Joe Netsfan Game x Game 51 - Nets 101, Mavericks 82

Kidd and co. come out swinging

Nets 101, Mavs 82
Game 51 File
The Nets surprise and beat up on what could be Jason Kidd's new team, taking a deficit in the second to a large lead in the third. The rout was on, Kidd, Carter and Jefferson were special, and someone please explain what the hell happened.
• Box Score

Nets Record: 22 - 29
Home Record: 11 - 15
Away Record: 11 - 14
Division Record: 2 - 7
Conf. Record: 16 - 15
Other Game Reviews

Nets High Men:
• Points: Vince Carter, 29.
• Assists: Jason Kidd, 14.
• Rebounds: Vince Carter, 9.
• Steals: Carter and Armstrong each had 2.
• Turnovers: Kidd and Jefferson each had 3.
• Blocks: Sean Williams and Carter each had 2.
• FG Percentage: Sean Williams, 75.0% (6 - 8).

Nets Team Stats:
• FG Percentage: 47.9%
• FT Percentage: 80.0%
• Rebounds: 47
• Rebound Differential: +6
• Turnovers: 12
• Opposing Team's Turnovers: 10
• Bench points: 26
• Bench points Differential:-13
• Steals: 6
• Blocks: 6
• Points in the Paint: 36
• Double-Doubles: 1 (Jason Kidd: 13 points, 14 assists)
• Triple-Doubles: 0

The Kidd Effect:
• Nets Players in Double Digit Scoring: 4
• Nets Fast Break Points: 21
• Kidd's FG Percentage: 23.1% (3 - 13)
• Scoring Differential Kidd in the game: +28
• Scoring Differential Kidd out: -9 (Armstrong, M. Williams)
• Double-Doubles this Season: 28
• Triple Doubles this Season: 12
• Career Triple Doubles:99

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

Mavs Media:
Dallas Morning News | Mavs/NBA

Game 51: Nets 101, Mavericks 82 – February 10 , 2008
Sucker Punched
Well, I guess we've seen nearly everything this season from a Nets team with a glass jaw, a focus issue and a whole lot of internal chaos. With the mighty Mavericks in town, who would have guessed that the Nets would take a figurative punch, a literal punch, and not only survive both but come away with a blowout win at the Izod. Making a quick run after Vince Carter took an elbow to the head and left the game, the Mavs found themselves on the canvas themselves after Carter returned from his medical leave, as VC and his mates reigned blow after blow upon Dallas to take control of the game. The Nets win by 19 - someone hand me the smelling salts.

This one started out interesting, as the Nets appeared ready to hold their own, dueling with Dirk Nowitzi (who had 11 first quarter points) all the way until Jason Kidd left the game. From there, it was the Net scrubs getting pounded, as a 21 - 17 Net lead turned to 26 - 21 Mavs in the space of less than three minutes. At 30 - 25, Carter took a whack in the head from at Brandon Bass elbow, and with VC out it looked like things would be bleak. It got to 34 - 25 before Kidd returned to stop the bleeding, and then two minutes later when Carter returned, the champs got whooped by the chumps.

Of course Carter was determined to do some damage, and 3 straight Carter-esque baskets got the Nets to within four. After Dirk hit a jumper to put the Nets down six, what happened next was nothing short of unbelievable given the way the season has gone: The Nets closed on a 12 - 0 run to take a 6 point halftime lead, then opened the third with a 9 - 0 run to essentially put the Mavs on the mat. From there, Carter had 10 more points (13 for the third) and Richard Jefferson seven to get the Mavs to throw in the towel. It was 77 - 61 after three, and surprisingly, this Net team kept up the pressure in the fourth, the lead never falling below 15 points.

It was a bit like a dream sequence, the Nets coming back and roaring ahead, keeping the lead, throwing punches all the way. They were able to shut down and dare I say push around a much better team, and that's not only impressive, it's downright depressing when thinking about what could have been...

Fight Club
Live From The Izod - So I finally made it back to the Izod for a game (haven't been there since November), thanks to my friends Mike and Mike from the AFL. (insert shameless plug here). Well, obviously it was an enjoyable game from nearly every angle, and the pre-game prediction of one of the Mikes of a 103 - 82 game was eerily close (although, we were thinking Mavs on top). Thank you, Nets, for playing like I remembered you were capable of...
Jab & Stick - The Nets took a punch, withstood it, and then went for blood, and succeeded. I don't think we've seen that more than two or three times all season long. Why tonight? Is this still about playing for pride? Well, a big part of the win was the effort and intensity shown by the Nets, holding the mighty Mavs to 37% shooting and 82 points (they average 100) with good defense (nice job by Josh Boone and Sean Williams on Dirk). And then they seemed to take off after Carter got whacked in the head (that makes 2 shots to Nets' heads in what? four games?), following the determined (or more likely, pissed) VC on a flight of destruction). The end of the second was good, the third quarter told the tale, with the Nets outscoring the Mavs by 10 and Carter in rare form. And then the Nets stepped on their backs and stayed on them for a change. Nice.
Heavy Hitter - We loved Sean Williams' rejection of Dirk Nowitzki's patented fallaway jumper in the fourth - made our day. Williams was strong all the way through, as much offensively as defensively (he was 15 points, 7 boards in 25 minutes, and had two consecutive 'oops from Kidd at one point).
Welterweight - Just the fact that Carter, not exactly the toughest cookie, I mean Net, came back from the blow to the head was a sign that perhaps he's tired of getting whupped for being meek. If that were Richard Jefferson (who also had a strong game) or Kidd, we wouldn't think twice.
Comeback Kidd - Two straight impressive games after the whole pride thing was questioned. He abused the Mavs (and poor JJ Barea, starting for Devin Harris), rang up 13 points, 14 assists and 6 rebounds, and he hardly looked like he was a disgruntled employee. Shut up and play - we'd like to see that continue.
Week In Paradise - Joe needs to be in Nashville, TN all week, so there won't be game reviews for the Tuesday and Wednesday games until the weekend. I'll update the blog nightly from my hotel room, even though it won't change on the home page. Look for a complete run down during All Star weekend.

Sucker's Bet
If anyone were to tell me the Nets would win this one beforehand, well, I probably would have politely laughed it off. Funny thing, this season - with a quality opponent in the Izod, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Jason Kidd, Sean Williams and the rest of the Nets played as complete a game as they have all season. We kept waiting all season for a run that never came - then, the Kidd trade me proclaimation, and we assumed we'd not see a run this season. Well, I am certainly not saying the Nets are going to go on a run, but in a weird way they seemed to have galvanized at the very moment it appeared they would implode. What to make of it? We don't rightly know yet. But stay tuned -with the All Star break and the trading deadline fast approaching, time is running out for this group of Nets to think they'll be around for much longer...
- Joe