Heir’z Corner: Nets Deny Miracle in Hollywood

Pretty frustrating game to lose. Only the Lakers can play well and get everyone excited, then go out and blow it against a bad team. You have to give any team in this league credit, there’s no such thing as an easy game. The bottom line is if you go out there and don’t compete, you WILL lose. The Nets actually wanted to win this game and it showed. Give credit to the adjustments they made in the second half which got them this win: better spacing on offense, a quicker style of play, and great defense. We didn’t deserve to win this game because we didn’t show up. Poor coaching by Phil in the 3rd quarter when NJ was going on a run. It was almost like he didn’t call a timeout because he wanted to punish the players, not win the game. He should’ve recognized when the right time was to talk it over.

Vladimir Radmanovic- Horrible game for Vlad. I hate his mindset of “when in doubt, chuck one up”. I won’t even go any further. Final stat line: 1 point, 0-10 from the field.

Lamar Odom- Well he picked it up compared to his last two games, but disappeared in the second half. Until he can show me a great effort for a full game and not one quarter or half, I’m still not impressed. He played a solid game, but he could’ve done more. Final stat line: 16 points, 5-6 from the field.

Andrew Bynum- I still don’t think he gets as many touches as he should. If we had pounded it to him inside against Williams, he wouldn’t have been bouncing around everywhere. He wasn’t big enough to guard Drew, but the players forced things on offense that weren’t there instead of feeding him. Final stat line: 12 points, 13 rebounds, in 35 minutes. The minutes were what impressed me the most.

Kobe Bryant- Rough game for Kobe, obviously. He nearly won the game for us singlehandedly in the 4th, but his play wasn’t so hot before that. In the first half he forced some shots, then in the second half he was too passive. The reason he struggled this game was because he’s still having that same problem I said he needs to work on coming into this season: knowing when the right time is to shoot, and when to attack the rim. As we all know, he hasn’t been shooting the ball well. Final stat line: 31 points, 7-21 from the field, 7 assists, 4 steals.

Derek Fisher- Strong offensive game for Derek, questionable defense. With Kobe being in less isolations, and being more involved in the movement of the offense (coming off screens, cuts, etc), Fish shooting the ball well will be a big plus this season. But on defense, however, he needs to pick it up. Fish hasn’t applied a lot of pressure on the other team’s point, he just seems to back off and give him space. This concerns me. Final stat line: 20 points, 8-10 from the field.

Final Thought: My 3 biggest concerns right now are defense, turnovers, and going inside enough. We’ve given up over 100 for three consecutive games now, so obviously there isn’t any coincidence that we’re on a 3 game losing streak. We didn’t protect our homecourt against a bad team. Winning this game along with the two others against Seattle and Denver would’ve given us a little push. Yet another wasted opportunity, hopefully we’ll display more focus on Tuesday. I’m growing more and more concerned by the second.

-Heir

Next Game: LAL vs SEA

The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the strength within you that survives all the hurt.
-Unknown