The game was pretty much non competive in the 2nd half. The Nets once again came with a well balanced attack to make up for the Martin & Kidd not being able to play due to injury. It wasnt Jefferson who led the balance scoring attack tonight it was Lucious Harris. Harris got the Nets off to an early start scoring 13 of his 24pts in the opening quarter. But RJ is the one who provide the Nets faithful with the memorable play off the night. He caught a monster dunk on Kurt Thomas in the Middle of the 1st. It was 2 of his 18pts. The 18pts was a drop off from the 27ppg, he had been avg in his last 5 games. It also end RJ streak of consecutive games with at least 20pts scored. The streak ends at 7 games. But RJ did continue his trend of well balanced games. He add 6rebs & 6ast to go long with his 18pts. RJ was setting his teamates up all night. But it was not Jefferson who led the team in assist tonight. The Nets had a surprising assist leader tonight It was JC, yes Jason Collins led the Nets in assist with 8. Collins did an excellent job of passing the ball out of the high post while Nets players beat knick defenders back door all night. One of the benefactors of a few Collins' assist was Rodney Rodgers. Rodney Rodgers once again stepped up to replace the injured Martin in perfect fashion. Rodgers scored 20pts including a perfect 3 for 3 from 3pt land. With the 108-77 victory the Nets put a serious hold on their tri state rivals playoff plans. And clinched their 3rd straight Alantic Division title at the same time. With Maimi losing to the Pistons it meant that the Nets would once again rule the Alantic. And have the automatic 2nd seed in the eastern conference playoffs. The Nets will now focus the rest of the season on getting Kidd & Martin back to what is becoming a well balanced Nets lineup. Official Boxscore
it was definitly a fun game for nets fans to watch, expecially after the terrible 32% shooting we had at the garden a few weeks ago. this stretch with kidd and kmart being out is turning out to be more positive than negative. if we were in a major losing streak and miami got hotter than they have been then there would have been problems, but that didnt happen. Twin really suprised me with his 8 assits and i think that might be more because of the lack of defense on the knicks part because that isnt normal for collins to have that many. he did a good job hand out assists, but he has to improve finishing around the basket. there was one play that he got 4 offensive rebs and missed a layup 4x (yes he was hounded by the interior of the knicks) and has to get stronger and just slam that ball down cause if you miss, the chances of you getting a foul called is very high. A-train also had a good game (as did everyone) including making his FIRST ever 3pointer! there was 2seconds on the shot clock and the knicks overplayed on rj and A-train got it launched a deep 3 which seemed too good to be true. at the moment i think a lot of people knew that if a deep 3pointer is made by a center who has never made one before, that it was the Nets night and no way would the knicks have a shot at coming back. he also seems to gained his confidence back with shooting the ball and catching the ball. in the 8 games that kidd and kmart have been playing cheerleaders, guys have really gained confidence. the first two guys that come to mind have to be lu and debo. filling in the starting lineup has really helped them in all aspects of their game. in the beginning of the yr debo got hurt in the 1st game of the season and lu had ankel and back problems. now they seem to be back to themselves which is going to GREATLY improve our chances in repeating as East. Conf. Champs. even zoran played very well last night. he had his career high 11pts and played SMART. he shows flashes of being an aswome player in games like yesterday, but there are games were he looks so sloppy and careless out there. he has to improve his shooting big time, but makes up for it with his passing. veal seems to have his jumper back, well at least for one night, and has also gotten smarter. when we had a healthy roster, guys like debo and veal would come in and not feel confident and get quick fouls and bascially take themselves out of the game, not now. they are playing smarter because they know they can't afford to hurt the team anymore than we are and need to step up their game to be victorious. our bench has been our achilies heal the entire season and it looks like it will be stronger with confidence and can carry us a long way in the playoffs. our bench is our x-factor in how far we will go in the playoffs. this might be a blessing in disguise reguarding kidd and kmart's injuries. there is no reason for them to come back until the last week of the season when we play vs philly, @ atl the very next day and end our season on the road at miami.
Throwback no dissrespect but I never seen you post here before. I see you have been a JBB member since Jan. So I would like to 1st off say welcome. Then I would like to give you props for your comments. I agree with you 100%. If Jason Kidd & K-mart comeback healthy before the playoffs, then the injuries where a blessing in disguise. They allowed the two Nets who were most desperate in need of a confience boost to get extended playing time. And gain that confidence needed going into the playoffs. Lucious has not had the shooting touch all season, until kidd went down. And the Nets need Lucious scoring because he is going to have to play alot of minutes in the playoffs at both guard positions as a backup. And Rodney(debo) was just about out of the regular rotation before K-mart went down. Scali had been recieving most of the backup forward minutes. But know he is going to be a serius scoring & shooting weapon off the bench. Rodney has not played well in his 2 seasons with the Nets. But know he reminds me of the Rodney Rodgers that played for the Clippers, Suns, Celtics. He is once again able to stretch defenses with his shooting form the forward spot. Something the Nets havent had since they traded away Van Horn I know alot of people have cast us off in the east.And jumped on the Pistons/Pacers bandwagon.But with everyone healthy & the noted improvement in RJ's game. Along with the resurance of Lucious & Rodney. I like the Nets chances to win a 3rd straight eastern conference crown. By the way throwback, I hope to see you here discussing the Nets from time to time.
Nice to see another poster in the Nets thread. You guys have it all covered. I just hope that Lu and Rodney will continue to do what they're doing right now OFF THE BENCH when Kidd and Kenyon comes back from injuries. Oh and that RJ dunk was sick!
yea whenever i got free time i would love to talk nets with you guys. i was on another board, but the owners of the board seemed to not update it and people stopped showing,then i found this place and sign up a few months ago but i've been busy during this spring semester. thanks for the warm welcome! i think us being for some reason and 'underdog' in the playoffs when it comes to det/ind might be good. everyone looks at how kidd and kmart might not be 100% come playoff time, but what they don't realize is how many people gained confidence during this 8game stretch. so when we play det/ind (if they are still around) they might be very suprised what they find coming off our bench. now it's not set in stone that when kmart and kidd come back that lu and debo will play how they are now, but you gotta like their chances of playing like this. who knows, they could come in and play like they did 3/4 of the season. even brandon armstrong had some quality minutes where he would make some shots then make some stupid plays, but this all is a learning experience and how knows; brandon could make an appearance in the playoffs if kerry or lu or both are in foul trouble. he just needs to be smarter on the defensive end. when he comes in he wants to make an impression to the coaching staff but he gets a little too hyped and makes some stupid fouls at the top of the key or when a player is driving down the paint, but he will learn. so with a more mature player in RJ,a healthy (or close too full health) kidd & kmart, a shooting guard in kerry that has gained some confidence on the offensive end, a center who has shown intensity the past few games and the ability to dish out 8 dimes and a re-defined bench - we have enough talent and confidence to make it back to the finals. and who knows, if its not the lakers maybe it will finally be our year. time to go watch the Nets vs Hawks game. go Nets!
We can match up against Det and Ind starter per starter. KMart can pretty much hold his own against Big Ben and JO. The question is how can Rogers and the other bench players hold the forts everytime the starters are on the bench. Nets will again be the underdogs this playoffs. But if the Knicks game was any preview on how our bench players will step it up, then it's a diff. story altogether.
