over-all performance by Kidd (9p 9r 7a)! But my hat's off to Eddie House and Mikki Moore as they combined for 35p on a combined 13 of 21 shooting. The decision to use double-teaming defense on Joe Johnson paid off but our NETS still needed TREMENDOUS effort to put away the lowly Hawks. You're not off the hook VC! Speaking as a NET FAN... I still want you out of my favorite team. And yeah, Jason Collins should go, too. He played long minutes again... 24! and he produced ONLY 4 rebounds. :grr:

 

Anyway... thanks for the win guys! Let's keep this up! :thumbsupsmiley:

[Eddy Syet]

BACK-2-BACK WIN!!! :cool:

 

NETS ROLL PAST CELTICS IN PIERCE'S RETURN! :evil:

 

The Score: 92-78 The story: http://www.nba.com/games/20070209/NJNBOS/recap.html

 

Finally, after that four-game losing streak... our team is on a roll again!

 

VC led the NETS with 21 pts (on a another dismal shooting night ) and Jason Kidd had another near-triple-double with 13 pts 9 rebs 8 asts showing!

 

Delonte West led the CELTICS with 21 points while comebacking Paul Pierce struggled with 4 of 16 shooting making a total of 9 pts off-the-bench!

 

Believe... NETS FANS... Believe! :thumbsupsmiley:

[jopoc]

makikigulo lang mga parekoy....

 

tom nets v magic...

 

tatambakan nanaman kayo ng orlando.. hehehehe

[Eddy Syet]

makikigulo lang mga parekoy....

 

tom nets v magic...

 

tatambakan nanaman kayo ng orlando.. hehehehe

 

heHe! I can still remember that last game with Orlando. That game leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. :grr:

 

It's gonna be a tough one, I know. Their best player plays underneath the basket and the NETS has a big hole which needs to be filled in the middle. Tapos injured pa si Nenad Krstic. :cry:

 

It's gonna be tough but I'm sure there's no way the MAGIC can beat my NETS the same way they did the last time. And malay mo... talunin pa nila Orlando! :evil:

[jopoc]

heHe! I can still remember that last game with Orlando. That game leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. :grr:

 

It's gonna be a tough one, I know. Their best player plays underneath the basket and the NETS has a big hole which needs to be filled in the middle. Tapos injured pa si Nenad Krstic. :cry:

 

It's gonna be tough but I'm sure there's no way the MAGIC can beat my NETS the same way they did the last time. And malay mo... talunin pa nila Orlando! :evil:

 

 

match naman sila.... natyempuhan lang yung offnite nung players that time...

 

i am expecting a good game... but still hoping that my team wins...

[willow_boy]

makikigulo lang mga parekoy....

 

tom nets v magic...

 

tatambakan nanaman kayo ng orlando.. hehehehe

 

There's a good chance you may be right. Aside from problems with Carter and Collins, the Nets also suffer from awful coaching. I couldn't get over the fact that with the team ahead in double digits and with less than 3 minutes to go, Lawrence Frank still won't yank Kidd out of the game. :thumbsdownsmiley:

 

He's overusing Kidd and I'm afraid that this would impact the Nets performance in the post-season... should they get there.

 

Legionnaire Posted Today, 07:29 AM

BACK-2-BACK WIN!!!

 

NETS ROLL PAST CELTICS IN PIERCE'S RETURN!

 

The Score: 92-78 The story: http://www.nba.com/games/20070209/NJNBOS/recap.html

 

Finally, after that four-game losing streak... our team is on a roll again!

 

Believe... NETS FANS... Believe!

 

I believe in the team, especially with the bench players. :thumbsupsmiley: I love the contributions that Mikki Moore, Bostjan Nachbar, and Eddie House have been giving every single game. :cool:

 

As I said above, I'm concerned with the number of minutes that Kidd has been playing. Masyadong kinakabayo ni Lawrence Frank. :thumbsdownsmiley: Frank needs to be replaced after this season. At kung puwede ba, huwag nang ilagay sa starting rotation si Jason Collins?!?!? Pang-reserba lang itong kumag na 'to e! :thumbsdownsmiley:

[willow_boy]

As a prelude to tonight's Nets-Orlando game, I just want to share with everyone the following article that appeared on today's edition of the New York Times:

 

February 10, 2007

For Kidd and Hill, Bond Stays Strong Despite Divergent Paths

By JOHN ELIGON

 

When the Nets and the Magic play tonight, it will be another example of the divergent career paths of Jason Kidd and Grant Hill.

 

While Kidd will be running the show for the Nets during another fine season, Hill is expected to miss his sixth consecutive game because of a sprained right knee.

 

Kidd, the No. 2 overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks, and Hill, selected third by the Detroit Pistons, were the cream of the 1994 rookie class. They had a budding rivalry that some believed would reach Magic Johnson-Larry Bird proportions. Those expectations changed after an ankle injury sidetracked Hill’s career. Now, they are left to wonder what could have been.

 

“There would’ve been a gamesmanship in a sense of who was going to top who on any given night,” Kidd said recently. “I think that’s what we both wanted, both embraced — that we knew that we were going to be linked to each other until one was to retire.”

 

The amicable rivalry between Hill and Kidd actually started in 1989 when they played at the Nike camp for high school standouts. In 1993, Kidd’s California Bears defeated Hill’s Duke Blue Devils in the second round of the N.C.A.A. tournament.

 

As N.B.A. rookies, Kidd, a point guard, and Hill, a small forward, made a habit of checking box scores to see what the other one was doing. “He was rolling early, and I just wanted to try to stay as close as I could to him because everybody was mentioning him as rookie of the year,” Kidd said.

 

They ended up becoming the third pair in N.B.A. history to share the award, beating out the No. 1 pick, Glenn Robinson. In the several years that followed, the two continued a friendly battle for supremacy of their draft class.

 

That changed at the turn of an ankle. During the 1999-2000 season, Hill bruised a bone in his left ankle, the beginning of a chronic problem that has kept him sidelined for four seasons’ worth of games. With that, the legacies of Hill and Kidd stopped growing together.

 

Hill said he had hoped that, like Johnson and Bird, he and Kidd would compete against each other for titles.

 

“It didn’t happen; I got hurt,” Hill said recently. “Who knows what would’ve happened? I’m glad he’s been able to represent and gotten to the finals. He’s elevated himself as a Hall of Famer.”

 

Tonight’s game will be the third time the Nets and the Magic have played this season, and Hill also missed the previous two because of injuries — an injured finger and his current knee sprain.

 

Although their careers have been defined in different ways, Kidd and Hill remain linked, starting with their stellar rookie seasons. They caught the eyes of many in part because they made their teammates better.

 

“I just remembered in that draft being really, really excited for the N.B.A. because these were two guys that were A-plus human beings that played basketball for the right reasons,” said Dallas General Manager Donnie Nelson, who was an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns when Kidd played there. “Their motivation was to be great, win and give back to the sport, and they did it every night in the way that they played.”

 

They are two of the most dangerous all-around threats in the league. Through their first three seasons, it seemed as if Hill was the one on his way becoming the N.B.A.’s triple-double king. He had 24 to Kidd’s 15.

 

Since that season, Hill has recorded only five triple-doubles. Kidd has 83, the third-highest total in league history. He missed his 84th against the Celtics last night by two rebounds and an assist. (Kidd and Hill remain first and second among active players in triple-doubles.)

 

Both players have had critical injuries, but with different outcomes.

 

Hill has needed three ankle operations to get back into playing form. Kidd had microfracture surgery on his left knee, but he has never had to miss significant playing time.

 

Hill’s agent, Lon Babby, said that Hill’s injuries had allowed people to see his perseverance, enhancing his status as a role model.

 

“Although his basketball career will have been interrupted on the court, the overall contribution he made on the game as a public figure will be undiminished,” Babby said in a telephone interview.

 

Hill, 34, and Kidd, 33, have said they are having their best seasons in years. Kidd was elected to the All-Star Game for the eighth time and his season averages (14.4 points a game, 8.8 assists and 8 rebounds) are his best in the past three seasons.

 

“It’s inspiring,” Hill said. “To think all the miles that he’s put on his body and all the games that he’s played, he’s still doing it, it’s pretty exciting.”

 

Despite having missed 12 games this season, Hill has shown flashes of brilliance, like a 20-point first half against the Washington Wizards last month. He is averaging 15.1 points a game and is shooting a career-best 52.9 percent from the field. In his sixth season in Orlando, he is also providing much-needed veteran leadership for his young teammates.

 

Hill, whose contract expires at the end of the season, said he had not decided how much longer he would play. Whenever he retires, Hill’s legacy will remain, in part, connected to Kidd’s.

 

“To be forever linked with him from that draft and that Rookie of the Year Award,” Hill said, “it’s quite an honor.”

[Eddy Syet]

Thanks willow_boy ... that article's beautiful. The author's sentiments are the same as mine. Thinking back to the times when Jason Kidd's Dallas Mavericks are always pitted against Grant Hill's Detroit Pistons. Well, things happen. I just feel bad for "Mr. Nice Guy."

[Eddy Syet]

The NETS just won their THIRD STRAIGHT!!! Alright! :cool:

 

The NETS clobbered Orlando MAGIC to the tune of 93-78 to extend their winning streak to three games!

 

Defense did it! The NETS held the MAGIC to a 41% shooting from the field while making 48% of their own despite another stellar performance from Dwight Howard. VC led the NETS with 32 points while Kidd finished with 10pts 9 rebs and 6 asts. Reserve Marcus Williams tepped up for the second straight game scoring 12 off-the-bench.

 

And speaking of reserves, the NETS reserves outscored their MAGIC counterparts, 34-14. I guess that pretty much sums up everything! Keep it up Jason Kidd and Co.! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

I agree with willow_boy, we need a new coach AND what is Jason Collins doing in the starting line-up? He's zilch in points again and grabbed a measly 5 boards (Jason Kidd grabbed 9! :grr: )!

 

:zorro:

[willow_boy]

Just want to share the following article on Lawrence Frank:

 

 

Nets: Frank's seat heating up as team falters

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

BY STEVE POLITI

Star-Ledger Staff

 

His friends still remember how he looked after loss No. 1. Three years ago this month, Lawrence Frank trudged to the team bus in Minneapolis with his shoulders slumped, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head, looking like a guy who just dropped a winning lottery ticket into the sewer.

 

This, remember, came after a 13-0 start as a head coach. This was after Frank had turned the Nets from a .500 team into a playoff contender in his first few weeks on the job, when he went from obscure assistant coach to become one of the best stories in the NBA.

 

Frank has always handled losing the way Dick Cheney handles sunlight. He was tossed the keys to a Porsche when he took over this team from Byron Scott, but three years later, Frank is learning that reality for most coaches in the NBA is trying to find a way to keep a flawed team from falling apart ... and, ultimately, do it before the pink slip arrives.

 

"As a coach," he said yesterday, "it's almost like these are the times, in a sick way, that you really enjoy."

 

This is Frank, as usual, trying to find something positive in this basketball season from hell. The Nets have a 25-27 record as the All-Star break approaches that not only leaves them looking up at lowly Toronto in the division standings, but puts them in the conversation as the biggest underachievers in the league.

 

Enjoy a season when two-fifths of your starting lineup needs surgery? When you lose game after game on last-second shots, each more ridiculous than the last? When both players in your all-star backcourt are dealing with divorces, including one that will get messy enough for its own reality TV series?

 

"Hey, this is a challenge!" Frank said, the inflection in his raspy voice rising on that last word. "Anybody can have a great attitude when things are going well, but when things are tough, that's the challenge of coaching. Truly, adversity is what you really thrive on."

 

Whether Frank is thriving is certainly debatable, and the answer will come in the final two months of the season. This is still the best team in the Atlantic Division, and there's no reason to think -- even with the injuries -- that it shouldn't overtake the Raptors and reach the playoffs again.

 

No matter what happens, Frank is in no danger of losing his job this season, not with a supportive owner and general manager who see the injuries to Nenad Krstic and Richard Jefferson as the primary reasons for the team's struggles. But should the Nets miss the postseason, Frank will find himself on the hot seat for the first time in his career, and he should.

 

The Nets are better than this. Frank has had a few cards pulled from his deck, as Jason Kidd said recently, but the effort is spotty on some nights, the concentration lapses are troubling, and so is the tendency to play down to the level of competition. Vince Carter is spectacular one game, disinterested the next. All of that reflects poorly on the man sitting on the bench.

 

"I know it's very disappointing, our results," Frank said. "For many different reasons we haven't performed up to our expectations. But to the credit of our guys, everybody hangs in there together, and that says a lot about our character."

 

Frank, who is under contract through 2007-08, has earned a mulligan with ownership, which remembers the way his team won 15 out of 19 to end the season two years ago, making the playoffs after a 12-24 start. He still has Bruce Ratner and Rod Thorn on his side, and above that, still has Kidd.

 

He also hasn't tried to change his personality to side step the losses, something his players respect. Frank is not a phony: He still searches for goofy ways to get his messages across to the players -- he is hanging chairs on the wall of the practice facility now, one for each road victory -- just like he did when he first arrived. His players listened then.

 

Are they listening now?

 

"Every time we've been counted out, we've bounced back," Frank said. "The makeup of our team, because it's different, sometimes it's hard to be consistent. I got a call from another NBA coach who said, 'Hey look, I know you're (angry) that you lost, but the fact that you're close, that says a lot.'"

 

When told that sounded like he was taking moral victories, Frank quickly interrupted. "No, no, no. No. None of that," he said, and with the urgency in his voice, you can tell the Nets' head coach is still tortured as ever after losses, even if lately he's getting used to them.

 

 

 

Steve Politi appears regularly in The Star-Ledger. He may be reached at spoliti@starledger.com

 

© 2007 The Star Ledger

© 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

[Eddy Syet]

Thanks for sharing the article willow_boy!

 

I remember admiring Lawrence Frank the first time he handled the NETS. I would still give it to him, though. Our NETS are still better than when Byron Scott was handling the team. I don't even want to think that Lawrence Frank's burnt out. Hell, tell that to Lenny Wilkens, Pat Riley, or Phil Jackson. The NETS should not GET USED TO LOSING. That was for the era between Derrick Coleman's and Jason Kidd's.

 

Something needs to be done. We're not lost in the Playoffs race yet... yet.

[Eddy Syet]

NETS bow to the SPURS 107-82...

 

How I'd love to see my NETS win one against Tony Parker and co!

 

 

Anyway, I'm not expecting us to win this one. Even if it's a home game... our team is too depleted at this time to become a threat against powerhouses like San Antonio.

 

NO RJ... NO KRSTIC... NO KIDD... >sigh!< what can we expect?

 

I'm just disappointed because I believe the NETS could've put up a better fight than that. We were outscored 33-16 in the second quarter and that sealed our doom.

 

I'm beginning to take young Marcus Williams seriously. Taking over the starting point guard position from Kidd, he tallied 9 points and dished out 10 dimes (career-high)! The 3rd straight game he's stepped up his game. Keep it up, dude! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Let's hope they perform better against the HORNETS! :evil:

[clubber_lang]

This team is not in a disarray but its close. Right now, I'll say they are lost...

[willow_boy]

NETS bow to the SPURS 107-82...

 

How I'd love to see my NETS win one against Tony Parker and co!

Anyway, I'm not expecting us to win this one. Even if it's a home game... our team is too depleted at this time to become a threat against powerhouses like San Antonio.

 

NO RJ... NO KRSTIC... NO KIDD... >sigh!< what can we expect?

 

I'm just disappointed because I believe the NETS could've put up a better fight than that. We were outscored 33-16 in the second quarter and that sealed our doom.

 

I'm beginning to take young Marcus Williams seriously. Taking over the starting point guard position from Kidd, he tallied 9 points and dished out 10 dimes (career-high)! The 3rd straight game he's stepped up his game. Keep it up, dude! :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Let's hope they perform better against the HORNETS! :evil:

 

Trading deadline passed by and the Nets still have Jason Collins. :thumbsdownsmiley: It's probably because they know that no team in its right mind would take this guy.

 

I wasn't in favor of trading Kidd although I strongly agree with you that Marcus Williams is starting to shine. :thumbsupsmiley: This kid deserves more playing time. Jason Collins should be taken out of the starting rotation because his ineffectiveness makes their games more difficult to win. He is a drag on their offense. The opposing team could pretty much focus on the other 4 players because they know they can let Jason Collins take his shots with a low probability of making them. :thumbsdownsmiley: