Netlinked 11/25/12: Springfield Armor Make Their Season Opener a Successful One

These three guys (from left: Scott, Uzoh, Mays) are the core of the Armor and might be called up to the big-league squad later this season if they keep playing this well.

The Nets' D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor, started off their season the right way last night by defeating the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers' affiliate, in an overtime opener on the road. Kevin Jones of the Charge led all scorers with 31 points in addition to grabbing 16 boards, second-highest in the game to the Armor's James Mays, who had 17 rebounds on the night and scored 23 points. Mays, as you may remember, was a training-camp invitee with the Nets who was cut just before the regular season began.

Fellow invitee Carleton Scott added 13 points for the Armor in the win and former Net and D-League draft-day acquisition Ben Uzoh had a double-double, notching 16 points and 10 boards to go along with six assists. The Armor traded for Uzoh a few weeks ago in exchange for a draft pick, a move which appears to have worked out well already.

Game 6 Recap: Nets 114, Cavaliers 101

The Nets simply had no answer for Varejao tonight. Thankfully, him and the Cavs had no answer for the Nets either.

For the sake of an analogy, the Brooklyn Nets are like the lead actor in a play, possibly even a Broadway one. Lead actors in plays are very talented and draw the audience in with their dramatic dialogue and actions. People root for them when they are the hero, people root against them when they are the enemy. The point is that they are captivating. However, they can also be really loud and annoying, in addition to having off days from time to time. In these circumstances, the audience is expecting a lot from the lead actor but instead gets a dud of a performance. The Nets are very much like this.

How, you might say, could a basketball team be like an actor in a play? Well, like an actor, the Nets have tons of natural talent which will propel them to many leads and big wins this season. They also have their fair share of duds, exemplified by the many blown leads and the pair of notable crushing losses they have had so far this season. Tonight, we saw both sides of the Nets, good and bad. Good in that they moved the ball around on offense masterfully the entire game, leading to 27 (!) assists and 114 points. Good in that they shot 54.5 percent from the field, only committed 13 turnovers against one of the NBA's best teams at forcing turnovers, and even blocked 10 shots. Bad in that they allowed 101 points to the Cavs and career-highs to both Kyrie Irving (34 points) and Anderson Varejao (35 points on 16-21 shooting).

Game 6 Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers (2-5) at Brooklyn Nets (3-2)

Some around the NBA ridiculed the Cavs drafting guard Dion Waiters with the fourth overall pick in this summer's Draft. After seeing how he and sophomore sensation point guard Kyrie Irving are playing with each other early on this season, those critics are probably eating their words.

When: 7:30 pm; Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY

TV: YES Network

The Nets and Cavaliers are very similar teams in their general talent distribution, but very different in total amount of talent. Each team's focus is certainly on their backcourt, led by strong point guards and shooting guards. Obviously, the Nets have Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, a pair who have been around the proverbial block in the NBA and have attained veteran status. The Cavaliers have Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters at the 1 and 2, whom they acquired in the 2011 and 2012 NBA Drafts respectively. Deron and Joe have the experience and are the more-established pairing while Irving and Waiters have youth on their side, and are arguably more explosive than both D-Will and Johnson. These four guards duking it out later tonight at the Barclays Center will be fun to watch, and whichever backcourt outplays the other will probably determine the winner of the game.

The Nets are actually catching Cleveland at a pretty good time, considering the Cavs are playing their sixth, and final, game of a brutal road trip which has taken them to LA and Oklahoma City, among other places. A road trip which they are currently just 1-4 on and a road trip which they want to end as soon as possible, inviting the possibility of a let-down game by a team that just wants to go back home immediately. That's certainly an advantage in Brooklyn's favor but, as we have learned with the Nets in recent years, they can't take ANYTHING for granted against a lower-level team. Too many times have the Nets lost to awful, awful teams that have they have rightful reason to be losing to. They can't have that happen a lot this season if they are going to be a playoff team. No chance.

Game 58 Recap: Nets 122, Cavaliers 117 (OT)

This is Lester Hudson. You probably didn't know that before last night's game but you should now.

I was at this game and boy was it interesting/exciting. Cleveland didn't have Kyrie Irving due to injury but that didn't matter as they got extremely productive performances from some unassuming forces as they fought back to tie up the game with a 38-point 4th quarter. As usual, the game started off with the Nets being sluggish as Cleveland jumped out to a quick 22-13 lead. The Nets stormed back to take an 8-point halftime lead by winning the 2nd quarter 30-18.

Then, after a particularly even 3rd quarter, the Cavs went crazy in the 4th by hitting 12 of their 21 shots, especially six of seven from behind the arc. 10-day contract signee Lester Hudson put his mark on the game in this quarter by scoring 18 of his 26 points, highlighted by a three with 0.3 seconds remaining that sent this game to overtime. Honestly, I had no idea who Lester Hudson was as a player prior to the game but now I know that he can shoot from really deep and with players in his face. Yet another D-Leaguer who burned the Nets.

Game 47 Recap: Cavaliers 105, Nets 100

Sorry about the lack of preview for the game but I'll make up for it with this slightly different recap format (don't worry, it's not permanent). The lowly and young Cleveland Cavaliers marched into the Prudential Center and, like many bad teams have done this season, beat the Nets who just didn't seem to want to win this game. Cleveland simply obliterated the Nets on the boards by an advantage of 55-37 and just made shots when they needed to in order to win the game, which the Nets didn't do in the slightest. Cleveland's two significant rookies, 1st-overall Kyrie Irving and 4th-overall Tristan Thompson, combined for 53 points on 20-36 shooting, taking advantage of the usual porous Nets defense that seemed extra uninspired tonight.

Kris Humphries and Shelden Williams both got into foul trouble early on (with some questionable calls by the refs) which limited their playing time and production on the court. This led to the Nets being forced to use smaller lineups throughout the game which contributed to the Cavs' rebounding explosion. The Nets also missed a ton of shots, makeable shots, which D-Will could be blamed for.

Deron had 28 points and eight assists but only shot 8-23 from the field and committed five turnovers. At some points, his shot selection was awful, expressed by the contested lay-up he missed at the tail-end of the 4th quarter, a shot that if it went in, could keep the Nets within two points of the Cavs lead. Of course, he missed, Cleveland rebounded, the Nets fouled, and then the game was put away at the foul line.

Game 20 Recap: Nets 99, Cavaliers 96

Yet again, Humphries stepped up with a big double-double performance for the Nets

The final score of tonight's Nets win over the Cavs was not at all indicative of how the actual game played. In reality, the Nets' 7th win of the season was a blow-out from the 1st quarter on. As has been the norm in Net wins this season, New Jersey held a 30-20 lead after quarter 1 tonight and they never looked back, keeping around a 10-point lead for most of the game except in the final minutes when Cleveland made a failed comeback attempt.

Similarly to Wednesday's win over the 76ers, Deron Williams led this team to a win tonight with 27 points and 10 assists in addition to 5 three-pointers. Deron is finally playing like the point guard that the Nets so desperately were looking for when they acquired him from the Jazz. Deron's uptick in performance has helped get open looks for other Nets like Anthoyn Morrow and Kris Humphries whose recent bumps in production have coincided with Deron finding his groove. Morrow, on 8-18 shooting, scored 22 points tonight and hit a few clutch shots towards the end of the game to seal the win for the Nets. Hump garnered another double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds, he really asserted himself in the paint tonight as a force on offense and defense.

Game 20 Preview: Nets (6-13) at Cleveland Cavaliers (7-10)

Kyrie Irving has been a sensation so far in his rookie year, can the Nets stop him?   Joshua Gunter, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer

UPDATE: Mehmet Okur (back) and Marshon Brooks (Achilles) are out tonight with injuries, Shelden Williams and Anthony Morrow will replace watch of them respectively.

The Nets look to continue their momentum from the team's huge overtime win in Philadelphia on Wednesday win a another road game against the Cavs, a team the Nets lost to on New Year's Day in a particularly poor effort. Marshon Brooks looks to be another game-time decision for this one but according to numerous reports, there's a better chance of him not playing than there is of him being able to play but its very close to 50-50 either way.

Background on Cleveland
Obviously, the Cavs are still a team in rebuilding mode after star hometown boy Lebron James took his talents to South Beach to join the Heat the summer before last. However, the rebuilding mode has been accelerated by the team's most recent draft in which they netted franchise point guard Kyrie Irving 1st overall and power forward Tristan Thompson 4th overall. Cleveland isn't good right now, but in a few years with even more draft picks added to the fray, they might become a team to watch in the East.