Joe Netsfan Game x Game 9 - Magic 95, Nets 70

The Net offense is still in its infancy

Magic 95, Nets 70
Game 9 File
An anemic offensive performance to open the game dooms the Nets, who spend the entire game feebly trying to catch back up. No one shoots well, no one can contain Dwight Howard or Rashard Lewis, and even a triple double from Jason Kidd can't save them as the Nets lose their fourth straight, and badly at that.
• Box Score

Nets Record: 4 - 5
Home Record: 3 - 4
Away Record: 1 - 1
Division Record: 1 - 3
Conf. Record: 4 - 4
Other Game Reviews

Nets High Men:
• Points: Richard Jefferson, 15.
• Assists: Jason Kidd, 10.
• Rebounds: Jason Kidd, 19.
• Steals: Jason Kidd, 2.
• Turnovers: Jason Kidd, 5.
• Blocks: Sean Williams, 3.
• FG Percentage: Sean Williams, 75.0% (3 - 4).

Nets Team Stats:
• FG Percentage: 29.8%
• FT Percentage: 69.2%
• Rebounds: 51
• Rebound Differential: +2
• Turnovers: 22
• Opposing Team's Turnovers: 16
• Bench points: 17
• Bench points Differential:+3
• Steals: 4
• Blocks: 5
• Points in the Paint: 30
• Double-Doubles: 1 (Jason Kidd: 11 points, 19 rebounds)
• Triple-Doubles: 1 (Jason Kidd: 11 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists)

The Kidd Effect:
• Nets Players in Double Digit Scoring: 4
• Nets Fast Break Points: 11
• Kidd's FG Percentage: 28.6% (4 - 14).
• Scoring Differential Kidd in the game: -19
• Scoring Differential Kidd out: -6 (Gill)
• Double-Doubles this Season: 4
• Triple Doubles this Season: 2
• Career Triple Doubles: 89

Nets Media
Bergen Record | Nets
Newark Star-Ledger | Nets
Newsday | Nets
NY Daily News | NBA
NY Post | Nets
NY Times | Pro Basketball
YES Network | Nets

Nets Team Pages
CNNSI.com | Nets
ESPN.com | Nets
FoxSports | Nets
NBA.com | Nets
Sportsline.com | Nets

Magic Media:
Orlando Sentinel | Magic

Game 9: Magic 95, Nets 70 – November 16, 2007
Mama Said
Mama said there'd be days like this.

Mama also said "if you can't say anything nice...".

After last night's bad loss against the Magic, in which the offense showed up briefly but much too late, I'm not sure I know what to say right now. This is one struggling bunch of Nets. Even with Jason Kidd's triple double performance (and 19 rebounds against Dwight Howard, who also boarded 19), this is the gang that can't shoot straight. And with four straight losses, a shooting percentage and team scoring average that are near the bottom of the NBA, and a wasted homestand (there is one more tonight against the Heat), the Nets are once again in early-season freefall.

We should have known that nothing nice would be said about this one after the audio feed from YES was lost for most of the first quarter. The Nets barely managed to score 10 points and found themselves down 15 after a quarter. Too many turnovers, shots that would not fall, and really no spark from anyone on the floor made things easy for the Magic, and as Dwight Howard was pounding it inside (he had 5 open dunks, and missed maybe 3 more) and Rashard Lewis was bombing from a wide open perimeter, it was over almost before it started.

The Nets finally found something in the second quarter, getting stops and starting to make baskets, and they were still somehow in this game through 3 quarters, finding themselves down 7 with a chance to be down 5 when Sean Williams missed a jam off an 'oop from Kidd, and a crushing 3 from Lewis effectively sealed their fate. A white-flag waiving 11 point fourth quarter just made the score that much more ugly, but what were Howard and Lewis doing playing almost until the end of the game?

No matter, that - the Nets are clearly more damaged right now than anyone could have imagined. Seems like we say this every year - it's getting late early in East Rutherford, but there are no excuses. Mama always said you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going when you get knocked down. It will be interesting to see how the Nets respond.

Mama Says Knock You Out
Take Pity? - This game was almost unwatchable if you're a Netsfan, except you've seen it before. Lacking any kind of flow, unable to shoot their way out of a paper bag - is this the team with the new offense? For all the talk of an upgraded roster, the Nets have no finisher on the floor right now except for Richard Jefferson, and the Magic's game plan of taking him out of the game worked splendidly (of course, RJ shot 4 - 19, so some of that is on him). It's not all about Carter opening up space on the floor when he returns - not having Nenad Krstic as a weapon is hurting the team, and getting almost nothing from the bigs is the final straw on an offense that needs to be reevaluated.
A Crying Shame - The Nets shot 29.8% from the floor tonight - they had probably zero looks inside that were easy, no easy baskets in transition, and no one hot hand to ride. The Big Three on the floor - in this case that would be Kidd, Jefferson and Antoine Wright - shot a combined 14 - 47 (that's 29.8%, the same as the team shooting percentage tonight). That's never going to get it done.
Play Misty For Me - All the mistakes continue as well. Turnovers abound (22 tonight), mostly the kind that are irritating - moving screens, trying to do too much with the ball, strips in the lane, you name it - and it's killing the Nets that they can't seem to get the fundamentals down. Combine it with all the other ills, and the Nets are playing from behind almost from the moment they hit the floor.
Foreign Facial Returns - Nice that the Nets opened up their scoring with a Boki Nachbar foreign facial jam - haven't seem much of that this year. But unfortunately, nothing else good came from Boki tonight, except a start. The Nets need more.
Front & Center - Poor Nenad Krstic. He's slow, confused, and lacking in confidence, which is not how you want to see your primary big man offensive weapon. He didn't start (matchups, said L. Frank), he got only 8 minutes of play, and he's looking worse than ever. A crisis of confidence, and of a slowly healing body, sure, but we didn't figure it would take this long.

Tell Mama Where It Hurts
This is now at the painful stage. With Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and a bunch of relative unknowns kicking the Nets' collective cans all over the court, plus their own prevent-offense strategies, the Nets are looking like they're a beaten bunch. Not just hoping that Vince Carter returns, but their shots and all around games as well. They get what should be a break with the Heat in the house tonight (Shaq vs. Collins, always a thriller, plus Dwyane Wade just back from injury), but reality tells us that the only thing we should expect is a game played in the 70's if we're lucky. Two straight games of anemic offense, scoring in the 70's (a 69 and a 70, actually), and all the other ills also tell us that the West Coast, where things are much more wide open, needs the Nets to bring plenty of defense.
-Joe