The AP reports: Devin Harris’ jumper from the top of the key as time expired gave the Nets a 108-107 victory over the Pacers on Tuesday night. The point guard finished with 29 points and 11 assists as New Jersey snapped a two-game losing streak… Danny Granger led the Pacers with 26 points in his first game back after missing two with a viral infection. Brandon Rush scored a career-high 22 points, and Jeff Foster added 12 points and 14 rebounds… The game was close throughout the second half before Jarvis Hayes hit a baseline jumper, Josh Boone made a putback and Harris connected on a pair of free throws to give the Nets a 96-88 lead, their largest advantage of the game.
Category: Brooklyn Nets Blog
Nets blog – Brooklyn Nets blog. A great Nets news blog
Dec 22: Rockets 114, Nets 91
The AP reports: While Yao Ming won the showdown with fellow Chinese Olympian Yi Jianlian, the Houston Rockets beat the New Jersey Nets with defense and a boost from the smallest player on the court. Yao had 24 points and 16 rebounds and Aaron Brooks tied his career high with 22 points as the Rockets won their season-high fourth straight game with a 114-91 victory over the Nets on Monday night in a game televised live to China… The Rockets totally shut down the Nets’ 1-2 punch of Devin Harris and Vince Carter, limiting them to 10 points apiece on 7 of 24 shooting with no 3-pointers. They had a combined scoring average of 47.3 points entering the game, the highest scoring backcourt in the league… Keyon Dooling had 17 points to lead New Jersey, which trailed by 27 points in the second half.
Thunder sign Nenad Krstic to offer sheet
Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has signed center Nenad Krstic to an offer sheet.
Under terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement the New Jersey Nets, who retained Krstic’s rights when he signed with Triumph Lyubertsy of Russia’s Superleague A, now have seven days to match the multi-year offer. Per team policy the terms of the offer sheet were not disclosed.
An InsideHoops.com source associated with the Nets says that the team is leaning towards not matching the offer.
Krstic (7-0, 213), the 24th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Nets, is averaging 10.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1 block in 21 minutes per game for Triumph in Superleague play. The Serbian national holds NBA averages of 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in four seasons with New Jersey.
Dec 19: Nets 121, Mavs 97
The AP reports: The New Jersey fans who showed up to thank Jason Kidd at the beginning were thanking Mark Cuban by the end. Cuban signed off on the trade that sent Devin Harris to New Jersey—a deal that looks better for the Nets all the time. Harris dominated his former team with 41 points, helping the Nets ruin Kidd’s return with a 121-97 victory over the Mavericks on Friday night. Harris added a season-high 13 assists in thoroughly outplaying Kidd, who spent 6 1/2 years in New Jersey before the Nets dealt him to Dallas last February for a package highlighted by Harris, who had his second 40-point game during a breakout season… Vince Carter added 34 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Nets, who improved to just 5-8 at home. Yi Jianlian had 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Nets were 14-of-26 from 3-point range, with Harris hitting five and Carter making four… Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and Jason Terry added 23 for the Mavs.
Jason Kidd visits the Nets tonight
Tonight in New Jersey the Nets host Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks. It’s Kidd’s first game in New Jersey since the team traded him to the Mavericks.
Kidd will be up against the point guard he was traded for, Devin Harris.
With 12 wins and 12 losses, the Nets are doing better than expected this season. And with averages of 23.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists, the super-quick Harris is turning out to be a better player than many thought.
Harris isn’t a pure point guard, though. He’s a combo guard. Or a scoring point guard. Whatever term you like, that’s him. But his playmaking ability is improving and he’s more comfortable running the show than he was when first coming to the team last year.
Kidd is still a do-it-all, true point guard who this season is averaging just 9.3 points but he continues to fill the rest of the stat-sheet, putting up a fantastic 6.4 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 2.42 steals per game.
Jason is also having his best season ever from three-point range, hitting 40.6% of his threes. His career average is 33.8%. And his best season ever was with Phoenix in 1996-07 when he nailed 40.0% from outside the arc.
Despite Kidd’s success, the Mavericks have 14 wins and 10 losses, and haven’t been as good as hoped. But, it’s still early. The Mavericks are under a new coach, using a new system, and relying on Kidd’s playmaking ability more this year than they did when first acquiring him. While early indications are that Dallas is good, sometimes very good, but not great, I’m going to reserve full judgment until probably early or mid January.
I was going to go cover the Nets-Mavericks game tonight but the massive snowstorm hitting the area right now may prevent me from making it. But if not, I’ll definitely catch it on TV tonight. Seeing Kidd and Harris go at it should be a treat.
–Jeff
Dec 17: Jazz 103, Nets 92
The AP reports: Deron Williams had 17 points and 11 assists, and Utah overcame a seven-point first quarter and a 22-point deficit to beat New Jersey 103-92 on Wednesday night… Mehmet Okur had 23 points and nine rebounds for the Jazz, who snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 1-1 on a five-game trip… Paul Millsap added 18 points and 12 rebounds in his 13th straight double-double for the Jazz, who made only three field goals during one of the worst quarters in franchise history… Vince Carter scored 32 points for the Nets, who opened a four-game homestand that continues Friday against Dallas, when Jason Kidd returns to the Meadowlands for the first time since getting traded last February. Devin Harris, the key player New Jersey got in return, had 21 points and 11 assists.
Dec 15: Nets 94, Raptors 87
The AP reports: Vince Carter knew just what to tell Ryan Anderson about recovering from a poor shooting performance. Carter had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Anderson scored a career-high 21 points, and the New Jersey Nets beat the Toronto Raptors 94-87 on Monday night to snap a three-game losing streak… Devin Harris scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, making 10 of 11 from the free throw line… Chris Bosh and Jason Kapono each scored 17 for Toronto. Jose Calderon added 15 points and Jermaine O’Neal had 12 for the Raptors, who have lost seven of nine. Jamario Moon and Andrea Bargnani each had 10 points for Toronto. New Jersey had a season-high 54 rebounds, including 18 on the offensive end, and outscored Toronto 26-2 on second-chance points. Toronto has been outrebounded in 13 consecutive games.
Nets-Raptors observations
InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner shares his unedited thoughts on the New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors from Friday night. The Raptors visited the Nets and won in convincing fashion, 101-79.
Quick summary: The Raptors led 24-18 after the first quarter. Both teams scored just 16 each in a quiet second quarter. The Raptors tore away in the third quarter (31-19), and kept things going in the fourth for a convincing win. New Jersey shot just 31.3%. They had 20 offensive rebounds, compared to just 5 for the Raptors, but barely converted anything.
It’s pointless to say anything about Vince Carter today. He had a miserable game, shooting 0-of-13 and hitting 3-of-4 free throws for just three points, four rebounds and three assists (but three turnovers). The Raptors played very good defense, but Vince being off like this obviously isn’t normal.
Toronto also defended Devin Harris very well, holding him to 4-of-10 shooting for 14 points, five rebounds and five assists (but four turnovers). Are teams starting to figure Harris out? Hopefully not, for the Nets sake.
What I didn’t like about the Nets today is that as Harris struggled, very few other Nets seemed to try to help him out. As Harris had the ball in three-point range up top, Brook Lopez was the only Net to consistently set a real screen for him in an effort to free Devin up. Other Nets stood around watching. Now, usually Harris uses his super-quickness to create out of nowhere, but when it isn’t happening, guys should move and help a bit.
I’m extremely impressed by Brook Lopez. He’s the real deal and is very strong, agile and basketball-smart on both ends of the floor. The young center is a stud and will have an impressive NBA career.
I still don’t know what to make of Yi Jianlian, other than that he’s agile and has a sweet-looking jumper.
The arena’s sound system sounded especially muffled today.
As for the Raptors, Jermaine O’Neal is moving slowly and not the player he was before, but he has a high basketball IQ and uses his size more effectively than shows on the stat-sheet. Only a little, though.
Chris Bosh didn’t do anything special today, but he didn’t really have to.
Jason Kapono took 15 shots, more than any other Raptor, hitting just six, four of which were three-pointers, finishing with 16 points and five rebounds.
Joey Graham is having a great stretch and has played good basketball for the last few weeks. He looks confident. Graham came off the bench to play almost 30 minutes, shooting 5-of-8 for 16 points.
Andrea Bargnani was a starter this season, but now comes off the bench, and showed very little today, shooting just 2-of-10. That’s obviously worse than usual, but I’m still not sure how good he’s going to get. He’s shown in the past that he has the ability to become a starter-quality player on a winning team, but he isn’t that, yet.
Keep an eye on the Raptors as they learn to play under new head coach Jay triano.
Dec 13: Bulls 113, Nets 104
The AP reports: Ben Gordon and the Bulls knew Vince Carter would come out firing after the worst shooting performance of his career, but they overcame that with their depth. Gordon scored 29 points and Derrick Rose had nine of his 22 in the fourth quarter to lead Chicago to a 113-104 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night… Chicago got help from its young front line, who had been inconsistent all season. Tyrus Thomas scored 16 points and Joakim Noah added seven points and eight rebounds for the Bulls, who improved to 8-3 at home… Devin Harris finished with 22 points and seven assists. Carter and Harris were a combined 24-of-25 from the free throw line.
Dec 12: Raptors 101, Nets 79
The AP reports: The worst shooting performance of Vince Carter’s career allowed interim coach Jay Triano to see more positive signs from the Toronto Raptors. Chris Bosh scored 18 points and Toronto capitalized on Carter’s 0-for-13 night against his former team to beat the New Jersey Nets 101-79 on Friday, the Raptors’ second straight win under Triano… Jason Kapono, with four 3-pointers, and Joey Graham each had 16 points for the Raptors, who were outrebounded 50-37. Jose Calderon scored 13 as the Raptors improved to 2-3 under Triano, who replaced Sam Mitchell on Dec. 3. Yi Jianlian and Devin Harris led the Nets with 14 apiece, while Bobby Simmons had 12.