<div align="center"> <div align="center">@ </div> <font color="DarkRed"> </font> <div align="center"><font color="Blue">The New Jersey Nets</font> (39-28) @ <font color="DimGray"><font color="Red">The Detroit Pistons</font> <font color="Black">(55-13)</font></font> Time: Sunday, March 26th, 7:30 PM Location: <font color="Red">Palace of Auburn Hills</font> </div> <div align="center"><font color="Blue"><font color="Black">TV: Yes Network</font></font> <font color="Blue"><font color="Black"> Radio: WFAN 660 AM</font></font> </div> <font color="Blue"> </font>[div=50%] <div align="left">Detroit will not beat the record for the most wins (and least losses) in a season. This does not diminish from the fact that Detroit is the best team in the east. Although they have already clinched the centeral division, they will not rest until they have the easter conference. </div> Projected Starters <div align="left"> Point Guard: <font color="Red">Chauncey Billups</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/chauncey_billups.jpg[/imgl] Detroit's point guard has continued to play consistently well this season. In has last game, he scored only eight points, but his game-by-game statistics show that he will bounce back and have a good game in this one. Shooting Guard: <font color="Red">Richard Hamilton</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/richard_hamilton.jpg[/imgl] Hamilton has had a slight drop off in offensive production in the last two weeks. This does not guarantee that he will have a bad game against the Nets, it just shows that Detroit can win with out him producing any more than 20 in a game. Small Forward: <font color="Red">Tayshaun Prince</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/tayshaun_prince.jpg[/imgl] Offensivly, Prince has been playing very well as of late. He has been scoring all of the points that Hamilton does not score. Richard Jefferson is going to have his hands full having to defend a tall, but agile small forward. Power Forward: <font color="Red">Rasheed Wallace</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/rasheed_wallace.jpg[/imgl] It is difficult to predict how Wallace will play in this game. All season long, Wallace's statistics have occilated from high scoring games to low scoring ones. One thing has been constand however. He plays defense. Center: <font color="Red">Ben Wallace</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/ben_wallace.jpg[/imgl] Much like Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace has ossilating game-by-game statistics. His rebounds have not been consistenly off the charts. His defense however is as constant as ever. <font color="DimGray"> <font color="Red">Pistons: Keys to the Game</font></font> 1) Keep the ball moving and the chemistry flowing. 2) Do not let the Nets box you out. Box the Nets out on rebounds instead. 3) McDyess needs to have a good game off the bench. </div> [/div] <div align="left">The Nets are playing the first of two back-to-back games. It will be interesting to see if the Nets will have any energy after winning (or losing) this game, when they host the Phoenix Suns. The Nets have the point guard, the shooting guard, and the small forward to match Detroit. However, the Nets' big men and bench are out matched. The Nets' three main big men (Collings, Robinson, and Krstic) can certainly have the big games, but thier consistency is not the same. <div align="center"> Projected Starters </div> Point Guard: <font color="Blue">Jason Kidd</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/jason_kidd.jpg[/imgl] He leads the league in triple doubles at his age. It took him a great portion of the season to get warmed up (so to speak), but now he is playing well enought to raise his previous year's (and career) statistics. It is expected that Kidd will not give Billups any room to manuever. Shooting Guard: <font color="Blue">Vince Carter</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/vince_carter.jpg[/imgl] Carter has not has a monster game in a few weeks. The Nets, during that time, were not playing against any signifcanly superious teams. This means that the Nets did not need Carter to step up too much. This game, Carter will dare the Detroit player to stop him. Small Forward: <font color="Blue">Richard Jefferson</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/richard_jefferson.jpg[/imgl] Jefferson has been on a tear of late. His average has gone up almost all the way to 20 points per game. Jefferson, while scoring more, has not relinquished his redbounding and passing. Power Forward: <font color="Blue">Jason Collins</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/jason_collins.jpg[/imgl] Collins will have his hands full with Rasheed Wallace. Collins has shut down Wallace before, but he also allowed Wallace to have some good games in the past. History is not what matters, it is whether Collins can keep Wallace under control in this game. Center: <font color="Blue">Nenad Krstic</font> [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/nenad_krstic.jpg[/imgl] Krstic has brought his game the maximum everytime the Nets have faced a team with powerful bigmen. In the last, Nets versus Pistons game, Krstic has a very good game. This game his performance will be the xfactor. <font color="Blue">Nets: Keys To The Game</font> <font color="Black">1) Utilize thier strengths (the big three ball movement).</font> <font color="Black"> 2) Match, defensiving and offensivly, Detoit's big men. </font><font color="Black">3) Krstic has to step up.</font> </div> </div>
Krstic has been the deciding x-factor for our team. Even if Carter struggles, we still usually win if Krstic plays well. I think Robinson is a better matchup for defending Wallace. This win is important cause it'll show where we stand by playoff time.
well tied going into the 4th Vince struggling with only 12 on 5-15 shooting but RJ is having a great game. Vince needs to stop Rip from taking over like he did in the third we can win this and I have a feeling Vince is going to throw one down on Big Ben.
What a good game. The Nets must feel so good about this win. It's incredible that we only shot 37% from the field. We are making a major run. If the Nets keep playimg like this, maybe winning a championship isn't impossible. Great play by Vince in the end. Here the stats. Kidd 7 pts 14 rebs 5 asts Carter 22 pts 7 rebs 6 asts Jefferson 14 pts 5 asts Krstic 16 pts 9 rebs Robinson 8 pts
What a gutsy win by the Nets. Looked real solid all the way, not getting rattled. I want Zoran gone, he does nothing positive out there.
Great win and a real confidence booster knowing that you can beat both Miami and Detroit on their home floors is big because they will probably see one of the in the playoffs, Vince struggled but did damage and RJ played awesome.
