Category: Brooklyn Nets Blog

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Oct 20: Knicks 114, Nets 106

The AP reports: Wilson Chandler scored 22 points in his first start of the preseason, and New York got strong play from its reserve guards in a 114-106 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday night. Nate Robinson led the Knicks with 26 points, including a floater with 1:46 remaining after the Nets had trimmed New York’s huge lead to four. Stephon Marbury had nine points on 3-of-3 shooting and six assists in just 16 minutes… Devin Harris scored 21 points for New Jersey, still winless this preseason in North America… Top draft pick Brook Lopez, playing extra minutes with fellow center Josh Boone out, had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Vince Carter scored 13 points… Chris Duhon had 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Yi Jianlian glance

The New York Daily News (Julian Garcia) reports on Nets forward Yi Jianlian’s preseason play so far: Yi has been pretty good offensively (14 ppg) but has struggled to grab rebounds (five in three games) and on the defensive end. Yi admitted he had a hard time with defending the pick-and-roll in his first two preseason games, but Frank said “it’ll happen” as long as Yi continues to work at it and learn how to play aggressively on that end “without committing needless fouls.” Frank added this, too: “I think the thing you can’t discount too is there’s a little bit – not much – but a little bit of a language barrier. So he’s got to do a little bit more thinking initially until he gets comfortable with voice recognition. He’ll get it. It’s just going to take some time.” As for rebounding, Frank said, “In the Olympics he was one of the leading rebounders, so I think he has it in him.”

Oct 19: Celtics 83, Nets 66

The AP reports: Given the need for a point guard, Doc Rivers decided to start Gabe Pruitt so he could have a chance to work with the starters. Pruitt scored 11 points with 12 rebounds, adding seven assists with six turnovers… Kevin Garnett, who scored eight points with eight rebounds while playing sparingly in the first and third quarters, said Pruitt has had plenty of time to learn in practice while guarding Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen… Ryan Anderson scored 20 for the Nets, who lost to the Celtics 111-108 on Thursday without any of the Big Three playing.

Oct 16: Celtics 111, Nets 108

The AP reports: The AP reports: Tony Allen scored 32 points, 22 in the first half, to lead the NBA champion Boston Celtics to an 111-108 victory over the New Jersey Nets in an exhibition game Thursday night. The Celtics (4-1) played without Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, all kept out of action by Doc Rivers as a coach’s decision and not because of injury. Former Nets guard Sam Cassell also sat out… Former Nets guard Eddie House added 21 points for the Celtics…  Vince Carter scored 19 points to pace the Nets. Yi Jianlian had 15 points before fouling out in the third quarter, and Keyon Dooling, who had been battling a leg injury, scored 14 points in his first action with the Nets.

Devin Harris explains UK streetball incident

I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the Devin Harris streetball incident in the UK where a pretty harmless-looking dude had about 60 seconds of success against Devin in a little mini-game of one-on-one. The first shot was a simple but decent close-range jumper, but the second move involved putting the ball through Devin’s legs for a pretty sweet reverse layup.
Thursday night I was with Devin in New Jersey and a full explanation from him as to what happened is here in this Harris interview. Read it and post the link in any discussion you’ve seen about what went down.

–Jeff

Getting to Nets games from NYC now harder

InsideHoops.com editor here, typing on my pocket pc phone. I was on my way to the Celtics at Nets preseason game and discovered that there is no longer a bus to the Meadowlands from the Port Authority.

It is now even harder to get to Nets games from Manhattan.

Now you must go to Penn Station and take the NJ transit train to Sekaukus. (I still don’t know how to spell it.) It is the first stop on the train. The good news is, the train leaves constantly, at least during rush hour.

Once you get to Sekaukus you go outside to the bus stop area where an unlabelled bus was waiting to take people to the Meadowlands. A group of fans were waiting and had no idea the bus 50 feet away was the Nets bus. I went over, asked, then yelled over to everyone.

On the bus now. Should be at the game soon.

Also, in the port authority I met two fans from Spain (a guy and his girl) who were trying to get to the game. So I brought them with me to make sure they got to the game. They are from Madrid and have now tod me six times that they’d have gotten lost without the help. Yay me.

And then, getting off the bus I asked the driver what the gate is, to know where to exit after the game. She had no idea, and seemed confused by my even asking the question. Obviously after walking for a minute I saw for myself what the gate area was but I bet most fans who came from NYC, a huge number of which are tourists who speak very limited English, may have to wander a while after the game.

Anyway, forward this blog entry to any NYC Nets fans you know.

–Jeff

Brooklyn Nets arena delayed again

The AP reports: Bruce Ratner’s US$4-billion dream for a new Brooklyn will have to wait, at least until next year. The New Jersey Nets owner and developer has been plagued by a string of problems that have delayed his plans for a new NBA arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Brooklyn. Ratner said a recent court ruling would delay the project by up to six months, meaning the Nets won’t move in until least 2011. Groundbreaking has been pushed back until at least next year for the arena, which will cost more than three times what Ratner paid for the entire franchise. And the financial crisis has made it tougher to raise money, potentially jeopardizing a lucrative naming rights deal with Barclays Capital.

Oct 12: Nets 94, Heat 92

The AP reports: Vince Carter made three free throws in the final 10 seconds to help the New Jersey Nets hold on for a 94-92 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday in a preseason game played in front of a boisterous London crowd… Carter finished with 19 points and Yi Jianlian added another 17 in his debut for the Nets (2-0) in a game that treated the British fans to a number of high-flying dunks but even more sloppy turnovers. Marcus Banks had 19 points, and Dwyane Wade added 18 for the Heat (0-3), who fought back from a 19-point first-quarter deficit to push the game to the final seconds. Miami has not won a preseason game since 2006, after going 0-7 in exhibition contests last year before posting the league’s worst record (15-67).

Oct 9: Nets 109, Heat 105

The AP reports: Devin Harris scored 21 points to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 100-98 overtime victory over the Miami Heat on Thursday night in an exhibition game. Michael Beasley, the second overall draft pick in June, had 21 points for the Heat, but missed a chance to force a second overtime when the second of his two free throws rattled out in the closing seconds… Dwyane Wade also scored 21 points for Miami and was largely rested in the third and fourth quarters, while Vince Carter was limited to only eight points for the Nets before limping off after tweaking his left hamstring.