"We're not winning. When you don't win, you embarrass yourself."- Stephon Marbury, who scored 24, but shot just 6-for-17 from the floor against the Celtics, Dec 20th, 2000

"That's a sign of immaturity, because it's not like we didn't say, 'go inside,' " - Byron Scott on his team's 8 for 38 shooting in the first half of Celtics game, Dec. 20th, 2000

"I'm not going to even go there. There'd be about eight or nine names on that list right now, maybe more. I pretty much have a good idea of what I have to do. How soon will I do it? I don't know. I'm just waiting." - Byron Scott, when asked how many players he wanted to get rid of after loss to Celtics, Dec. 20th, 2000, from Don Burke's Star Ledger column

"I'm not going to beg guys on this team to play hard. That's their job. It's not my job to beg (them) to play hard. My job is to coach (them) and get (them) prepared to play. As a whole, we don't understand that, I guess. We're going to have to do some things." - Byron Scott, in Don Burke's piece, Dec. 20th, 2000

"We get a big lead and our stars play selfish and worry more about their stats than about playing team basketball. Sen. (Herb) Kohl (Milwaukee's owner) should fine me for the way we played. The leadership and toughness by this team in the second half, including myself, was utterly disgusting." - George Karl, Coach of the Bucks, response to his team nearly blowing a 28 point lead, Dec. 21, 2000

"I'm just lost at the two, man, I'm just lost. I have to get familiar with that. Instinctively you run to the ball when they score and instead I have to run out. I'm lost. It's tough. But just being on the court helps." - Stephon Marbury, Dec. 21, 2000

"It was embarrassing. They made us go. I don't think anybody wanted to be there. It was terrible. I don't think that kind of stuff can help us." - Guard Rod Strickland, on the Tony Robbins motivational seminar that management forced the Wizards to attend

"It's bigger than chalupas. Their coach called a play with 10 seconds left in a 20-point game. That's disrespect." - Wesley Person of the Cavaliers on his shoving match with Gary Trent of the Mavericks after Trent hit a layup with 3.3 seconds left to give the Mavericks 100-81 lead (score 100 points or more and all fans receive a coupon for a free chalupa, according to the rules of a give-away popular at Western Conference arenas), February 15, 2001

"He went from the new guy from China to the Chalupa Boy, and that's pretty special around here." - Mavericks owner Mark Cuban on Wang Zhizhi, April 5, 2001

"If John Wilkes Booth's great-great-great nephew walked by, should we call the cops or just cane him ourselves?" - Phil Mushnick on Charlie Ward's bigoted remarks against Jews, and the untenability of blaming descendants for what an specific ancestor may or may not have done, New York Post, April 23, 2001

"Defensive-wise, I didn't think the best defensive player in the game would be flopping. It's a shame the referees buy into that. I wish he'd stand up and play me like a man instead of flopping like that every time I back him down. It's a shame. You can quote me on that and underline it three times . . ." - An angry Shaquille O'Neal, on Dikembe Mutombo's acting skills in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, June 10, 2001

"We're sorry we lost one game at home. It wasn't your fault, believe me, it was ours," - Lakers coach Phil Jackson, to L.A.'s faithful at the Championship parade, June 18, 2001.

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CNN/SI Basketball
Pretty amazing, entertaining site. Power rankings, NBA Week at a Glance, and great sort 'em yourself stat section.

NJ Online Nets Section
Nets news from Jersey papers. Where Joe and Champagne go to read Don Burke of the Newark Star Ledger, their favorite beat writer.

NYPost Sports Section
Freddy Kerber is a close second to Burke for our favorite beat reporter, and you have to read Peter Vecsey Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Nobody is more "inside" than Vecsey.

NBA.com
For obvious reasons. Links to every team site, plus a standings page that gives teams' conference rankings helps you chart Nets early drop from playoff picture.

Nets Salaries
Want to know why the Nets can't improve? Check this chart, along with all other team salaries, courtesy of USA Today. Their NBA section sometimes informative too.

Nets/NBA page, Bergen Record
Steve Adamek, Nets beat

NY Daily News Basketball page
Michael James, Nets beat

NY Times Basketball page
Liz Robbins, Nets beat

Sporting News NBA Section
We like Dave D'Alessandro, who also writes for the Newark Star Ledger.