Joe Netsfan Game x Game 29 & 30 - Bobcats 95, Nets 87; Nets 114, Bobcats 103 OT

Home ain't where the wins are, but hit the road and the Nets hit the jackpot

Bobcats 95, Nets 87
Nets 114, Bobcats 103 OT
Games 29 & 30 File
Thank goodness for the road, as the Nets salvage the home and away back-to-backs with the Bobcats by coming from behind to win in OT. In the home game at the Izod, the Nets finally woke up to challenge the 'Cats in the fourth quarter, but succumbed to a hole too deep to climb out of. In the road game, the Nets came back from 10 down, took a 7 point lead with 3 minutes to go that they gave back, then put the pedal to the metal in OT.
• Game 29 Box Score
• Game 30 Box Score

Nets Record: 15 - 15
Home Record: 5 - 11
Away Record: 10 - 4
Division Record: 3 - 2
Conf. Record: 9 - 10
Other Game Reviews

Nets High Men (G29/G30):
• Points: Vince Carter, 19/ 28.
• Assists: Carter & Dooling each had 6/Dooling 6.
• Rebounds: Brook Lopez, 7/13.
• Steals:Dooling 3/Harris 3 .
• Turnovers: Harris, and Lopez each had 2/Carter and Hayes each had 3.
• Blocks: Lopez and Boone each had 2/Lopez 2.
• FG Percentage: Brook Lopez, 57.5%.(6 - 11)/Vince Carter, 75% ( 8 - 12).

Nets Team Stats:
• FG Percentage: 40.0%/48.7%
• FT Percentage: 66.7%/84.8%
• Rebounds: 37/36
• Rebound Differential:
-5/-6
• Turnovers: 10/13
• Opposing Team's Turnovers: 17/18
• Bench points: 33/38
• Bench points Differential:+22/+23
• Steals: 9/10
• Blocks: 4/3
• Points in the Paint: 32/36
• Double-Doubles: 0
• Triple-Doubles: 0

The Harris Report:
• Nets Players in Double Digit Scoring: 4/4
• Nets Fast Break Points: 11/12
•Devin Harris' FG Percentage: 26.7%/50%
• Scoring Differential Harris in the game: -17/+12
• Scoring Differential Harris out: +9/-1 (Dooling, Carter)

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

Bobcats Media:
Charlotte Observer | Bobcats

Games 29 and 30: Bobcats 95, Nets 87; Nets 114, Bobcats 103 OT – December 26 & 27, 2008
Home Wrecked & Redemption Road
This is getting weird, Netsfans. One night after choking up a bad loss at home against the Bobcats, the Nets hit the road, find some defense and come away with a much-more convincing win in Charlotte in this home-and-away back-to-back. And so, with that, the Nets continue their win one, lose one, win on the road, lose at home existence and even their record at 15 - 15.

On Friday night, the Nets appeared to be back in business after falling behind by fifteen in the third quarter, but after getting it down to a two point deficit thanks to the footwork of Devin Harris, the Nets could get no further. Of course, the complete lack of defense still being (not) seen on the court, plus the relative youth of the Nets, makes every game interesting, but in this one the Nets defense couldn't stop the Bobcat kids from robbing the candy store time and again, and the hole was too deep to come back from. Vince Carter and Devin Harris found themselves frustrated by that former point guard of a coach, Larry Brown, and the reults were poor evenings for both, helping to contribute to the loss. Home is anything but comforting.

And of course, true to form, the Nets hit the road and stole back a win in Charlotte by doing a lot of what they didn't do against the Bobcats the night before - finding some defense (ok, it was a lot of zone, but it worked, right?), and finding ways for Carter and Harris to get open shots and dictate the flow of the game. Of course, despite carrying the play throughout, the Nets somehow let a seven point lead with three minutes to play disappear, and a last second attempt to win the game by Devin Harris bounced off the rim and out to Carter, who fired up a heave at the buzzer that also clanged home. Into overtime it went, and the results were spectacular especially considering that three subs (Josh Boone, Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling) did most of the OT damage.

At the crossroads (or at least 30 games) of the NBA season, the Nets find themselves at .500, no better, no worse. It's exceeded anyone's expectations, but can you imagine what this team could do if it could manage to play defense? Losing to a team like the Bobcats isn't a sin, but when you don't play defense and let the worst scoring team hang 95 points (and 103, in a win) on you, well, let's just say that playoff future is murkey at best.

Impossible, actually, if the Nets don't figure out how to win at home.

Travel Stories
Major Delays - Since we've been gone for more than three weeks, we'll start off by what's been bothering us most of all, especially in Friday night's game: can't anyone on this Nets team stop anyone? Ok, so it got better on Saturday night when they switched to a zone, but really, is anyone on this team ever going to take pride in getting a stop? You could just tell Friday night that the Nets, coming back from 15 down, wouldn't be able to sustain the rally because they weren't getting stops of any kind - no turnovers, no pressure on the ball, no effort on that side of the ball. I understand that this team has overachieved to date, but can you imagine what things could be like if this team would man up every once and awhile and stop someone? They made Gerald Wallace look like LeBron James in the Saturday game, which isn't terrible but shouldn't have happened with control of the game. Until the defense straightens out and flies right, the Nets are doomed to "win one, lose one" if not worse for the balance of the year.
Home Bodies - Clearly, as Vince Carter and Devin Harris go, so go the Nets. When Carter and Harris have room to work, or at least can find the open man who then makes a shot, the game seems pretty simple for NJ. When the shots from others don't fall, well, then you have problems. Friday night was about stopping Carter and Harris for the Bobbers, and they did a fine job of making them pass to the open man. What didn't happen was the rest of the team making shots. On Saturday night, the Nets adjusted, found room to work, and climbed on VC's and DH's backs. Carter continues to be a terrific leader, while Harris is at times unstoppable (though you'd want him to get more assists...). They even play defense, though not consistently (Harris for one seems to need a refresher course...).
Road Maps - So then it comes down to who else can help steer this ship? Brook Lopez is certainly the future, and he's be tough in the middle, though slumping more and making rookie mistakes that are glaring (the foul on Ray Felton that allowed the 'Cats to tie the score and force OT? Not good).Yi Jianlian is up one game, down five, and seems to have had his minutes reduced of late. Bobby Simmons? Making contributions, but nothing spectacular (and probably more valuable as a defender right now, scary as that sounds). In fact, Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling (though he scares me with his ball handling) have been the two most important bench/role players lately, with Hayes making shots and playing good defense (and taking more and more minutes from rookie Ryan Anderson, who's also riding more bench) and Dooling doing a bit of everything (including hitting some big shots in the clutch). Josh Boone is also starting to come on and figure out his role off the bench, which is a good sign. Trenton Hassell has seen minutes and the occasional good thing. But what of Eddie Najera, Stromile Swift, Sean Williams, Chris Douglas Roberts and Mo Ager? Will any of them be given a chance to play a bigger role?
Toll Taker - I think much of what has been lost in this 15 - 15 start is the work of Lawrence Frank and staff keeping this group moving forward, motivated and making adjustments that lead to success (i.e. moving to the zone when nothing else is working, etc). Frank has done wonders with what he has on his roster, and though he's probably down to a core 8 or 9, he's worked around injuries and inconsistency to make this team better than it ought to be. We feel bad that he's got to keep going to Yi, but again, they are trying to develop the future and need to see if he's going to be part of it (from a marketing standpoint and the Chinese connection, he's already been a huge success). Kudos to Frank for playing the kids, too, at least Lopez, who's shown he'll be around the league for awhile and was a steal at #10.
Miscellaneous Post-Game Analysis - Do you realize the Nets are in second place in the Atlantic, ahead of the Raptors and Sixers (not to mention the six straight losses Knicks)? Go figure. Though the class of the league is the Celtics, with the Cavs and the Magic not far behind, for the Nets to be in this position (right now they'd been in seventh place in the playoffs, which is one spot better than Richard Jefferson's Bucks) this late in the season is pretty incredible. Other things that amuse us - love the free throw shooting of this team, love the effort (at least most of the time) and love the fact that they seem to bounce back well from bad losses. Of course, we still don't like the defense or the fact that no one has truly stepped up to be a reliable #3 option, and we'd like to see more of certain players (Najera, for one) and less of others (Yi, unless he proves he's going to show more consistency).

The Road Back Home
A split of the weekend, in what could have been a 2- 0 deal, isn't such a bad thing considering how badly they played for long stretches in the first game, and at times in the second. Vince Carter and Devin Harris, along with the likes of Keyon Dooling, Jarvis Hayes, and Josh Boone, helped to keep the Nets a .500 squad by picking themselves up and getting the road win the night after another bad home loss. There is much more work to be done at home, obviously, but the schedule is about to turn more difficult and the long stretch of home games is about to end as well. Some would say that should mean more success in January, since the road has been such a good friend, but the Nets need home wins more than anything if they aspire to anything more than mediocrity.
- Joe