You gotta give as well as you take in the playoffs...

Diatribe #13 - May 6, 2004
Run For The Hills
Yup, nothing like a little ass-whuppin' to make an NBA want to come right back and play the next game to quickly get it out of their system. Luckily, the NBA always schedules a rapid succession of games to get right back on that horse, if you'll pardon the pun.

Whoops - that's right. Unless it's the playoffs.

Pity the Nets' collective psyche. They have almost 4 days off to ponder that strangulation performed in the Hills on Monday - the Palace at Auburn Hills, that is. Since the Nets are a confident bunch by nature (as well as by achievement), nothing would feel better to them than to play Game 2 - right now, if possible.

But it's not. It's the playoffs.

So the Nets are probably watching plenty of tape, making all kinds of adjustments, and handing out the party line of "it's only one game."

Trouble is, the way Detroit played on Monday, it may not be just a fluke, get-the-bad-game-out-of-the-way showing for New Jersey. Indeed, the Nets were harassed into settling for late-in-the-shot-clock jumpers, were positively squeezed inside, and get less-than-zero performances from far too many players, including off nights from the Big Three.

You can usually count on at least one of the three to carry the team for short periods if not entire games, so you have to wonder what's next for Game 2. The Nets need to establish the fast break, even though they had 19 fast break points in Game 1. Which means that the rebounding picture is going to need to be much more positive than it was, and Jason Collins, Rodney Rogers and Richard Jefferson are going to have to make a superhuman effort to top the bound-and-determined Piston squad on the glass.

This is not an easy thing for the smaller Nets to do. Jason Collins looked wooden, Aaron Williams like the oak tree in the midst of the giant redwoods. Kenyon can't rebound when it's him against three Pistons.

Hey, it would help if they shoot better than 27%, by the way. We all know the Nets get tons of points in transition and that pads their shooting stats, but that's the Nets' game. When they run and run well, they don't have to be deadly accurate in the half court. But if they don't, and Larry Brown continues to take away both the break and the interior, well, it could be a series the likes of 2002's sweep at the hands of Los Angeles.

Defense? Not at all worried about that. The Nets didn't play perfectly, but they were certainly much better defensively than they were offensively. Then again, that's like saying that the iceberg the Titanic hit wasn't all that big...

Now, don't get me wrong, Netsfans. The Nets are far from finished, and I'm certainly not giving up on the team that likes to be put in the underdog position. I can't imagine they could possibly play any worse than they did on Monday, especially when you consider that outside of Kerry Kittles and Lucious Harris, NO ONE played well on the New Jersey side.

But I do wonder if they have the stuff to make a break and run for the Hills and pick up the split in Detroit. It certainly won't be easy.

You're downhearted, or at least concerned. You're certainly wondering whether or not the Nets will be lifeless in Game 2 like they were in Game 1.

But before we all push the panic button, let's have some faith in Lawrence Frank, Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson. Let's assume they'll make more shots than they did in Game 1, and hit the glass harder and with much more purpose.

These Nets can take a pretty mean punch (and they certainly took one on Monday), and come back for more.

In Game 2 they can run to the Hills and show us all that they can dish it out as well as they took it in Game 1.

Bet on Jason Kidd and co. doing just that.

If this damned break ever ends, that is...
- Joe

Archive | Backlash | Bio | Calendar | Champagne's Blog | Diatribe | Game x Game | History | Home | Joe Netsfan's Blog | Media | Opponents | Players | Playoffs | Search | Specials