| Nets Weekly Wrap Authored by Mark Kelly - January 24, 2005 - 5:04 am
The Nets are refusing to go away. Just as you begin to think that New Jersey is finally going to pack it in and play for the 2005-2006 season, they spend the week of January 16th completing their first three game winning streak of their 04-05 campaign. The wins couldn’t have come at a better time for Lawrence Frank’s club, who are about to embark on a torturous five-game in seven-day road trip against some of the best teams that the Western Conference has to offer. Doing their best impression of the “old” Nets, New Jersey combined hard-nosed defense (the team gave up an average of 90.6 points this week) with timely offense (95 points per game) to produce 3 relatively easy victories.
The chemistry in each game was apparent throughout. Jason Kidd and Vince Carter, All Star players who had been putting up superb individual numbers but had yet to truly look comfortable with each other, gelled quite nicely during the week. One thing is known for sure about this club moving forward; they’ll be fun to watch.
January 17, 2004- New Jersey Nets @ Atlanta Hawks- Philips Arena
Final Score- New Jersey 85, Atlanta 84
Player of the Game- Vince Carter (23 points on 9-22 shooting, 7 rebounds, 6 assists)
Monday afternoon’s game in Atlanta pitted two potentially lottery-bound teams up against each other. New Jersey got off to a quick start, outscoring Atlanta by eight points in the first quarter of play, but it would take the full 48-minutes to finally put the young Hawks away. Jason Kidd (23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) was non-existent in the first half but exploded for the Nets when it mattered most, scoring 19 of his 23 points in the second half. The Nets were out-rebounded offensively (14 to 8) but still managed to take eight more shots than the Hawks mainly due to the fact that they were able to keep their amount of turnovers well-under their season-average. Yet, with all of these numbers playing right into New Jersey’s hands, Atlanta was still in position with 1.1 seconds to go in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime. Antoine Walker (14 points on 3 of 18 shooting) went to the free throw line with his team down by three. Needing to make the first free throw and miss the second, Antoine “accidentally” hit both shots, essentially ending the game for his team.
``You can't miss a free throw too intentionally,'' Walker said to reporters after the loss. ``If you do, it's a violation. You have to miss it a certain way. I tried to make it kick short off the rim, but it went in.''
January 19, 2004- Milwaukee Bucks @ New Jersey Nets- Continental Airlines Arena
Final Score- New Jersey 96, Milwaukee 90
Player of the Game- Vince Carter (33 points on 14-24 shooting, 9 rebounds, 9 assists)
The Nets went into this game against Milwaukee desperately looking to inflict revenge on their Eastern Conference rivals after the Bucks had dominated the Nets from start to finish in a game on January 5. With Richard Jefferson still nursing his injured left wrist on the sidelines, the Nets outscored Milwaukee 54 to 47 in the first half en route to a 96 to 90 win at Continental Airlines Arena. New Jersey got help from an unexpected source in Rodney Buford, who contributed 17 points on 8-13 shooting to the victory. The story in this game, though, was the fact that Jason Kidd (17 points on 7-14 shooting, 8 rebounds, 10 assists) and Vince Carter (33 points on 14-24 shooting, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) came dangerously close to becoming the first pair of teammates since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in 1989 to each record a triple-double in the same game. In the third quarter, they added a bit of spice to the arena when Vince Carter threw down a rim-shaking ally-oop off of the lob from his point guard. Commenting on the play, Jason said:
``With Vince, he makes it so easy. You just get him in his rhythm. He does the hard part on the alley-oops. You just don't want to overthrow.''
January 21, 2004- Boston Celtics @ New Jersey Nets- Continental Airlines Arena
Final Score- New Jersey 104, Boston 98
Player of the Game- Jason Kidd (14 points on 3-8 shooting, 9 rebounds, 9 assists)
With the Eastern Conference playoffs still fresh in their minds, Boston entered New Jersey’s domain with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. But, the combination of Jason Kidd (14 points on 3-8 shooting, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) and Vince Carter (25 points on 9 of 20 shooting) turned out to be a bit too much as New Jersey pulled out an in-division victory 104 to 98. The Nets brought a little extra to this game, and it showed in the box score. New Jersey both out-rebounded and out-shot their counterparts, proving that there still is a bit left in their tank. Nenad Krstic, the rookie from Yugoslavia, did an admirable job in the paint scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, while Travis Best scored a season-high 24 points coming off of the bench.
Jason Kidd put the dagger to the hearts of the Celtics faithful with a prayer of a three-point shot as the shot clock dwindled in the final moments of the 4th. The three, which was nothing more than a last resort, put the Nets up 98-91.
``I wish we could say it was a designed play,'' Kidd would say later on. ``Vince penetrated and I was sitting there wide open. I just saw there was 1 second. I had no chance to think. I just caught it and shot it. Maybe I need to do that more often.''
RealGM Player of the Week:
Vince Carter- 27 PPG, 48% shooting, 5.33 RPG, 7.33 APG, 1.6 TPG
Vince Carter showed this week why he was brought over from Toronto in mid-December. He shook off the accusations that he is a selfish player by dishing out 7.33 assists per game while still being able to do what he is paid to do: scoring. Carter did a commendable job in attempting to get his teammates involved before looking for his own shot. The only knock on him this week was his deteriorating foul shooting, including a 3 of 8 game in Atlanta.
Jason Kidd, a close-second behind Vince Carter for Player of the Week honors, averaged a much-needed 18 points per game. He did not grab that illustrious 63rd career triple-double, but his “triple-crown” stats weren’t too shabby: he averaged 8 assists per game and 7.33 rebounds per contest to go along with the aforementioned point total. Not to be overlooked, Jason shot 85% from the free-throw line.
Nenad Krstic continued his improvement, recording his 3rd-career double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds) against Boston.
As Jason Kidd’s knee has improved, Travis Best has seen his minutes cut by a decent margin. But, when put into the game, he still provides the offensive punch that New Jersey thought they were getting when they signed the veteran. With 24 points against Boston, Travis had a stat-line that he hasn’t seen since late in the year 2000.
The all-or-nothing play of Rodney Buford continued, sandwiching 11 combined points around a very-productive 17 points on 61% shooting in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
Brian Scalabrine (hamstring) returned this week after a 12-game absence and provided some much-needed life to the bunch. His minutes were limited due to his conditioning, but he did provide 8 points on 50% shooting against the Celtics.
How the Rest of the Atlantic Fared:
Philadelphia climbed into the top spot in the division after undergoing a 2-1 week. Boston, currently in second place, started the week off with a promising win against the surging Chicago Bulls but, with two quick losses to New Jersey and Atlanta, saw their play diminish. The Knicks continued their downfall of late losing all 3 games they played, while Toronto, with wins against both Minnesota and New York, put up a 2-1 record.
The Week Ahead:
After defeating Boston, the Nets have a grueling Western Conference road trip on the horizon.
January 23, 2005- New Jersey Nets @ Phoenix Suns (31-10)- America West Arena
The Nets couldn’t enter Phoenix at a worse time. The Suns, having lost 6-straight games (5 of which came while star guard Steve Nash nursed various injuries) and blowing a large 4th quarter lead on the 21st against San Antonio, have seen their record-setting pace slowly drift away. Look for the Nets to play tough, physical basketball.
January 25, 2005- New Jersey Nets @ Sacramento Kings (27-11)- ARCO Arena
On the Contrary to Phoenix, Sacramento has been red-hot of late. Chris Webber has returned to his All Star form, and Peja Stojakovic has quit pouting for the time-being and is focused on playing basketball. A 17-4 home record spells trouble for the Nets.
January 26, 2005- New Jersey Nets @ Golden State Warriors (12-29)- Oakland Arena
The easiest game on the trip, Golden State currently sits with the 5th worst record in the league. New Jersey handled the Warriors well in the first meeting between these two teams, having an advantage in both turnovers forced and field goal percentage. Expect more of the same in this game.
January 28, 2005- New Jersey Nets @ Los Angeles Lakers (22-16)- Staples Center
With Kobe Bryant sidelined due to a sprained right ankle, it seems as though the Nets are coming to LA at the right time. But without their leader, the Lakers have managed to string together two-straight victories. Caron Butler, a former UCONN standout, has been leading the charge for Los Angeles.
January 29, 2005- New Jersey Nets @ Utah Jazz (14-27)- Delta Center
The Jazz and Nets have followed a similar path this year. Each team has treaded water throughout the season, and lost a key player (Andrei Kirilenko and Richard Jefferson, respectively) due to injury. The main difference? The man they call AK47 is expected to return for this game.
Mark Kelley is a columnist for RealGM.com. The writer can be reached at mwk4423@hotmail.com.
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