Game 19 Preview: Nets (5-13) at Philadelphia 76ers (12-5)

Deron needs to be on his best game tonight

The Nets will try to break a 9-game losing streak to the Atlantic Division-leading Philadephia 76ers in Philly later tonight. The Nets will try to bounce back from one of their worst performances of the season against the Bulls in a blow-out loss on Monday.


Background on Philadelphia
The 76ers have been one of the NBA's biggest surprises this season as they have played amazing team basketball so far this season to propel to the best record so far in the Atlantic Divison. Their solid 12-5 record puts them ahead of teams like the Celtics and Knicks who were predicted to be better than these 76ers at the beginning of the year. One of the main reasons that Philly has been so good this year is because of their dominance at home as they have one of the best home records in the NBA this season with 8 wins and only 1 loss. They hope to continue their home success against the Nets tonight, a team they have beaten 9 straight times.

Previous Game

Philadephia is coming off of a 103-83 drubbing of the hapless Wizards on Monday and the score doesn't even do justice to how much of a blow-out the game actually was. I mean the 76ers were leading 62-32 at half and I guess it was so bad for the Wizards, that their front office ended up firing coach Flip Saunders the day after the game. Granted, beating the Wizards at home is not an accomplishment by any stretch of the word but a win still is a win and when you're nearly doubling up a team at half, it means that you're a pretty good NBA team that is dangerous on the offensive and defensive ends. The 76ers are on fire right now and the Nets aren't catching them at the optimal time.

The Nets, as summed up in my recap of the game, got throttled at the hands of the NBA-best Chicago Bulls on Monday even though the Bulls were facing some injury issues as were the Nets. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah were game-time decisions for Monday but both ended up playing and the Nets sure felt their presence. Noah controlled the paint with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Rose manned the perimeter on his way to a 22-point, 8-assist effort. The Nets basically had no chance in this game without Brook Lopez (foot) and Marshon Brooks (achilles).

Probable Lineups 
NJN- D.Williams (PG), Morrow (SG), Stevenson (SF), Humphries (PF), Okur (C)

PHI- Holiday (PG), Meeks (SG), Iguodala (SF), Brand (PF), Hawes (C)


Three Keys to a Nets Victory

1. Rebound, rebound, rebound- The Nets have been getting killed on the boards throughout this whole season as opposing teams have scored tons of points off of offensive boards. This won't be an easy thing to fix against Philly because power forward Elton Brand is a beast at offensive put-backs and he will single-handedly crush the Nets if he gets enough second-chances with offensive rebounds.

2.Stay close in the 1st quarter- The Nets have been awful this season and it was no different against the Bulls as they faced a 10-point deficit after 12 minutes, a deficit that they wouldn't overcome the entire game. Even a 5-point deficit after 1 quarter would be ok, at least that's a manageable amount of points.

3. Help out Deron- In the wake of Brook's injury, Deron Williams (and Marshon to some extent) has basically been the whole offense and he clearly can't win the Nets games by himself solely. The reason Deron has committed so many turnovers this season is because he's trying to do too much because he has no choice, no other Net had been able to take the reins off of Deron's shoulders simply because no other Nets player has that ability. Hopefully Marshon's achilles will be rested enough so he can go tonight to relieve some of the burden on Deron but if not, then the Nets are in a world of trouble.

Prediction
I think that the Nets will play a lot better than they did on Monday in Chicago but the 76ers have been nearly unbeatable at home recently and the Nets just won't play enough defense to win. 102-89 76ers.

UPDATE: According to Mike Mazzeo, Marshon Brooks will not play tonight as his Achilles has apparently acted up again. Uh oh.