Game 30 - Can the Nets play all their games away?

Still in Orlando, and watching the Giants/Pats on tv, I was able to keep one eye on the Nets gratia beloved Slingbox, and this time, also gratia pdaNet - so I watched it on my laptop.

The Nets did get one very crucial, very lucky break - up 78-77 with the ball, Malik Allen appeared not to get a shot off before the 24 second buzzer, but it wasn't called. He missed, but Carter got the rebound, fed Kidd and he drained a 3. Nets up 4 with 5 mins to go.

Despite other miscues, the Nets made that margin stick.

At one point in the 4th the Nets were 8 of 17 from the line, less than 50%. Thanks to a Milwaukee strategy to foul to extend the game (sound familiar?), the Nets ended 12-23, for less than 50% for the game. They actually were better from the field than the line. That's just embarrassing.

2 in a row, 4 of 5. Can we get a streak going, guys?

Game 29 - Bowl me over!

I did not attend the game tonite vs the Wizards, as I was at the Champs Sports Bowl, watching one of my alma maters, Michigan State, hand the game over to Boston College, with 5 turnovers, 24-21...

However, I do have Slingbox, so I watched it in between plays on my cell phone....

The Nets continue to play up or down to the level of their opponent. This time it was a rather hot Washington team who spanked them in their last meeting.

But the Nets play another solid 4 quarter game and win by 3.

A home win is good. They are now 7-11 at home, terrible but better. Now they play tomorrow night, in Milwaukee, who just got thrashed by Chicago. The last time the Nets played back to back night with the second on the road, it was vs the Knicks who got thrashed by Chicago. We all know how that wound up...

We'll see...

Game 28 - Piston in the wind

So what you need to know:

The Nets are up 42-36 with 2 mins to go in the first half. They are shooting 58%. I'm saying to myself, jeez, shooting 58% and only up 6... That doesn't bode well.

Halftime score: Det 45-Nets 44. Nets are outshooting the Pistons 55-43% and LOSING.

Detroit comes out for the second half and go up by 5. Call time! No dice. The Nets take another embarassingly ill advised 3 point shot, miss, and Detroit goes up by 7. Then he calls time. Okay.

After the time out the Nets run a play and Josh Boone gets fouled. Misses both. Detroit gets rebound. Defensive 3 seconds. Pistons up 8. Then they score again. Detroit up 10.

At this point RJ gets the ball and looks over to Frank. RJ senses that the Nets are out of sync, in disarray and need to get coordinated again. You don't see this on tv, I'm sure. RJ asks Frank to call time. Frank turns his back on RJ and makes a motion, play on, play on.

This was the second time in a week that RJ has questioned the coaching.

Um, do you think the Nets, particularly RJ, are losing confidence in the coach?

By the end of the quarter it's 76-62 Detroit. Game over.

Frank made a big deal about how the first 3 minutes and last 3 minutes of every quarter are crucial to stopping the Pistons. Let's see how they did:

1st 1st 3 Det 11-4
1st last 3 Nets 6-5
2nd 1st 3 Nets 6-2
2nd last 3 Det 9-4
3rd 1st 3 Det 8-2
3rd last 3 Det 7-6 (Nets down 76-62)
4th 1st 3 Det 5-4
4th last 3 Det 10-8

Not only did the Nets barely win 2 of these mini-periods (by a combined 5 points), look at the end of the second-beginning of the third. A total point swing of 11 points. A conversion of a 6 point lead into a 5 point deficit.

Lawrence, if the ends and beginnings of quarters are so important, WHY DON'T YOU DO SOMETHING TO HELP YOUR TEAM DURING THIS TIME????

Game 27 - A Complete Game, with Character, no less

Golden State comes in, not having beaten the Nets in the Meadowlands since 1997. However, after an abysmal (and Steven Jackson-less) 0-6 start, they've won 15 of their last 20 and are 8-6 on the road. They like to run and are averaging 109 pts per game. Have the Nets even come close to that this season?

Time was when coming to NJ meant a track meet. JKidd likes to run, and so did Kittles, KMart and RJ back in the glory days... Now the radio announcers talk about the Nets having to keep up with the Warriors.

A surprisingly good start while I fiddle in unexpected cop caused traffic. My son and I walk into the arena and the Nets have a 24-14 lead with a minute or so to play. Pretty soon it's 24-17 and I meantion to my son, oh boy, here we go, another weak finish to a quarter. Instead the Nets nail a 3 and have a 10 point lead after one. At home, no less.

And they keep it up, playing good D. They shooting pct is a Net-like 40% but so is the Warriors'. And with a little more than one minute to go, they're up by a gaudy 14.

But, as I say, there is a little over a minute left. And by halftime the lead has been halved as well, Nets up 52-45. I want to know why Lawrence Frank had not figured out that the needs to coach the ends of periods differently...

All during halftime I fretting. GS gets the ball. Score. Nets give it up. GS scores. 11:14 to go in the 3rd and it's a 3 point game.

Sure enough, that's exactly how the 2nd half started. And more. Pretty soon it's a one point game. This is starting to look like all the other bad home losses.

But the Nets show character and close out the 3rd up 8. Can they hold an 8 point lead?

No. With 3 and change minutes to play the Warriors bury a three and lead a point, 93-92.

Then 95-92 and GS has the ball! Oh no, not another pathetic example of the famous Coach Frank burning up your time outs once the game is out of reach - for the other team.

But then something really strange happens - the Nets show character! They score the final 8 points of the game, play great defense, and pull out the win in regulation!

This is finally a quality win at home over a quality team. A complete game, end to end, with the exception of the end of the 2nd quarter.

Two in a row:
- an overtime road win
- a solid home win over a quality team

Can we get 3 (vs Detroit)?

Game 26 - A win is a win...

Let's give 'em a few points:
- It was a road victory.
- They pulled it out in OT on the road.
- Boone may be the real thing (except for the foul line)
- It's a W.

Hooray!

Now let's settle down...

Miami has the worst record in the East, 2nd worst in the NBA.
They just lost Mourning, probably for the year, if not the career (aw what a shame...)

Even still, it took OT.

But a win is a win.

Now, can they win 2 in a row? Especially with #2 being at home?

I doubt it...

Game 25 - They did it! (No, not win...)

Well it took 25 games, but I don't look forward to watching them. I am sick and tired of watching this much talent underperform game after game after game after game after game after game...

Know when this game was lost? At 0.01 of the 1st period. For the third game in a row, and perhaps the 6th time this season, the Nets allow a buzzer beater 3. Sacramento 28-25.

Game over.

4 minutes to go in the 4th. 85 all. Sac takes a three. Good! And he's fouled! Four point play! 89-85. A four point difference they could never close.

Oh sure, they had chance after chance after chance after chance after chance:

JKidd launches a 3pt brick. (12 on shot clock)
Nets get stop.
VC bricks (18 on the shot clock)
Loose ball foul on Sacramento.
RJ bricks a 3 (6 on shot clock)
Nets get stop.
Lost ball turnover on RJ.
Salmons drives and gets a dunk.

Nets down 6, 91-85. 1:30 burned off the clock.

Number of drives to the basket by the Nets during that run - 0.
Number of drives to the basket by Sacramento during that run - 1.

Net result - +2 for Sacramento.

Nets outshoot their opponent for the 4th game in a row, this time shooting over 50+. 50-45.
Nets outrebound their opponent 45-31.

And lose.

The Nets are officially the worst team in the NBA at guarding the 3.

Lawrence Frank has the temerity to say during the postgame: We need to find a way to put together a complete game.

Um, isn't that your job, Larry?

This team is in a deep, deep funk, lacking confidence, lacking identity. For the 4th year in a row in the Lawrence Frank era. Give him a mulligan for Year 1, when Kidd was out. How can a team with 3 veteran stars come out year after year after year, seaching for an identity?

They have an identity - they are gross underachievers. They are a team without passion.

They are a bad team very poorly coached.

I am sick of watching them.

Game 24 - Cirque du No Way

Another circus at the Garden...

Okay, let's reset the scene:

- The Nets just had a big team effort (10 players with non-trivial minutes) over the team that eliminated them last year, sporting one of the budding superstars of the game, who took them to the NBA finals last year.
- The Nets had their big victory in NJ, just 10 miles away from where they were to play tonite. Like a home game.
- The Knicks had just been embarrassed in Chicago, and faced a 2 hour plane ride after humiliation.
- Curry had just been held scoreless.
- The Knicks had beaten the Kidd-less Nets earlier in the month in the infamous "Migraine Game" and the Nets were looking for retribution.
- Marbury was not going to play.
- The Nets have dominated the Knicks at the Garden in the Kidd Era, and dominate the series something like 28-4 at both locations.

Final score: 94-86.

Knicks.

When I was in grammar school - GRAMMAR SCHOOL - I was a 60% foul shooter. We played some parochial schools, and those kids shot 90% - with regularity.

The Nets shot 43% from the line. An NBA team. 43%!

You never EVER see a HS team shoot 43%. Never EVER see a college team hit 43%. In the 60s, 70s and 80s foul shots were nearly automatic. Teams shot 85% for the year at the line.

43%...

Of course, they only took 16 foul shots for the game, so even if they shot 80% (as well they should!) it would have only been 6 points.

And why only 16 foul shots? (The Knicks took 36, some 20 more.)

The Nets outshot the Knicks, by pct (46-42) and number (80-76). The Knicks outscored the Nets 24-7 from the line.

Why?

Because the Knicks went to the basket. The Nets played yet another disinterested game, with both hands tied by themselves behind their back.

The Nets strength is when VC and RJ drive the basket. Both are 80% foul shooters, so even when they don't score they go to the line and usually convert. Yet how many times have we seen the Nets just sit back and take jumpers with 15 seconds left on the shot clock?

The Knicks are a bad team - badly conceived, badly coached. They were easily beatable. They have not shown the ability to stop the drive, to stop teams in the paint.

Had the Nets driven the lane, as their two stars are famed for doing, the Nets win. Even at 43.8% foul shooting, if the Nets get as many foul shot attempts as the Knicks, it's a tie game. If they shoot a respectable 75% they win in a walk.

But you don't get fouled taking jumpers from 20 feet out. With 15 seconds left on the shot clock.

The more tired you are the less likely those shots are gonna drop. The Nets succeeded in doing the sole thing that a team playing back to back cannot do in order to win - settle for the jumper.

I said to the guy next to me at the Clippers game - This team is like Springsteen's song - Like a river that don't know where it's flowin', they took a wrong turn and they just kept goin'. That's what these games are like - the Nets are not an organized team, a concentrated force. They're like a river, overflowing its banks, directionless, flooding some areas but dissipating it strength and by the time it gets to the dam it does not have enough power to turn the rotors.

That Franks must go is getting to be conventional wisdom. That the owner doesn't care is becoming obvious. That the GM is on cruise... Well, I hope at least not him.

Or J Kidd. So far both Kidd and Thorn continue to give an all out performance.

The Nets are down 10-14. With a modicum of discipline, of coaching, of professionalism (I mean, 43%!), this team could be 10 games over 500 by Feb 1.

Right now, tho, there are no levees, and the river just keeps flowing, taking wrong turns. And we have no idea where they're goin'.

Game 23 - Cirque du Soleil

That's where I was - at MSG of all places, watching Cirque du Soleil's "Wintuk", as a guest of my wife's company. I have been going to see CdS for nearly 20 years, having first seen them performing literally in a parking lot in San Francisco. They are fabulous, and you owe it to yourself to go see them, whether at MSG, Disney World or one of their 3 Vegas shows. Or anywhere!

So I wasn't at the Meadowlands. I would still choose CdS in general, but how I wish I had been there tonite! An entire game against a superstar player. A bad start out of the gate and another (!) buzzer three at the end of the half (what is that, now, 3 this year alone - forget about Milt Palacio (not that I'm bitter, of course...)). Yet they maintained their composure, captured the lead and maintained it despite a strong charge by Cleveland.

RJ apparently played great D on LeBron and the Nets shot 48% for the night. Boone and Sean have emerged as a tandem to be reckoned with (it's looking like Krstic is not gonna make a comeback this year).

There is hope...

They play the lowly, ugly, dysfunctional Knicks tomorrow night at (ironically) MSG. They got blown out by the Bulls tonite, with Curry being held scoreless. The Nets are on an upswing and the Knicks have to make a two hour flight in disgrace and get back on the court in less than 24 hours.

Could this be the beginning of the turnaround?

Game 22 - Will it ever end?

Harold Geneen, wizard of ITT, said:

Performance is your reality.

Basically he was saying the numbers that indicate your performance is your reality.

So here are the numbers:

The Clippers had lost 8 out of 9 coming in, this the first game of a road trip, after a transcontinental flight.

The Nets shot 30% for the game until the last minute, when some uncontested layups brought it up to a lusty 32%.

The Nets shot 0-15 to open the 4th; 5-25 for the entire period (and again, I believe 3 of those were uncontested layups).

The Nets got 20 turnovers, but only 10 points from them.

To my count, the Nets missed more than 10 layups in the game.

Jason Kidd, once again, got a triple double.

Final score: Clippers 91 Nets 82.

Look at it on the bright side - they shot near 20% better on Sunday and lost by 15. Maybe they're better off shooting 30% than 50%...

Finally, on the post game, fans are starting to ask almost exclusively coaching questions. Capshaw and Carino did their best to hew to the party line, but even wrapping up they were openly discussing the poor coaching.

Even they mentioned that altho the Nets were 9-13, they had started last year 9-13 as well, were 7-14 the year before and 10-14 the year before that, and made the playoffs all 3 years. So "Frank has that history of getting his team into the playoffs". I mean, really guys...

But then even they had to question whether the team can keep going back to that mode year after year. They mentioned that for a team with Carter, Kidd and Jefferson to be struggling like this, to be down 10+ points every game at home certainly points the finger at the coach.

But Capshaw brought up the 2 year extension. It would be a lot of money to buy out Frank.

Especially when you have an owner who doesn't care. Stefanski leaves and he is not replaced. The coach is rewarded for barely getting an allstar team into the playoffs with a 2 year extension.

I despair that this is going to be the return to the crap that reigned in the Meadowlands for decades, a return to the 17 to 35 win seasons. Why wouldn't JKidd want out? Why would VC want to stay in?

This season is a mess. It's no fun going to the arena.

Will it ever end?

Post Game - Frank vacuity

Frank's post game can be summarized as follows:
- "we" didn't commit to defense
- "we" were not the agressors on offense.

Whose offense are they running, brain boy? Bill Cartwright's? Brian Hill's?

Who's supposed to get the team to commit to anything? Jason Kidd? Rod Thorn?

The Net's offense is this - stand around the arc and take a jump shot. Period.

What in the world does this man bring to the team? Are they listening to him? Does he help them in the game by knowing when to throw cold water on runs? The OTHER TEAM'S RUNS? Can he call a play even if he does call time out?

Altho this is the first time I have been a season ticket holder, I have watched every game, basically, since 2002. I have never seen a team, not even the lowly Knicks, play the same game over and over and over again. This is because any coach worth 1/10th today's salaries could figure out This ain't working. Try something different.

Does Frank vary his substitution pattern? No.

Does he vary his timeout pattern? No.

Does he change his offense? No.

What is his value?

Game 21 - Franks Wash-out

Only down by 4 in 1st altho had been down 10.

Up by 6 at half, altho Wash had last shot.

Up 59-50. Washington gets it to 59-55 and nets are in disarray. No timeout called. What is he waiting for????

Timeout only called when Nets get down a point, ie, a 10 pt turnaround.

Tied at 70, Nets out shooting 58%-42, but Wash has taken 10 more shots and 6 more freethrows, all of which they made.

Nets up 72-71 and Carter fouls shooter shooting a three. Stupid foul. All 3 drained, Wash up 2.

Last minute. So far Nets have been outscored 3-0 at the end of the quarter, due to foul. Bad shot, another foul. 4-0. 5-0. (Kidd's on the bench, btw) Airball 24 sec violation. Wash will get last shot again. Good. 7-0 run. Washington leads by 6.

Commentator: "Nets once again not being able to finish a quarter, which frustrates Lawrence Frank." HE'S THE FREAKING CAUSE!

Twelve point turn around, unassisted by Frank.

Nets let Wash score 36 points. And Nets are OUTSHOOTING them 57-43!

Open the 4th. Kidd still on bench... That's helpful, brain boy Frank!

Hey, LF called a timeout! Just after Wash went up by 8! Great Larry boy! Only ONE QUARTER AND 14 POINTS TOO LATE!

Mark Jackson: What are the Nets trying to accomplish on the offensive end?

Being outshot 54-30 in the 4th.

Here's how Lawrence Frank teams have fared up to December 9th:
2004 5-13 (Ok, Kidd out with injury for beginning of the season)
2005 9-9
2006 7-11
2007 9-12

No Gil Arenas. Lose by 15.

Washington started the season 0-5. They now have a better record than the Nets.

There is not a single positive to be taken from tonite's game.

Clearly, it is Frank. He must go.

But the owner doesn't give a Ratner's ass. Get my project thru. And Rod Thorn looks like a guy ready to jump ship. Stefanski was allowed to leave. JKidd gets a migraine and people automatically think he's mutinying.

Lawrence Frank is an infected boil on this team. His infection is festering in this team. They look shell shocked, out of answers.

Frank has coached one of the best teams in the east to mediocrity for 5 seasons now. He is single handedly killing them. They have no hope while he rules the bench.

Because he has no clue. None. Whatsoever.

Game 20 - Didn't need to go

End of 1st qtr - down by 10
End of half - down by 15

Sound familiar? It's so repetitive I didn't even need to go tonite. I could have written this post and stayed home.

Is Lawrence Frank the only one who is not getting it?

The Nets are 4-8 at home. It's Dec 7 (a day that will live in infamy).

In 2001-2002, the Nets lost 8 games at home the ENTIRE SEASON.

Last 8 home games: 1-7 and the 1 was an overtime win over hapless Philadelphia.

Through it all, Frank maintains his mechanical substitution patterns...

No wonder Kidd had a migraine the other night. I'm getting one myself!

Here are the halftime scores for those 7 losses:

12/7 Houston 48-33 (and a 3 at the buzzer was disallowed)
12/5 Knicks 51-42
11/27 Memphis 58-45
11/17 Miami 45-35
11/16 Orlando 45-32
11/12 Hornets 49-37
11/10 Celtics 59-52 (only single digit deficit at the half of the run)

And here's the kicker: The game they WON, at halftime:

12/1 Phila 51-35

And just before that loss run, here's the halftime score of the game they won:
11/8 Wash 41-36

That is, the Nets have not had the lead at home at the half since NOVEMBER 6, over a month ago. And only twice were they within 10, and only won one of them.

Here's the first quarter scores of that run:

12/7 Houston 28-18
12/5 Knicks 26-18
12/1 Phila 28-19
11/27 Memphis 28-25
11/17 NETS 23-18 (lost anyway)
11/16 Orlando 25-10
11/12 Hornets 26-21
11/10 NETS 27-26 (against the Celts and they lost anyway)
11/8 Wash 27-15

Even the two games they actually won during this "run" ("this is the NBA and teams are gonna make runs..." - Lawrence Frank. Okay, so how come it's never the NETS??) they had to dig out of major holes, as early as the first quarter.

Night after night after night the Nets are coming out flat. What should that tell you, Frank?

CALL TIMEOUT IN THE FIRST QUARTER AND GET THEIR FREAKING ATTENTION.

Game 19 - Migraine, no gain

The Knicks win their first road game of the season.

Ok, JKidd sits with a migraine. But the Knicks had neither Marbury nor Curry.

Knicks win the first qtr by 8. Win the game by 7.

Last 3 mins of 2nd qtr: Knicks 11-4. 7 point difference. Number look familiar?

Timeouts by Nets during that period? ONE! With 2 seconds left, and the damage already done.

9-10. Mediocrity.

And their coach can't help them.

I can't imagine this is a stable situation. Something is gonna happen....

GV

Game 18 - Predictable blowout, predictably done

LeBron can't play. Cleveland lacks other talent. Ragtag Nets, even on the road. Win.

And finally win by 10+. And finally win by 20+. On the road.

IN a couple of weeks they play Cleveland at home, I would imagine with LeBron. Then we'll see...

Even so, Cleveland was 9-9, another mediocre team...

Tomorrow they play the awful Knicks at home. Can they get a home winning streak going?

We'll see....

Off day - Embracing mediocrity

Against teams .500 and over: 1-7
Against teams less than .500: 7-2

This is the classic definition of mediocre - a .500 team that can beat sub-.500 teams and can't beat those over it.

How can a team with so much talent be so mediocre?

Most of the time there is a complex of reasons, but in this case the data is so stark it's amazing to me that no one else is concentrating on it: Lawrence Frank cannot in-game coach.

The Nets are one of the few teams in the NBA yet to have won by 10 or more points. (The Knicks, Seattle and Minnesota are the others. Combined they have barely more wins than the Nets.) They have lost 6 by 10 or more, 5 by 20 or more.

During the Lawrence Frank era, as they say, the Nets are 166-138, a difference of +28. But 14 of them were the initial streak, so it's really +14. Over 5 seasons.

Bruce Ratner is not going to make a coaching change. What will happen?

JKidd wants to stay. VC is staying. RJ is the focal point now of the O.

The cases are:
- Frank suddenly and unaccountably "gets it"
- The Nets remain mired in mediocrity.

A shame, really. A decent coach would easily get 50 wins out of this talent. Might not get out of the 2nd round, but then again, the 2nd round might be a lot easier with 50 wins...

I wonder if Brian Hill would do better...

We'll never know.

It's time, for my own sanity, to mourn 2002, 2003, 2004 and embrace mediocrity, sadly...

Game 17 - Predictable blowout, predictably done

Here's some stats that will tell you everything you need to know:

Last 1:50 of 1st qtr: Detroit 5-0
Last 1:13 of 2nd qtr: Detroit 7-0
Last 2:00 of 3rd qtr: Detroit 7-0

Cumulative: Detroit 19-0
Final margin of loss: 23

Nets time outs during those periods above: 0

Say what you will - If your coach is not willing to help you out, at best you'll be mediocre.

At best.

Game 16 - Groundhog Morning

Ok, we all know the script:
- Fast start, no defense
- JKidd MUST come out with 2 mins to play in the first qtr.
- Nets down 9 after 1
- JKidd sits out the first half of the 2nd
- Nets down 10 when he gets back in
- Stupid foul at the end of the half
- Nets down 16 at the half

Shooting pct at half: Phi 59 NJ 37
Rebounds at half: Phi 28 NJ 12

How many times are we gonna see this stuff this year?

Then:
-Nets have furious 3rd qtr and trail at the end by 1
- Nets dawdle in the middle of the 4th and trail by 5
- Nets come back and have a 2 pt lead, and the ball, with 43 secs left.

Now, might this not be a good place to call timeout, set up a play, go back up by 4 with, say, 25 secs left?

Of course not, and Philly scores on foul shots. THEN the Nets call timeout (one play too late, a Lawrence Frank trademark), set up a play, and VC misses the shot.

OK, overtime.

15 seconds left, Nets up by 5. Remember that.

Philly has TWO POINTS in OT up to this point. But they launch a 3. Twish. Two point game.

Phila fouls right away, RJ cans one of two. Three point Net lead, 8 seconds to play.

Nets foul right away, in the back court, which ensures that no matter what happens, the Nets will be up by at least 1.

Ok, stop right there. Go back.

Remember previously, Nets up 5, 15 seconds to play. WOULDN'T HAVE MADE SENSE TO FOUL AT THAT POINT??? The Nets obviously had that in mind, since they used that strategy the rest of the game. But wouldn't it have been better to make it a 5-3 or 5-4 game than a 3-2 or 3-1 game?

It amazes me! He obviously gets the strategy, but even still doesn't implement it in time. One play too late.

The killer is, Philadelphia had a chance to WIN. That's right, only 2 seconds left but if you don't believe it can happen I have two words for you: Milt Palacio.

Air ball. Nets win.

A lot of people are getting on the Nets fans, but I have to say, they were cheering at the end and jubilant when they won.

But to be honest, it felt like a loss...

Off daze - Musings...

After Tuesdays stinker, the Nets don't play until Saturday. Today (Thursday) would normally be a game day. Instead, we have 4 days till the next game.

So I'm sittin' here thinking...

Suppose the Nets got rid of Frank. Who would they get?

Or more aptly, are the Nets just the modern NBA (Nothing But Ability), filled with talent only players who have no fear and take no motivation from their coaches?

There was a time, not too long ago (or maybe it was - 20+ years....) when there were fixer coaches, coaches who could turn teams around. Bill Fitch comes to mind right away. He took the newborn Cavs to the playoffs multiple years, turned the Celts around from an abysmal run to the Championship in 2 years (okay, he had talent), turned Houston into a perennial playoff team from a bad set of seasons, even got the Clippers in. Most remarkable, he took an awful Nets team and got it into the playoffs in 3 years. If you needed a turnaround, he was the guy to call.

There were solid coaches, like Bill Sharman and Alex Hannum, innovators like Jack Ramsay and Hannum, old reliables like Red Holtzman, legends like Red Auerbach. All these guys had one thing in common: They could lead men.

Who are their equivalents now? Larry Brown was kinda like Fitch. The Van Gundys are solid (tho neither has won anything yet), there are legends, like Riley and Jackson.

But can they lead men?

I'm not blaming them. A decade ago Phil could definitely lead men. Then again, his assistant was #23. Riley had the ears of Showtime, but Showtime had ears to go with their obvious talent. The Pistons rallied around Brown, and they didn't have the earthshattering talent of the Celtics, Lakers, 76ers of the 80s. Was that him? Given that Saunders got them nearly as far and the Knicks were just as abysmal the year after, it's not so clear.

I admire Eddie Jordan, whose offense was part of the reason the Nets zoomed in the early 00s. I saw his Wizards play a couple of weeks ago. Was his team listening to him? Didn't look like it...

Maybe the question should be, could ANYONE lead these men?

Maybe what I don't see, what I can't see, is that Lawrence Frank is an excellent leader for today's kind of player - a guy with phenomenal athletic talent and absolutely no mind for the game. Maybe he can get more thru to the young players, so full of themselves and their Sportscenter moves and their bling and newfound millions, than the old style coaches, the my way/highway guys. Maybe he's gotta "just let them play" because there is no other alternative.

I suspect that LF is more in tune with today's reality than most. I suspect because he is always talking "left brain" - basketball, basketball, basketball, and no personality stuff - the players don't mind him and don't mind him managing the game. Maybe he's so inoffensive and "professional" in the locker room that the players, particularly Kidd, Jefferson, VC, are more likely to blame their bipolar play on themselves, and not on poor in-game management.

Maybe that's why, year after year, the Nets get off to a poor or at least mediocre start, then put on these phenomenal end of season surges, when the light bulb goes off and they realize they actually have to play seriously to make the playoffs.

Maybe that's why, year after year, the team is still "trying to find an identity" deep into January.

If that's the case, then that's the case. The new NBA.

If so, though, then it becomes much more incumbent upon the coach to manage the game properly, to grab those close wins by knowing how to cool off a run, call a timeout, draw up a play. Maybe if a coach can steal a few in the beginning of the season a team will gain some confidence and decide that their identity is as a winning team....

Byron Scott was a great competitor, a fierce competitor, when he played. He took the Nets to the finals twice. Actually, he didn't - Jason Kidd did. Jason Kidd was a leader of men who convinced his teammates, rookies and downtrodden veterans like Van Horn and Kittles, that the losing was over and that they could win. Rod Thorn put together a group of rookies who were wide eyed open to play and listen, and a similarly positive minded set of back ups. Fast Eddie brought the back door Princeton offense, and the chemistry between Kidd and Kenyon was obvious.

The Nets won 52 games that year, and should have won about 60 the next, given the talent and experience they had. They also had a great amount of success with San Antonio, and when that became the Finals matchup, it all looked good...

But the Nets only won 49 games that year. And despite cruising to the Finals vs a very weak Eastern Conference, Buddy Byron blew the finals all by himself, failing to play Mutombo consistently, making formulaic substitutions that threw water on their own runs, while failing to call timeouts that would have thrown water on the oppositions'.

Game 6 was the capper. He sat Mutombo too much, sat Kerry Kittles to start the 4th when KK was totally enfuego and the Nets had a 9 pt lead, and, due to those blunders, as San Antonio went on a 19-2 run in San Antonio, failed to call a timeout to stop it.

Had he played Mutombo in Game 1 the Nets might have come home up 2-0 and might have won it in NJ. Had he left Kittles in to start the fourth quarter of Game 6 the Nets might have at least forced a Game 7. Had he called a timeout when it was only an 8-0 run...

Clearly, Kidd was displeased and midway thru the next season Byron was gone, then Nets at .500, way below talent. Frank comes in, the Nets roll off 14 straight and even then only get 47 wins, and bow out in the Eastern Semis, despite being up vs Detroit 3-2 and going home. Kidd could barely walk... So we chalk that one up to bad luck.

Since then, tho, broken record. Bad starts, furious finishes, talent wins out in the first round, talent not enough in the second.

In my informed opinion, Jason Kidd is the best all around player in the league, and his triple doubles prove it. He is the most intelligent and aware player in the league, by far. He did what I have seen no other player or coach ever do - turn a perennially moribund franchise, not just team but entire FRANCHISE, around, into a perennial playoff team.

But in an all-talent league, intelligent all around play is not enough. JKidd is not a scoring machine, not a gun, not a shooter. He can coach on the floor and is essentially obliged to, but he can't make every shot, and is not the guy you want to have the ball in his hands with the clock running down and you need a 3.

They thought they got that with Carter, but he plays, well, bipolarly. They want to have it in RJ, but aside from injury he is not quite money.

Washington has Arenas, Miami Wade, Cleveland LeBron, LA Kobe, San Antonio Duncan, Detroit Hamilton. These guys WANT the ball for the last shot and have the TALENT to deliver. The Nets don't have that guy.

What they need is something to compensate. Something like great in-game strategic and tactical coaching.

I wonder - can anyone get this message to Lawrence Frank? Does he even see this?

Despite the "Big Three" and an improved supporting cast, the difference maker for this team has to be the coach. The difference maker has to be Frank.

Will he step up? Can he step up?

Right now, he shows no sign of it...

Game 15 - I've passed this way before...

I honestly was optimistic going to the arena tonite, and it wasn't just because I had been given upgraded seats. After a 3-1 roadtrip and a clutch win over the Lakers, I thought, geez, maybe they've turned the corner...

Here's Coach Franks record up to Dec 1:

2004 3-11 (albeit no Jason Kidd)
2005 7-8
2006 6-9
2007 7-7

I wouldn't call his talent laden teams "fast starters"...

Without exaggeration, probably 50 games in the Frank era have followed this script:

1st qtr - close, JKidd on the bench at the 3 min mark
2nd qtr - Nets fall behind double digits as Kidd watches from the bench; by the time he comes in the damage has been done.
Half - Nets down around 10.
3rd qtr - Nets close the gap.
4th qtre - Nets get oh so close but lose.

Tonite was one of those 50.

The Nets were down only 1 at the 1:24 mark when Kidd, predictably, is benched. When he returns to the game, at 8:27 of the third, they're already down 10.

Number of timeouts called by Frank during that time - 0

At the 5:00 mark, Memphis is up 18, 51-33.

Number of timeouts called by Frank during that time - 0

By the end of the half, the Nets are down 13. If they expect to win, it will take a gargantuan effort.

FFWD to 2:05 left in the game. RJ's foul shots have just made it 99-98 Memphis.

Bad call (refs say Nets knocked ball out of Lowry's hands, when in fact he had lost control)
Bad defense (easy layup by Lowry)
Bad foul (luckily tho Lowry misses)
Bad shot
Bad foul
Bad shot
Bad foul

By then it's 1:15 left and the Nets are down 5.

But Lawrence Frank has wisely hoarded his precious time outs so he can use them when the game is out of reach.

The Nets are 3-6 at home, the second worst home record in the East. Only Miami, Seattle and Minnesota have worse home records in the entire NBA.

The Nets shot 45%, outrebounded Memphis, Kidd had another triple double, and had only one more turnover.

A coach has many functions. But one of them is in-game strategy and tactics. Frank does not know how to manage a run by the opposing team. At one point the Nets closed to 12, 51-39, closing the gap from 51-33. Memphis immediately called timeout. A minute later the Grizzlies were back up by 15. The half ended with them up by 13. The timeout worked - it short circuited NJ's run.

Had it been Frank, no timeout would have been called until the lead was down to 5 or 3. I know: I've yelled from my seat at the arena or in my living room for him to call the timeout earlier, throw some cold water on a run. No dice.

A fan at the postgame show on the radio brought up that Frank is the problem, not the players, or chemistry or "finding themselves" (I hate that last phrase - if you don't know what kind of team you are after playing together for 2 1/2 years, you will never, never, ever know...). His substitutions are odd (anyone remember Nenad Krstic? How about the much ballyhooed Magloire? Neither has played at all, not one second, in the last 3 games. How about Malik Allen who put in 18 productive minutes and 8 points in the win against the Lakers? How was he rewarded? Did not play...)

Carino and Capshaw hemmed and hawed, making one excuse after another, until finally Carino brought up the truth - they just signed Frank to a two year extension beyond this one. He's not going anywhere.

So thus we are condemned.

A coach with a feel for the in game game would have this team at 10-5 or even 11-4.

The Nets, for the 4th consecutive year under Lawrence Frank, a team laden with talent, limps into December with a losing record. And an embarrassing record at home.

All because their coach does not know when to call a time out.

Rod - aren't you paying attention?

Frank - when are you going to decide that YOUR STYLE IS NOT WORKING.

It sure would be nice if Bruce Ratner actually cared....

Road Trip Postmortem - WRONG WRONG WRONG

I was about as wrong as I could be about this road trip. An ugly loss and three ugly wins, not a negative sweep. 7-7 coming home, not 4-10. A remarkable come back win, huge turnaround performance in the last game.

Give credit where credit is due.

The other teams stink.

But 3-1 is 3-1, and 7-7 is not 4-10, 5-11 or 6-8, either.

I had no or little faith in this team when they left. Even on this road trip, they won 3 games by a total of 12 points - 4 points per game. That's how fragile the victory margin was.

Will Frank or any other Net learn anything from this?

Whether they do or not, they deserve credit. 3-1 is 3-1 and 7-7 is definitely not 4-10.

Game 14 - Even Steven

A win is a win.

The Nets had a 12 point lead with 4 minutes to go. They had battled back from a 12 point deficit at the half, a half when they shot their typical 37% and had typically finished the quarter poorly.

But their third quarter effort was really superlative. By its end the game was tied at 72.

The fourth quarter saw the effort continue. And so with 4 minutes to go there they were, with a 12 point lead.

With a little more than a minute left they were down by 2. Just like that.

Timeouts called by Coach Frank in that period: 0. Typical.

During this period the Nets missed 5 of 6 free throws at one point. Typical.

And the game came down to another potential Milt Palacio opportunity - to lose.

And two strange calls - an offensive goaltending call on VC, a three point shooting foul on JKidd, you could see it falling apart.

Nonetheless, there was defense in the end, despite the score. They did come back from 12 down.

They showed great character to do so. I give them credit.

VC made several key shots down the stretch. I give him credit.

Kidd, as always, RJ with his fearlessness, Boki on both sides of the court, Wright with good D on an indifferent Kobe. All deserve credit.

3-1 on the West Coast swing. First time they have won the Thanksgiving road trip since 1997. Three wins in a row, so a streak is on going home against nother troubled team. Back to .500.

All deserves recognition, credit.

But they were still in position to lose on the final shot. They did not have destiny in their own hands. All the things that have dogged them in the Frank era dogged them tonight.

As I said, I will say this many times this year - a win is a win.

I just wish I felt like somebody was learning something.

Game 13 - 3.5 Quarters Domination; .5 Abomination

A win is a win, but...

You've got a 2-10 team, a young team, a coach trying to break back in, a team swamped by relocation rumors, a crowd chanting Save our Sonics! A team that has not yet won at home...

Just out of curiousity, with the Nets now an almost respectable 6-7, lets look at the margins of victory/loss...

Avg Margin of Victory: 5
Avg Margin of Loss: 18

Number of times Nets have won by more than 10: 0 By 20: 0
Number of times Nets have lost by more than 10: 5 By 20: 4

Hold your breath wins: 6
Hold your breath losses: 2

I bring this up because even by shooting 56% the other night and 49% last night, the games were uncomfortably close. Even with RJ averaging around 30 a night, the games were uncomfortably close.

The hallmark of the Frank era has been skin of the teeth wins, blowout losses.

I went to bed last night in the beginning of the 2nd. Nets up by 6, shooting 62.7%. Over 60% and a mere 6 point lead. I said to myself, this does not bode well, shooting so high a pct and a single digit lead.

The offense looks like it's clicking, like it did in the 4-1 start. The team is better offensively with RJ in the spotlight and VC playing a supporting role. Part of this, I think, is because when Frank abandoned the full team offense of the Kmart, Kittles, Kidd, Keith years that was so successful for the Klear Out for Vince idea the Nets immediately became mediocre. VC would score 40, rest of the team would watch from the 3 point line.

With RJ, JKidd can revert to alley oops and backdoors much better, even when RJ is not the recipient.

So why is the margin of victory so small?

As I say, I did not stay up for the game. I did expect a loss, and when I woke up I procrastinated - didn't look up the score right away. I was mildly surprised to see they won, expecting their shooting to decline into the 40s (it did) and expecting a 3rd Qtr collapse (they didn't). Then I read the recap - a 13 point lead had declined to a 1 point lead. And when it did, there was less than a minute to play - anyone's game.

With all the talent the Nets have, I have to pin the blame on the coach (big surprise!).

1. He cannot manage the end of a quarter, much less the end of the game.

2. He has no idea - NO IDEA - what to do with timeouts, as his predecessor, Lord Byron, did not.

3. His loyalty to Jason Collins (a fellow Stanford alum) is not only misplaced, it's a complete headscratcher at this point.

4. His substitutions are formulaic.

I looked at the play by play on NBA.com. As always, his instincts as to when to call timeout, particularly (but not exclusively) on the road, are piss poor. He will not, STUBBORNLY WILL NOT, call a timeout until the crisis is present. Oddly, two tv timeouts forced him to talk to his team at places where he should have called a timeout but did not. Did he set up a play?

Don't know. I was asleep at the time...

I have said this before in this blog - doing the same thing time after time and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Given that he has coached like this for the last 3 seasons, I suspect I will continue to say it a lot...

And I suspect I will say this as well:

A win is a win, but...

Game 12 - When you least expect it...

...they play with passion. And accuracy. The Nets shoot 54%. Imagine. Of course, Portland shot 56%. But a win is a win, I guess...

They jump out to a 15-8 lead. I'm in the car. By the time I get home Portland has gone on an 18-4 run and are down 26-19 after 1. Frank calls a timeout (the only one of the half...) when it's tied, but didn't he get the idea before then? Oh well, at least he didn't wait for them to be down 10...

Normally, this is the end of the Nets. They won't come back, and at one point in the 3rd they're down by 1o. 3 mins to go in the 3rd. But they do pull thru and finish down 5 after 3.

And then, lo and behold, they close the gap early on in the 4th. They had to have shot 60% in the fourth, which doesn't hurt, but the key play of the game came with the Nets up 3 and 7 seconds to go. Boki tries a 3 (why in the world are they trying a 3?????) and who gets the rebound? Jason Kidd. Gets fouled. Sinks both (altho the first one was an adventure). Game over.

Are the Nets coming together? Was it because Carter is back?

Or is this just the laws of probability exerting themselves?

The Nets are a 40% shooting team. They shot 54% tonite. Was that it?

Why, after all this time of the "Big Three" being together, do we not have any confidence that we know who this team is?

A win is a win. They should beat 2-10 Seattle. There would be your 2 wins on the road. They could play the 7-4 Lakers with house money.

We'll see....

GV

Game 11 - Told ya

I watched about 3 minutes of the end of the first half. Nets had a chance to close to 5, but instead, a typical end of quarter collapse, the hallmark of the Lawrence Frank era, put them down 10 at the half. I went to bed expecting defeat.

Maybe they might find some character and make close, I thought.

Nope. 102-75. Not competitive. Not caring.

Kidd rips the team afterwards. Now the rumors are he wants out.

The surprise of this season is that the Nets are in the middle of the pack (21st out of 30) in attendance.

Imagine if Kidd leaves....

Honestly, JKidd is my favorite player in the NBA, and not just because he's a Net. He single handledly turned a moribund franchise into a playoff franchise and a contender for 3 years. It's flat out remarkable what he's done. He is by far the most intelligent player in the NBA, Steve Nash included. He deserves to play on a contending team, a team with some visibility. A team with a future.

GV

Prediction for the West Coast Roadtrip!

Question - When was the last time the Nets won two games on a West Coast roadtrip?

The Nets squandered, FLAT OUT SQUANDERED, their opening homestand, going 3-5 at home. They are 4-6. This after starting the year 4-1.

Four game West Coast road trip coming up.

Prediction: They will lose all 4. They will return with a 4-10 record.

This is the third autumn the Great Lawrence Frank has coached the team. Let's look at their record after 14 games each year:

2005 7-7 (2 wins on a 5 game West Coast swing, by the way)
2006 5-9 (after an 0-4 West Coast swing)
2007 ????

Look, Bruce Ratner used the Nets to get his project done. He does not care one whit about the team. And he will NOT stand for getting a new coach and be on the hook for Frank, whom the Nets unaccountably resigned.

The Nets are condemned to this sub-mediocrity with a superior talent laden squad.

I need to come to peace with this. I am a season ticket holder...

Game 10 - 11 good minutes...

The Nets hit their first 7 shots. Miami is in disarray. Sean Williams is looking like the real deal. With 30 seconds left in the quarter, they are up 23-15, an 8 point lead.

The Nets cannot close out a quarter, half or game. Have you noticed? Cannot do it.

By the time the first quarter ends, the Nets are up, but only by 5. The Nets have dominated; the Heat are in disarray. But the Nets are only up 5.

Halftime - Heat 45, Nets 35. The Nets have turned it over 20 times already.

Wait - it gets better! With 1:40 to go in the half the Nets were only down 39-35. They were outscored 6-0 during that time, including a layup, a LAYUP by Wade with less than a second to go. During that 1:40 the Nets shoot 0-1 on FOUR POSSESSIONS - that's right, one shot in FOUR POSSESSIONS.

How many time outs did Mr. Frank call during that time? 0

How many time outs did Coach Frank call during the 2nd qtr, when his team was in disarray? 0

How many time outs did The Great Lawrence call in the half? 0

The phrase "settle your team down" is absent from Frank's vocabulary, from his consciousness.

And thus it is absent from his team's performance.

End of the third - 63-61 Miami.

The Nets are shooting 52%! Unfortunately, they have 19 fewer shots than Miami...

They pulled to 60-59 with a minute left. It looked like another classic Nets poor finish, as the Heat went up 63-59. But Nachbar drains a shot as the clock expires.

But the Nets miss their first 4 shots and go back down by 8. Lawrence Frank "lets them play"...

It's the same old story, every game. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Nets don't score until the 9:25 mark, while Miami has scored 6, then when Kidd drains a 3, so does Miami, right back.

When will it dawn on this boy wonder to start Kidd in the 4th and to CALL A TIME OUT TO KEEP THE GAME WITHIN REACH? Especially when your team is not scoring. And the clock is ticking...

And here's what happens - exactly how The Great Lawrence Frank set it up:

The Nets are down 4 with a minute to go, but they have two time outs! Isn't that great?

By two miracles, Dwayne Wade misses BOTH foul shots AND altho the Nets barely get the rebound and are tied up immediately, Joey Crawford gives them the time out, their last one.

The Magnificent Coach gets to call a play!

Inbound pass perfect. RJ's position - perfect. Puts up the layup, right under the basket...

Doesn't use the backboard.

Nets lose.

Hey, brain boy - tell me something: Would it be better to have stopped the "runs" that Miami had and go into the final minute up 10, or to be down 4 with two timeouts?

HOW COME HE DOESN'T GET IT??

Frank - your strategy NEVER WORKS!

TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Game 9 - Shoulda stayed in traffic

Because of traffic, a late running appointment, and more traffic, by the time we got to our seats it was 29-14 Orlando. The Nets were shooting 20% at the time. They rallied to shoot 29% for the game...

There was one sequence in the first half where the Nets missed 4 consecutive layups - on one possession.

At one point the Nets had rallied to 56-49, made a stop and had the ball. J Kidd found Sean Williams all alone, driving to the basket, uncontested. A layup brings them to 5, on a night when Orlando was struggling (41% for the night, but 38% after 3). But no - time for the highlight reel - DOH! The "slam" bounds away, Orlando scores, pulls away again.

Even still, as miserably as they played and shot, the Nets find themselves down only 69-61 at the end of 3. Fourth quarter opens and they get a steal and foul shots. One of two, 69-62.

That would be the last point they scored until 5:45 left in the game...

This was a sorry effort by a sorry team with a sorry attitude.

And their sorry coach can't get them out of it.

Game 8 - On the road...

Did you know... Jack Kerouac came from the Boston area?

Devils/Rangers is on, so I'm only peeking on Slingbox...

In general, the Nets seem to be playing well. But the last 2 minutes were horrible. Turnover after turnover, and the Celtics take the lead into the locker room at the half...

I'm sorry, the Celts are just not that good, not to me. Maybe in this day and age, but in absolute terms, they're just okay. Thus the sorry state of the NBA.

The 3rd Qtr has been the abyss for the Nets. If they can continue to exert their will over a listless Celtic squad, they could pull off a big victory and give them some momentum, especially with the undefeated-on-the-road (there's Kerouac again!) Magic and the newly revived Heat (since Wade is back).

But honestly - the last time I can remember the Nets playing that consistently well they had Kenyon Martin on the team...

We'll see....

Ok, the Nets come out looking just as sloppy as the end of the first half. They get down 8 and at least Frank wants to call a time out - but J Kidd won't signal it and drives to the basket and scores.

The Nets are shooting 6-15 from the line. RJ misses only his third foul shot of the season.

Unfortunately, the Celts go up 9 before Frank calls timeout. If the past is any indication of the future, it's game over.

We'll see...

Poor finish to the third.

Poor start to the fourth.

No help, no clue from Frank.

Since the end of the first, the Nets have scored 37 points.

Game over.

Game 7 - The definition of insanity...

...is when you do the same thing as you have done over and over and yet this time expect a different result.

4-2.

When the Nets were 4-1, I dared to dream. Take the Celts and you're 5-1, then knock off the Hornets and you're 6-1, and you play Orlando and Miami at home, with a game (probably a loss) in Boston in between New Orleans and Orlando, and you could be 8-2 after 10, about to go on the first road trip of the year. Even 7-3 would be very respectable, even with 2 early season losses to your division foe, the Celtics.

I was in fact dreaming. As long as Lawrence Frank is coach, the Nets will never approach 50 wins, will never make it out of the first round, will be lucky to break even at 41-41.

Tonite's game is the primary piece of evidence for this hopelessness.

Despite being up 12 at the half, and shooting in the 50s, the Hornets play abysmally in the 3rd and finish it down 2. The Nets have come all the way back and seem to have momentum on their side.

Nonetheless, the Nets, despite scoring 30 in the quarter, don't look really good doing it, and let opportunity after opportunity to take a 10+ point lead slip away.

Still, the Nets find themselves with under 5 minutes to play, one full and two 20 second timeouts in their possession and up 11 points. New Orleans has continued to play sloppily and the Nets continue to miss opportunity after opportunity, with the Hornets now shooting under 40%.

With 4:28 to go, Peja drains a 3, as is his wont. Then Malik Allen commits a stupid foul away from the ball, turning it into a 4 point play.

Nets 79, NO 71. 7 point lead, and a 4 point play just happened. You've got 3 timeouts left. Settle your team down. Set up a play and get it back up to 9. Throw water on the nascent rally.

No chance.

Offensive foul. Missed slam dunk.

When the dust clears, the Nets lead is 3. And there is still 3 minutes to go.

Missed layup. Missed foul shots. Missed opportunities.

So here we are, 42 seconds left, Nenad Krstic on the line shooting two. You know, the Croatian with the sweet shot. 50% from the floor.

He misses the first shot.

He misses the second shot.

BUT WAIT - who comes out of nowhere to get the rebound but Jason Kidd. The Nets get a reprieve and a new 24 second clock with 42 to go in the game, with 2 timeouts left. Call time! Set up a play!

No chance...

With only 15 seconds drained off the shot clock, Krstic throws up a brick. Even the brain dead announcers had just said, time to set up Richard Jefferson to be the hero. 9 seconds left on the shot clock and the ball is nowhere near RJ.

Clang.

Of course, Lawrence Frank comes by his ignorance of how to manage the end of the game from good ol' Byron, so surprisingly, NO does not call timeout to set up a play either!

Nonetheless, there are 27 seconds left on the clock. If the Hornets score at the end of 24 there will only be 3 seconds left. Maybe if Frank had called timeout when Jason got the rebound he could have made everybody aware that they could foul with 10 seconds left, put somebody on the line to make them earn it, then call timeout again to set up another play. Maybe the Nets would not have had to foul because the set play they should have called during the timeout they should have called would have them up 2.

Well, of course, Chris Paul drains the clock down, and drives the lane for an easy bank shot. 2.6 seconds left. Nets call time.

Now, my theory is, Scott and Frank jealously hold onto their timeouts in case they need them for just this kind of situation (altho Scott just bypassed his opportunity). Of course, if you manage them in that way, you are almost assuring that you will need to use them at the end, because you will be giving the other team every opportunity to go on one of those runs that every team (except, somehow, the Nets) seem to make.

Looking back at the last few seasons, the Nets nowadays rarely win by more than 10, much less 20. Many of their wins are nail biters, which I presume emboldens Frank in his hold-onto-the-timeouts fetish. What he doesn't seem to get, which other NBA coaches do seem to get, is that a well placed timeout much earlier in the game can usually mean you coast in the 4th qtr. Will he ever learn this lesson?

Nets set up the inbound pass. I say to my wife, I bet the house that Antoine Wright shoots the shot. Not Krstic, who, aside from just bricking, has the most accurate shot on the team. Not RJ, who has carried the team scoring more than 25 almost every game (and having 32 at this point), to say nothing of shooting something like 62 of 64 from the charity stripe, so if he drives the basket and gets the foul is likely to drain them both. No.

The one who will get the ball will be the irratic and inexperienced Antoine Wright. And he will miss.

New Orleans doesn't like what it sees, and calls time out.

What is Lawrence Frank telling his team? Is he saying, Get Jefferson free and have him take the shot? Is he saying, deke with RJ and get the ball to Nenad?

Nets line up again. Don't like what they see. They call time out.

(What a privilege it is to see these two great basketball minds at work! It's a good thing they didn't squander their time outs doing things like stopping the other teams momentum...)

Again, I wonder what L Frank is telling his guys... Make sure Antoine gets it so he can throw up a wild shot, off balance...

Nets line up. Mercifully, both teams are out of timeouts. (If not, I'm sure they would continue to call them until they were all expired. That's what you've got 'em for!) Nets get the ball in bounds. To... Antoine Wright. He's off balance. He throws up a wild shot.

Clang.

The Nets are now 4-3. Next up - Boston, in Boston. Then at home vs 5-2 Orlando (4-0 on the road).

What do I hear for 4-5 when they play over the hill Miami on Saturday?

Mark my words, after only game 7. Despite all the considerable talent on the Nets, with Frank as coach, the best we can hope for is a .500 team.

Game 6 - Big three test, big test three

So, 4-1 Nets at home against America's new darlings, the trade and free agent concocted Boston Celtics, 4-0. If the Nets win they'll be a half game up on the Celtics. If they lose, down 2 in the loss column. More importantly, if they win, people will be saying, hey, don't forget the Nets! If they lose, well, nobody's gonna touch Boston in the Atlantic Division, especially not the Nets.

The Nets actually win the first quarter by 2, and with a minute to go in the half are down by only four. Boston coughs it up and the Nets have the ball with under a minute, down only 4.

Hey Lawrence, how about calling a time out and setting up a play...

VC misses a technical free throw, but the Nets still have the ball. RJ misses a layup, but the Nets get the rebound and still have the ball, with a full 24 on the clock.

Hey Lawrence, how about calling a time out and setting up a play...

With 41 seconds to go, VC launches a three, of course. Clang, of course.

Boston gets the ball and what do they do? They CALL TIMEOUT AND SET UP A PLAY. KG gets off a shot down low and the Celtics go up by 6 at the half.

Yet again, as they have during the entire Lawrence Frank tenure, the Nets allow the margin to widen in the last minute because their coach cannot manage the clock properly.

So, instead of a 2 or 4 point deficit, it's 6. Totally unnecessarily so.

Boston gets the ball to start the second half, and with 6 second gone by, Paul Pearce scores on a layup and now it's an 8 point game.

The teams go back and forth sloppily on the court, but a minute later Boston reaches the magical 10 point lead mark. Every coach in the NBA, especially after giving up a throwaway basket to end the half and looking very sloppy to begin this one, would call a timeout here. Not Lawrence Frank.

RJ misses a 3. Ray Allen sinks two free throws. 12 point deficit. Sloppy play on both sides, up and down the court, but at 7:54, despite several Boston turnovers, they score again to up their lead to 13. J Kidd launches a three, misses. Luckily Boston misses a lay up, and then miracle of miracles Frank calls a timeout.

Unfortunately, by then the Nets are not down 6 or 8 anymore, but 13.

The Nets don't score out of the timeout and 3 more minutes of sloppy play ensue, during which the Nets score 2 points, both on free throws. When the dust settles, Boston has scored 8 more, and the Nets are down 19 with 4 minutes left in the half.

The game is over. The Nets make a late "run" to shave the lead to 7 with 40 seconds left, but that's it.

How do these games get out of hand for the Nets so quickly?

It should be clear - any fair minded person would see that the Nets had a chance to go into the locker room at the half only down 2, but instead, due to bad clock management and poor instincts for the flow of the game, their coach allows them to go in down 6, totally unnecessarily.

And then, to start the half, in the face of abysmally sloppy play by his team, he allows the deficit to continue to deepen until it's 13.

Thirteen points down to a juggernaut who's feeling it and knows the Nets are probably the only threat to them taking the division in a cake walk. Thirteen points on the road. Here, Lawrence Frank effectively says, take it.

It was supposed to be the Nets' Big Three vs the Celtics Big Three. It was also the third big test of the year for the Nets (Chicago, Toronto, Boston).

Instead, VC goes down in the second half, out indefinitely, and the Celtics walk away with an easy victory, having been totally out coached.

4-2. Already two games down in the loss column.

All for lack of a well placed timeout...

Game 5 - Snatching victory from the jaws of victory.

"That was a game we would have lost last year, " Lawrence Frank gushed after his team's 87-85 home victory over the listless, winless Washington Wizards....

Hey Lawrence - by all rights you shoulda lost it THIS year as well...

7:32 in the second quarter, at home, against the winless and clueless Wizards, and the Nets are already down 20. Frank calls the second timeout of the half at this point, no sooner, despite his team playing so carelessly that the crowd actually boos them going into the timeout. The first timeout occurred when the lovable Wizards jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the game. Frank would finish the half still holding onto several timeouts as usual.

Nonetheless, the Nets rally and are only down 5 at the half.

By the end of the 3rd, they're down one. Anybody's game, and the Nets have home court, all their timeouts and momentum.

Where's J Kidd? Remember - the law says, Thou Shalt always start the 4th with your key player on the bench.

When Kidd does come in, his team having lost the momentum, the game is tied. So far, so good.

And with less than two minutes to go the Nets are up 6, 85-79.

RJ commits a good foul and Caron Butler drains them both. A minute 30 to go, Nets up four, two time outs available. Ok, let 'em play.

Then you get the tell tale signs of a team unraveling - RJ launches a 3 with 17 seconds left on the shot clock.

If Mr Lawrence Frank is so excellent a coach, why don't his players understand, game after game, that the thing to do with a 4 point lead, the ball, and a minute 30 to go is to milk the clock down and try to score an easy 2? Then you'd be up 6 with a minute to go. The other team has to get the ball down court, score and get the ball back after you've (hopefully) drained the clock down 24 again.

Instead his players regularly shoot unnecessary threes that they effectively NEVER make (haven't made one all season in this situation, and 4 of the 5 games have had this same situation) and leave double digits of seconds on the shot clock...

Wright fouls Arenas, of all people, who drains both shots. Nets up only 2, with 1:14 still on the clock.

Hey, Lawrence - how about we call time out and set up a play? No? Oh, sorry...

RJ takes a shot and misses, again leaving double digits on the shot clock.

Despite Antawn Jamison launching a 3 of his own (dude - you're only down 4 with time to get the ball back; why are you shooting threes??) the Nets, in typical end of game fashion, stand flat footed as Songalia gets the rebound. He misses the put back, but Washington gets the ball again, fouls Butler and Butler drains both foul shots. Tie game. 35 seconds left.

Perfect time to call timeout and set up a play, right? Are you kidding?

Nets come down the court and AGAIN with double digits on the shot clock RJ shoots. But Washington bails out the Nets with a foul. RJ bails out the Nets by sinking both free throws. (He's missed two all season so far, out of about 50 attempts.) Nets up 2, but there is 24 seconds left on the clock.

Wouldn't it make sense, especially since you're on the road and winless, to call timeout and set up a play, Washington?

It becomes obvious that Washington's plan is to have Arenas take the last shot. He dribbles in place for about 10 seconds. Then he tries to drive the lane, backs out, looks like he's gonna drive the right side of the lane, pulls out, and then, with the shot clock on 1, finds himself in the corner, well covered, throws up an airball, and that's it. (There were three tenths of a second left, a 24 second violation, but the Nets got it in and game over.)

Second game in this young season that the opposition in the Nets building had a chance to tie or win. Second game this young season the Nets dodge a bullet, at home, against a winless team.

"That was a game we would have lost last year, " Lawrence Frank said.

Let's see if the Nets luck keeps holding up.

Game 4 - Making it interesting, but a win

Atlanta may be better than people think, so this home game is not a gimme like it one might expect it to have been in recent years past.

The game is close at the half (Nets by 4), but they gain some daylight and lead by 12 after 3. Atlanta does not look like they have the horses to mount a comeback. Nets could stick a dagger in them early on.

But here's another Lawrence Frank reality, also inherited from Byron Scott. You substitute the same way every game no matter the score. Nets fans who watch with frequency know - 3 minutes to go in the first, J Kidd comes out. No matter what. 8 and a half left in the second, J Kidd comes back in, no matter what. Two minutes left in the third, out comes J Kidd. 8 and a half to go in the game, here comes you know who.

(Not that I'm bitter or anything, but remember Game 6 of the finals in 2003? Kerry Kittles is on fire, the Nets have an 11 point lead after 3. So what does Byron do? SITS KITTLES! What does San Antonio do? Goes on a 19-2 run. Scott doesn't call time, doesn't put Kittles back in. Game over. NBA Finals series over. Spurs win. The-e-e-e Spurs WIN!)

So the fourth quarter starts and there's J Kidd, cooling his heels on the bench.

I don't know... Maybe Rod Thorn knows, maybe L Frank knows... Does J Kidd have it in his contract that he will play no more than 36 minutes a game? Does Frank have to leave him on the pine when the Nets conceivably could put the issue out of doubt with, say, 8 or 6 minutes to play? Might that not allow you to pull J Kidd? Might that 6 or 8 minutes count as J Kidd sitting time?

Well, it starts out okay, and 3 minutes in Atlanta calls timeout, down by 13. They're on the line, shooting two, so it'll probably be 11 when the Nets get the ball. Not too bad, just giving up one point. Time to put Kidd in, right?

NOPE. Darryl Armstrong (the guy the plan says to take out of the game so Jason can come back in) turns it over. Hawk layup. Nachbar gets blocked on a layup, Hawks drain a three. Our man Darryl, feeling it, takes a three and misses. The Hawks miss a 3, but then the Nets come back down and launch a 3 that clangs. So when J Kidd finally gets back in the game, the Nets are only up 6 and there's still 7 minutes to play.

With 5 minutes left, the lead is down to 3...

The Nets are able to get it back to 9 with three minutes to go. Despite allowing Atlanta to get within 4, and despite missing three, yes THREE FOUL SHOTS down the stretch (2 missed by good ol' Darryl), the Nets hang on to win 87-81.

Ugly win, but the Nets are 3-1.

We'll see....

Game 3 - Out of sight, out of mind

I get taken out to dinner and a show ("Jersey Boys", of course!). I knew I was gonna love it, but it was even better than I expected. Great night!

OH - and the Nets play in Philly and win, keeping it close but not losing the lead or their composure, apparently.

2-1. Let's see what happens...

Game 2 - Uh, Next!

Rematch with the Toronto Raptors, whom the Nets vanquished in the first round. Despite nice talent and improvement, there is no way the Raptors were better than the Nets last year. The Nets just decided .500 ball was fine, altho they had to put together their second end of season scramble in three years to make the playoffs...

First quarter, ok. 4 point lead.

Second quarter, Toronto comes out and scores the first 10 points of the quarter before it dawns on the redoubtable Lawrence Frank to call timeout. During that little run ("This is the NBA and teams are gonna make runs" - Frank) the Nets commit 3 turnovers, miss a layup and bail Toronto out with a foul. Toto converts every one of them.

If this year is gonna be like last year, we will revisit the following theme over and over. When is Lawrence Frank gonna realize that his team is falling apart? Probably because Byron "My son could coach a better game" Scott, his mentor, had no clue what to do either. What just about every other coach in the NBA does is call a fairly immediate timeout, both to get control back of his team, have them settle down, and to break the momentum of the team "making the run".

When I say immediate, I mean three sloppy, lost, bad possessions in a row while the other team takes advantage. Suppose the great Coach Frank called a time out when the Toto run was only 6. You're now down by 2. Set up a play, tie the game, break the run. Nope.

Okay, but this game, you're only down 6, not too bad. So LF gets, what, 5 out of a possible 10 on this one.

Well, RJ doesn't convert, and then Toto does, so now it's and 8 point lead for Toto, and nearly 3 and a half minutes have expired in the quarter without the Nets smelling a point. But the Nets hang in at least, and with 1:22 left in the half, ONE MINUTE AND 22 SECONDS THAT IS, the Nets are only down by 4.

You think to yourself, okay, trade baskets, run down the clock, maybe you're down 6 at the half. That's not bad, and that's the worse case scenario. You could go into the locker room tied or even up a deuce.

So here's the situation - 1:22, Toronto with the ball. You've got 3 timeouts left, a ful and two 20s. Play D. Set up plays, run the clock down. Call time out to set up a play. Whatever...

What transpires is this:
- Ten seconds elapse. Boone fouls Bosh. Bosh drains two. 45-39. 1:12 left.
(Hey, Lawrence - how about calling time and setting up a play? No? Oh, okay...)
- The teams trade steals. Nets ball with 39 seconds left.
(Hey Coach Frank - what say we call time out and set up a play to drain as much clock as we can? Even if we miss, Toto gets the ball with only about 15 seconds left, they'll hold for the last shot and we might go in only down 8. And if we make it we might go in only down 3 or 4... No? Oh, okay...)
- Antoine Wright takes matters into his own hands as the shot clock drains down to 14 (you can't make this stuff up) and drives right into a block by the much taller Chris Bosh.
(Am I dreaming or would a set play take longer than 10 seconds?)
- Bosh gets fouled right away, I mean right away, by VC. No time clicks off the clock. Bosh drains two. Nets down 8, 47-39, with 24 seconds left on the clock.
(Mr. Coach Lawrence Frank, sir - please, call a time out, set up a play for the last shot. Worst case you're down by 8 at the half; you could be down only 5 or 6. You got 3 timeouts left and they evaporate at the end of the half, so why not use 'em and put your team in as good a position as it can be, having already been outscored 30-18 this quarter? Whattaya say, huh? No? Oh, okay...)
- Unaccountably, the Nets score! But there's still 17 seconds left. And Toto's got the ball.
(Really, Mr Frank, sir, you see? The whole idea of setting up a play is to get everybody on the same page of draining the clock down for the last shot. That way the worst you go down in 8, and if you make the shot you're down 6, anybody's game. Excuse me? Oh, I see. You're the experienced professional. I'm just a lifelong fan, player and coach. Sorry. What was I thinking?)
- TJ Ford scores with 2 seconds left as the Raptors try to hold for the last shot. Nets down 8.
- Kidd tries to throw it down court but Krstic can't handle it. As time expires the ball finds its way into Bosh's hands at midcourt and soon thereafter hurtling thru the cords as the backboard turns pink.

Nets net? Down 52-41 at the half. Down 11. Not 3, 4, 6 or even 8. Eleven.

Second half begins with the Nets getting the ball and scoring on a Curly layup, but then this being the NBA, "teams are gonna make runs", right Lawrence?

I find it interesting that the NBA team that never seems to make such go ahead runs in the last few years is the Nets...

Missed shot, offensive rebound given up as flatfooted Nets watch, foul, turnover, missed layup, and just like that, the Nets are down 59-43. Raptors are on a 7-0 run and the Nets look inept.

Suppose, just suppose, the Nets use one of those extremely precious time outs, settle down both themselves and the Raptors, set up a play and maybe cut it to 14 while breaking the Raptors momentum? At 16 and the Raptors on a roll, it might be your last chance...

Nah...

When Mr Frank finally does call time out, only 30 seconds have elapsed further, and the Nets are down by 19. For the second quarter in a row they have scored 2 points in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter. As we would learn a few days later, the Nets have not overcome a 20 point lead since 2002. February 2002. This game is now out of hand. You have traded any hope of winning this game for a lousy 30 seconds. Was it worth the wait? And what's the point now, Mr Lawrence Frank, sir?

It just gets worse. My wife and kids want to leave. We leave after the 3rd quarter. Nets down by 23. I hate leaving games early, and now that we have season parking, there's no incentive to beat the traffic. (Attendance officially a little less than 15,000, more like 9,000 by the end of the third, so there's not gonna be any real traffic anyway...) But it turns out to be a wise move. Nets get down 36 at one point and are completely embarrassed, 102-69.

I'd like to turn the page, but knowing Lawrence Frank, I won't be able to...

Opening Nite - Hope, Deja Vu, Luck, and a Win

After 40 years, I finally can afford season tickets. I'm pumped.

The Nets start the season in style - for one half. Playing as well if not better than they did against Toronto in the playoffs last year, the Nets play great, smart, team basketball and race off to a 15 point lead over Chicago (not a bad team) at the half. Great!

I realize there is another great benefit to being a season ticket holder - you don't have to listen to the announcers! Can there be any worse than Mark Jackson? Don't need a mute button here!

But then comes the 2nd half and, as one of the most illustrious Jerseyans would say, it's deja vu all over again. The Bulls close the gap, and our boy genius coach, Lawrence "the timekeeper" Frank lets it happen. The Nets are missing shots, making stupid mistakes and stupider fouls, and yet, no time out, and before you know it it's the middle of the third and only a 3 point lead.

But wait, it gets better. Less than 2 minutes to go and the Nets are up 5. AND you have the ball. Why not CALL TIME OUT AND SET UP A PLAY, put the game away?

Why? This is a question we will return to, I am sure, again and again and again during the season...

No. Vince Carter takes a 3 (a three?). Miss.

Bulls miss layup but Deng gets the rebound as 4 Nets stand and watch him lay it in. 3 point game.

A minute to go. Six seconds tick off the clock. Only six. J Kidd takes a 3 (a three??). Miss.

16 seconds later Andres Nocioni shows Kidd and Carter how to do it. Tie game.

38 seconds to go. Why not CALL TIME OUT AND SET UP A PLAY? Are you kidding? The Great Lawrence Frank forgoes the timeout, but VC can't forgo YET ANOTHER 3 ATTEMPT. AIRBALL. Rebound? Guess...

So here we are. A 15 point halftime lead squandered. A 7 point lead with 2 minutes left squandered. Three opportunities to call time, set up a play and salt away the game, squandered. There are now 19 seconds left, and you'll never guess what Chicago does - they CALL TIME OUT TO SET UP A PLAY. Oh, and did I mention? The can hold the ball for the last shot.

Now comes the luck. The Bulls can't get the ball to anyone open until 3 seconds left when Ben Gordon is wide open for a (you guessed it) 3. Does he take a step or two in, since a deuce wins the game? No, this is the NBA. Does he drive the basket to get fouled, needing only to drain one of two? No, this is the NBA.

So he takes the three. Clang.

Do the Nets get the rebound? NO.

Ben Wallace gets it and puts up a layup that LUCKILY does not drop. Overtime.

The Nets then return to their first half form and pull out the win over a good (well, we thought they were good - it takes them until game 5 to win their first one, then promptly get trounced by 30 two nights later) but distracted (Kobe beef, Luol?) Bulls team.

As the great Lawrence Frank would say, a win is a win...

1-0 to start is not bad. We'll take it.... With misgivings.

A blog about the New Jersey Nets???

Oh yeah!

I'm the guy who is not supposed to exist - I have been a Nets fan for 40, count 'em, 40 years. I followed the team from NJ (Americans) to LI (Americans, then Nets, to rhyme with the Mets and Jets (who were named to rhyme with the Mets) - by the way, there was actually a pro TENNIS team called the NY Nets as well...), back to Jersey (at the RAC, then to the Meadowlands Arena cum Brendan Byrne Arena cum Continental Airlines Arena cum Izod Arena), and soon to Brooklyn (the Bruce Ratner Ha-I Got My Development Project Thru Anyway! Arena).

I have seen bad basketball turn into great basketball (Rick Barry) turn bad again turn into amazing basketball (courtesy of the J - the Nets were better than the NBA best Warriors), cross the river and give up Erving for the privilege, turn into almost contender basketball (Buck Williams and Super John), go south with an amazingly stupid trade of Buck for that all time great, Sam Bowie, stay bad until the very underrated Bill Fitch turns them into a playoff team, become a contender under Chuck Daly, go back in the tank when he "retires" (oh, sure), stay in the tank despite getting Keith Van Horn, Kerry Kittles and Kenyon Martin in almost successive years, until unaccountably Rod Thorn comes on board and then Jason Kidd, and then suddenly the Nets are in the finals two years in a row and could have made it three had Kidd not become incapacitated. They are on their longest run of playoff appearances - six seasons in a row.

I've seen really stupid trades, one miraculous one (Jason Kidd for Stephon Marbury) and one that might have worked out great, for Vince Carter, but so far...

Anyway, despite this recent success, the Nets as an organization continue to make the most colossal blunders imaginable - leading up to the announcement of a move to Brooklyn FIVE YEARS before actually doing it (optimistically), throwing a wet blanket on what could be a great fan base.

And I'm still here...

That should tell you something....