Game 50 Preview: Charlotte Bobcats (7-38) at Nets (15-34)

The Nets are currently in the midst of a 5-game losing streak. The Bobcats lost 16 games in a row earlier this season. Do you see where I'm going with this? Both of these teams absolutely stink but the Nets just stink less at this point. Looking to sweep the 4-game series series between them and Charlotte, the Nets will be looking to reverse their horrendous play at their Prudential Center this season with a win tonight.


Background on Charlotte

The Bobcats are 3-21 on the road on the year and there is simply no reason why they should get their 4th road win against the Nets. Charlotte doesn't do anything on the floor well at all. The Bobcats can't score (30th in the NBA), can't rebound (29th), and don't even play any defense (27th). The Nets aren't much better (25th, 26th, 24th respectively) but they have the one thing that Charlotte doesn't have, starpower. Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin are solid players but they just don't have the explosiveness that Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace give the Nets. And as we all know, the NBA is a league of stars.

Previous Game

Last night in Charlotte, the new-look Milwaukee Bucks throttled the lowly Bobcats by 20 in a 112-92 victory. The simple story to this game was that the Bucks hit their shots (to the tune of 53 percent) and the Bobcats didn't (41 percent) which isn't really that surprising with such an inept team like Charlotte is. Gerald Henderson was the only saving grace for the losing team as he banged home 13 of his 19 shots for a game-high 29 points.


The Nets played much better last night than their opponent tonight but also came away with a loss. In Atlanta against the playoff-bound Hawks, New Jersey held a lead as large as eight points a few times throughout but couldn't keep up the intensity in the 4th quarter, blowing the lead and eventually the game. Gerald Wallace had another poor shooting night (3-14) but was able to grad nine boards and six assists. D-Will scored 20 and Hump had 17 but the Nets had no answer for Atlanta's Josh Smith, who scored a game-high 30 and had 12 boards as well.

Probable Lineups 

CHA- Augustin (PG), Henderson (SG), Maggette (SF), Tyrus Thomas (PF), Biyombo (C)

NJN- D.Williams (PG), Brooks (SG), Wallace (SF), Humphries (PF), She. Williams (C)

Three Keys to a Nets Victory

1. Somebody guard somebody- Something simple that should be easy against a team like Charlotte but is always hard for the Nets. In recent games, New Jersey has tended to give opposing teams tons of space on offense leading to easy shots and tons of points. This is what happened in the home losses to bad teams like the Cavs, Hornets, and Wizards suffered last week.

2. Get D-Will going- He had a solid performance last night but has been terribly inefficient from the field since returning from his four-game absence earlier this month. When D-Will is on, he can do what he did against the Bobcats in Charlotte on March 4th when he dropped a career-high 57 points in a Nets win. If he turns it on tonight, expect an easy Nets win.

3. Limit the fouls- Charlotte may not be able to hit a lot of shots from the field but they can definitely stroke it from the free-throw line. Even in their losing effort last night against the Bucks, the Bobcats took 26 free-throw attempts and hit 23 of them, to a solid 89 percent clip. If the Nets don't send Charlotte to the line too much, then a big part of their offense will be limited and would do wonders to the Nets' chances of a win.


Prediction (nope, not anymore)
The prediction section of BrooklynBalling is henceforth retired.