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| The fight that the Nets showed against the Cavs simply wasn’t there tonight. |
Well that was awful. The Toronto Raptors came into the Prudential Center and simply crushed a Nets team that looked like it never got out of bed in the morning. The Nets were simply horrendous and an energetic Toronto team without two of its better players ran circles right around the listless Nets that looked like it didn’t care whether they won the game or not. There was no defense, there was no offense, there was no rebounding, and there wasn’t even any energy to speak of whatsoever. The Raptors simply dominated the Nets tonight, ending a season-high two-game winning streak for New Jersey.
Even the return of Marshon Brooks from injury couldn’t spark this Nets team that just couldn’t put it together. The only Net who seemed to be into the game and had some intentions of getting a win was Deron Williams and every other player seemed to have been caught by the complacency bug. Deron scored his seemingly usual 24 points but only had 6 assists which is a direct result of the lack of offensive movement and determination by the four other players on the court with Deron.
Looking away from the offensive end on which the Nets only shot 37 percent from the field on, the defensive presence just wasn’t there from the Nets. The Raptors, especially DeMar DeRozan (27 pts, 8-12 FG), Jerryd Bayless (17, 7-15), and Linas Kleiza (15, 5-11), had plenty of wide open perimeter shots that they drained. Not only was the Nets’ perimeter defense awful, the interior defense was horrible as well, highlighted by the multiple uncontested dunks and lay-ups at the rim that the Raptors had throughout the game. The two biggest culprits of the non-defense were Shawne Williams and Kris Humphries.
DeRozan simply ran right by Williams a few times during the 2nd half of the game en route to wide open shots a few feet from the hoop. Maybe its just me, but I feel that Shawne Williams has been terribly ineffective his whole stint in New Jersey and I don’t know why Avery keeps playing him meaningful minutes because he doesn’t produce anything on the defensive or offensive ends of the floor and is a major liability. Regarding Humphries, he was off of his game completely and let guys like Kleiza and Ed Davis bully him on the interior. Hump did have 8 rebounds, but he only scored 3 points and committed 5 turnovers. Kris’ plus/minus was also second-worst on the Nets to Anthony Morrow, which shows that when he was on the court, Toronto was having its way with the Nets’ defense and Hump deserved much of, if not the most, blame.
Some other observations I had from the game: There has got to be something seriously wrong with DeShawn Stevenson as he only played 12 minutes tonight and once again, didn’t score or even do much on the defensive end. He did go down to the floor with an apparent leg injury in the 3rd quarter but re-entered the game and wasn’t noticeable limping or anything. He’s been such an enigma this season…Marshon Brooks did not look like the same Marshon Brooks that he was before the Achilles injury. He only shot 3-10 in this game with 6 points so I think that Avery might have rushed him back a little bit. Marshon didn’t show any of the explosiveness and impressive shooting skills that he had pre-injury…The Nets didn’t really shoot well from anywhere on the floor tonight but the free throw line was especially bad as we went 12-18 for a putrid 67 percent. Those free points need to be converted if these Nets are to be competitive in the East…Jordan Williams was called up from Springfield for this game because of Mehmet’s injury. He played 4 minutes and was 0-1 from the field…Fellow D-Leaguer Larry Owens played ok in his limited time as he scored 6 points in his 20 minutes and even hit a 3-pointer…DeMar DeRozan is a really good player as he torched the Nets for 27 points. He’s mostly known for being a high-flyer but he showed off a consistently good jump-shot in tonight’s game.
Looking Ahead
The Nets will try to rebound from this horrible effort Tuesday night in Indiana against the Pacers. If the Nets play on Tuesday like they played tonight, then they will get crushed again and we will be left to think just how bad this team actually is.
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