NETS @ MAGIC ARENA: TD WATERHOUSE CENTRE, ORLANDO,FL TEAM RECORDS:Nets(10-11) Magic(3-19) NETS OUTLOOK GOING IN- The Nets outlook coming into tonight's game is nothing but positive. They completed an undefeated homestand on tuesday with a 101-88 victory over the Sonics. The Nets went 3-0 on that homestand with victories over the Suns, Bucks & Sonics. The Nets now look to take thier win streak on the road as they travel to Orlando to take on the Magic. ORLANDO'S OUTLOOK GOING IN- Orlando actually enters the game with a positive outlook. They snapped ,an almost record tying, 19- game losing streak with a victory over the Suns. And then followed it up with a hard fought vicyory over the Wizards. The Magic are on their first win streak of the season(2-games). Tonight the Magic look to increase their win streak to 3 games with a ,confidence boosting ,victory over ,the red hot, Nets. StARTING MATCHUPS PG-Tyronn Lue(12.4ppg,42%3PT) vs KIDD(Key stat-14pts,10ast last game) SG-MCDRADY(24.5ppg,40%FG) vs K.KITTLES(Key stat-13pts last game) SF-GORDEN GIRICEK(11.8ppg,38%3PT) vs Jefferson(Key Stat-31pts last game) PF-J.HOWARD(14.4ppg,6.9rbg) vs K-MART(25pts last game) C-ANDREW DELERCQ(3.4rpg) vs JA. COLLINS (1 rebound last game) KEY MATCHUP Juan Howard Vs Kenyon Martin- With Kidd having an edge over Lue & Mcgrady having an edge over Kittles. It is expected that both stars overall play will end up canceling each other out(so to speak). This will put the pressure on each teams second options. This leads us to the forward battle of Martin & Howard. Howard is a half court player, who likes to use a low post hook as his got to move(and mid range 14 foot jump shot). Expect Martin to defend Howard by using his(Martin's) pyshical style of play to force Howard futher out on the perimeter than Howard would like to play. Martin must avoid picking up chear fouls while forcing howard off the low block. Howard will look to keep up with Martin in the open court. And hope that Martin isnt in one of his aggressive style of play. He wants Martin to hang around the perimeter shooting jumpshots. HENACY'S MATCHUP TO WATCH RJ VS Girieck- this is a little different from the Key matchup.this is my personal favorite matchup to watch. This is a matchup of 2 young talented forwards with nothing but up side. Both coming off excellent games. RJ 31 points & GIRIECK 21pts vs Suns & 15pts vs Wizards. I expect good out put from this matchup. ORLANDO'S KEY BENCH PLAYER Drew Gooden- He is a young power forard who is the Magics best player off the bench. DelERCQ will start the game but expect Gooden to replace him in the line up come crunch time. NeTS' KEY BENCH PLAYER AAron WILLIAMS- For todays game I think A.WILL is going to be the Key player for the Nets off the bench. WHen second units come into the game Williams will find himself matchup against Gooden he will have to use his strenght against Gooden. NETS KEYS TO THE GAME DEFENSE 1- Incorparate the Zone- The Nets arent a team that uses a zone alot. But vs Olando the zone is the best way for handling NcGrady& the Magic. McGrady has stated on several occasions that he & his teamates hate the zone.The Nets dont need to overuse the zone like some teams have done against the Magic. But they need to use it in their defensive scheme to night to cause some confusion to Orlandos offensive sets. Especially with Quick handed players like Kidd & Kittles at the top of the zone. 2- Do Not get beat by an X-factor-This Key should be combined with the first one. When using the zone the Nets cant just Focus on McGrady. Tyronn Lue has been the zone buster for the magic so far this season. Teams have focus their whole zone on Mcgrady that they had no players shifted toward Lue. So Lue stands around the perimeter & hits wide open 3pointers. The Nets cannot let this happen. 3-Rebounding- Rebounding is a key because Jason Collins only had one rebound vs the Sonics. It didnt matter because the game wasnt close. but 1 rebound isnt exceptable. The Nets have to cotinue their team rebounding system. But Collins must step his board work up. Especially tonight against delercq who doesnt rebound well. Expect Collins to battle with the likes of Howard & Gooden on the boards. So to compete J.C will have to be more aggresive. NETS KEYS TO THE OFFENSIVE GAME 1- Make McGrady work on Defense- The best Defense for a top notch scorer like McGrady is to make him work on defense. If Mcgrady has to work on d than he might be tired an less aggresive on offense. The pressure to make Mcgrady work on defense early, will be on the shoulders of Kerry Kittles. Kittles needs to run Mcgrady off of alot of screens in the half court set. The Nets like to use the Motion offense, So this should help Kittles. Players like Collins, Rodgers, Williams can set huge screens. Kittles cannot shy away from shooting the ball like he tends to do. Kittles made need to take around 15 shots to keep Mcgrady active on D. 2. Get RJ the Ball early in the game- RJ is a streaky player at his young age. He will have 2or3 really good games back to back & than a few bad game. Well RJ is coming off a spectucular game. So the Nets need to let him ride his hot hand into this game early. Also when the Nets Incorparate Rj into the mix early he usely plays well for the whole game. 3.RUN, RUN. RUN- Orlando just isnt built to run with the nets, they are a half court team. Who likes to stand around and let McGrady create everything for them. The Nets need to force the tempo. The Magic wont be able to matchup. MAGIC KEYS TO THE GAME-DONT GET BLOWN OUT My prediction- Magic play well early in front of thier home crowd but in the long run of the game they just wont be able to hang with the Nets. Easy double Digit win for the Nets ENJOY THE NETS FASTBREAK
Dude, you're making my job as a Moderator very easy. Thanks hahaha. Nice preview. This would be an easy win by the Nets. It will be a big game by TMac but it wouldn't be enough to catch up to the Nets.
