Keith gets ripped
Clawed in Half
It was grotesque.
During a timeout with 46 seconds to go, Nets coaches Byron Scott, Mike O'Koren, Eddie Jordan and Lawrence Frank wandered out onto the hardwood. Loosely grouped and not speaking, they stood staring out into different directions, spaced, as if in shock over what they were witnessing. At one point in the second quarter, the Nets had led the Grizzlies by 23 points. They'd hit the locker room at halftime with a 19 point lead against this notoriously terrible franchise. Then, in a 24 minute Kodiak of a collapse, gifted the Grizzlies in the second half with their historically greatest comeback. What more could the coaching staff possibly say? Defying their plans, and denying themselves a win, their team had torn itself in two.
It's getting increasingly difficult to quantify these revolting loses. There have been so many this season that they're starting to bleed into one. Their last-second loss to the Celtics may have been the most heart-breaking, their near-comeback against the Bucks their most frustrating, but this was the ugliest and most disgusting. Here's why: the Grizzlies are a team with worse problems at the center position than the Nets have...as unimaginable as that may sound. In the entire first half, I don't recall the Grizzlies running a single play through "Big Country" Reeves, a bigger flop at the five position you could not find since Yinka Dare. While he hit some shots in the second half, he would only end up racking a total of 8 points in 37 minutes. Ike Austin actually bettered that, managing to travel and blow an easy lay-up in the short time he was allotted (10 minutes, 2nd quarter), putting nothing at all through the hoop. Reeves spent the entire first half loitering way out around the three-point line, so in essense the Huggy Bears were handicapped, playing the Nets in a game of 4 on 5. Against a toothless pair of centers, exploiting a spectacular amount of turnovers (the Grizz had 19 total), and bagging their shots, for one half the Nets played triumphantly together.
Then, from the open of the second half, the Grizzlies turned from hunted into hunter. The Nets' combined score for the third and fourth quarters? Twenty-seven points. Twenty-seven. What happened?
Whistle StopNewman, Kenyon Martin, Aaron "Train" Williams, Jackson and Van Horn got into terrible foul trouble early, many of these called on the offensive end. Van Horn picked up his fifth only a few minutes into the third. Eventually he fouled out in the fourth, having been limited to 15 minutes of play and 3 measly points. Grizzly shooting guard Michael Dickerson just lived at the foul line in the third, exploiting the Nets on the inside, again and again. Five out of six of their finest scoring options, now tenative and frustrated, started to think too much and clutch up.
Brain Lock
The Nets had 13 turnovers of their own. Passes were thrown away, balls were snatched from out of their hands, and most horrifically for the flash-back prone (although it occurred late in the fourth, in the last hopeless minutes), Johnny Newman carelessly tossed an inbounds pass away from the basket and into a Grizzly paw. As their lead began to shimmer perilously in the third, then vanish in the fourth, panic descended. Everything they'd done right (going inside first-option, then kicking out) in the first half was abandoned for desperation threes, Marbury (surprise, surprise) being the major culprit here (2 for 7 three point tries).
Soft Machine
Nobody but Martin and Williams can rebound; the rest of this gang are hardly even brave enough to try. Kendall Gill didn't suit, in fact he wasn't even at the game, having flown back East to have his tendinitis-plagued knee checked out...once again. Guess what? They're starting to talk season-ending surgery. Lucious Harris did not return to play in the second half, out with a bruised left thigh. The Nets, as we know, are not deep. And bench play, what little of it there was, did not dazzle. Sherman Douglas, normally a rock at back-up point, did not have his game tonight (3 pts, 18 minutes) and seems to have a sore left hand. In what little time he played, Keith Van Horn shot a miserable 1 for 4, huffing and puffing and sweating and frowning and handing the ball to opponents. Marbury was wrapped, iced, and stoic as always, but it's apparent he's just worn down. And now it appears unlikely that Marbury will be voted into the All Star Game this year, his team failing to live up to their half of the bargain in landing a genius at point guard: scoring when he gets them the ball.
Bottom of the Barrel
One of my favorite NBA Lies is "we're better than our record." No, in fact, according to your record, you're not. Should we not keep score now, and just rank teams by the amorphous feelings of High School kids and "General Studies" majors, whatever the hell that is? Well perversely, I must admit that I now believe the Nets are far, far worse than their record indicates (14 - 32). By the measures of talent, effort, execution and bravery (is it really that scary in the paint?) I'd call them the worst team in the league. Look for the Wizards to twinkle past them soon in the standings, and I wouldn't put it past the Nets to end this season a tick below the Bull Level – impossible? Nobody believed that one day we'd all be paying for TV.
- Champagne
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The Midseason
West Coast Swing (0 - 5)
Chalupas
for All
Well, almost everybody. The Grizzlies were the only team not to crack 100 on the Nets during their disasterous West Coast Road Swing. Joe mans the Crisis Desk and Champagne reports from the field...click here to get in on their give-and-take...
The Games
Reign of Threes -
Kings 130, Nets 104
Rest in Peace -
Warriors 109, Nets 87
Duh...Good Effort -
Lakers 113, Nets 101
No Ew-se -
Sonics 106, Nets 97
