Sunday, January 27, 2008

Game 44 - We now know who the worst team in the NBA is

It is Lawrence Frank's New Jersey Nets!

With 1:18 to go the Nets have a 7 point lead on the team with the worst record in the NBA.

Let me repeat that:

With 1:18 to go the Nets have a 7 point lead on the team with the worst record in the NBA.

My prediction for this road trip was 1-5. Coming into tonite they were 0-5.

They give up a three. They now have a 4 point lead.

Jason Collins is a Stanford alumnus. I went to Stanford. I want to like him. He took a charge at the end, to his credit, and it is THE only thing he can do.

Nets get the ball and Kidd finds a guy right under the basket. The guy is fouled with 58.6 seconds to go. Two free throws.

Unfortunately, that guy was Jason Collins.

Front rim. Air ball.

Question for the omniscient Lawrence Frank: Sirrah, you hoard all your precious timeouts for the end of the game so you can micromanage it. Why in THE world did you leave Mr. Collins in the game on the offensive end?

OK, so the Nets are back on defense. They just let Minnesota hit a 3. They just made it a 4 point game. One would think that the brilliant Lawrence Frank might somehow get his team to focus on guarding the 3.

TWolves hit a 3. One point game.

Timeout. Frank at least has the sense to take Jason Collins out of the game and not put in the other free throw embarrassment, Josh Boone. He puts in Sean Williams. Um, wouldn't it make more sense to put in a shooter?? Nets bring the ball down the court with 40 seconds left in the game. Carter takes a jumper which, of course, bounds off. Scramble for the ball, right in front of the ref. Clearly goes off the Twolves. Call?

You don't get calls when you are playing like crap.

So the Twolves bring the ball down, trailing by one. 21 seconds left. Nets play good defense, it seems. Wild shot. Rebound to... Al Jefferson and he is fouled!

Were it the Nets, they would have missed one of the pair, I swear...

Now we have 11 seconds left. Nets down one. The great and powerful Frank calls a play, bless him. Ball into RJ. Takes a shot. No one under. Front rims it. Twolves rebound. Who?

Al Jefferson drains both (of course) for his 39th and 40th point and the Twolves are up 3.

Timeout (of course). Nachbar put in for Williams. (Why wasn't he put in when he took Collins out?) Ball in to Carter. Attempted 3. Airball. Nets lose.

How many times have the Nets come up dry to end a game this season? How many times have they blown a lead with 2 minutes left? How come nothing changes?

I don't care how "well" the Twolves have been playing of late. They had 7 wins for the entire season. They outscored the Nets 10-0 to end the game, 34-21 for the 4th quarter.

This just in - Richard Jefferson is being interviewed on the postgame, and says "the game didn't come down to free throws" "free throws didn't factor in". I love RJ, but he is in serious denial. And what game was he watching??

I am tired of the Nets coming up short, blowing leads, missing free throws, failing to guard the three, failing to play defense. What has changed? Magic Johnson says it's Vince Carter's knees...

No. The problem is simply this, and everyone knows it but won't say it for some reason: The Nets are not listening, not reacting, not trusting their coaching.

They are thus now the worst team in the NBA. With Vince Carter, a scoring machine, Richard Jefferson, the fifth highest scorer in the league, and Jason Kidd, the best all around player in the game today, the Nets stink. How can that be?

How can every game play out like every other? How can a team time after time fail, irrespective of the competition, to finish a game? How can a team of professionals, against the worst fouling team in the NBA, not even break 70% from the line?

0-9 with none of the big 3 injured. 1-10 with none of the big 3 injured. The Nets have gone from a 9-6 team on the road to a 9-12 team on the road. Three blowouts, three collapses.

How does this clown keep his job?

How does this clown keep his job?

How does this clown keep his job?

3 comments:

NBAroto.com said...

Stunned by the loss. Absolutely stunned.

Armando said...

Im embarrassed to have this guy coaching our team. Keep up the good blogging.

Gavino said...

Thank you guys for your comments. Pls come back and tell your Nets friends.