Reggie Evans Fined for Flop from Nets-Lakers Game

This is kind of old already (with the ridiculously short news-cycle of the Internet age), but Reggie Evans has made news as the first NBA player to be fined under the league's new flopping policy. The "flop" in question came during the Nets-Lakers game on Tuesday night when Evans embellished a bump he took from Metta World Peace of the Lakers, a play which was called an offensive foul on the Player Formerly Known as Ron Artest. Evans was fined $5,000 dollars for the incident, so I'm sure he's not that discouraged.

Game 9 Recap: Lakers 95, Nets 90. The One Where D'Antoni Made His Debut

It was easy to tell that Deron wanted to win last night's very badly. The Nets probably would have if he could have hit a few more shots.

If a moral victory is actually a legitimate thing, then the Nets probably had one last night against the Los Angeles Lakers. A win in the standings? Something they did not have. However, Brooklyn showed that they could match up with and compete with one of the NBA's premier teams in the Lakers by coming back from an early 10-point deficit right off the bat to take the lead throughout much of the second half, just to slowly lose it late in the fourth quarter.

The Nets certainly looked outmatched in the beginning moments of the game, as they committed four quick turnovers in the first four minutes, pressured by the hounding Los Angeles defense. It was surprising that the Lakers--in the debut of new, solely offensive-minded head coach Mike D'Antoni--played so well on the defensive side of the court early on but the turnovers could also be attributed to a Nets squad that was rushing in their sets, making boneheaded and lazy plays, and simply playing like the New Jersey team, one prone to countless amounts of inept stretches of basketball. After a timeout by Avery Johnson, though, Brooklyn came back with a purpose and rattled off eight points in a row to come within two. The game stayed close throughout the rest of the first until Kobe Bryant hit three jumpers in a row to expand the LA lead to six points.

Then, in the second quarter, the Lakers' main weakness was shown as their bench promptly coughed up their lead and the Nets got hot from the field, scoring 34 points in the period to go up a point at half. As usual, the Nets' "bench mob" or "Brooklyn Zoo" (credit Twitter for both awesome nicknames) picked up the slack, with C.J. Watson hitting a few threes, Andray Blatche hitting a few shots in the lane, and, of course, Reggie Evans rebounding nearly everything in sight. Solid second quarter performances also came from starters Brook Lopez and Deron Williams.

Game 9 Preview: Brooklyn Nets (6-2) at Los Angeles Lakers (5-5)

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When: 10:30 pm; Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

Where: Staples Center; Los Angeles, CA

TV: YES Network
 
Tonight, the Nets look to extend their improbable five-game winning streak against the far-and-away toughest team they have faced during the span of that streak. Of course, that team is the newest NBA superteam, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Nets and Lakers were mentioned a lot together this summer as Brooklyn's most-prized potential catch, Dwight Howard, ended up being traded to LA after just a little too much wavering on the star center's end. Howard made it clear that he wanted to be a Net multiple times throughout the arduous and tortuous ordeal known as the "Dwight-mare". However, he made some mind-boggling decisions--and non-decisions--which led to his acquiring by the Lakers as part of a four-team deal that sent Andrew Bynum to Philly, Andre Iguodala to Denver, and Arron Afflalo to Orlando, along with some other pieces of course.

The Nets were so close to getting Dwight at multiple times throughout the wooing process that many with the franchise were ready to give Brooklyn a point guard-center pairing for the ages, D-Will and Dwight, but it was not meant to be. That means there will certainly be players in tonight's contest playing with a little edge on their shoulder, with a little more hustle. Like Brook Lopez, whom the Nets were ready to ship to Central Florida for Howard, or even MarShon Brooks, another rumored asset offered by Brooklyn to Orlando. And even the two main players in the scenario itself, Deron Williams and Dwight Howard. D-Will had his own decision to make this summer--Dallas or Brooklyn--and he chose Brooklyn, somewhat assuming that he would have Howard to play with at Barclays Center when the season tipped in November.

Netlinked 10/22/12: Former Nets Terrence Williams and Chris Douglas-Roberts Released; Nets Voted Most-Improved Team

After an All-American career at the University of Memphis, Chris Douglas-Roberts was a star, so it seemed like the Nets drafting him at 40th overall in 2008 was a major steal. Guess that didn't turn out exactly as expected, right?

We have some former Nets news today on Netlinked as a few former draft picks of the team were released today by their respective teams. 

First off, we have Terrence Williams who, along with Jonny Flynn, was cut today by the Detroit Pistons as a training camp invite. The Nets drafted T-Will with the 11th overall pick in the 2009 Draft out of Louisville and the guard/forward just couldn't find his place on the team, as he was traded to the Rockets midway through the 2010-11 season, just his 2nd in the New Jersey. Since then, he has bounced around from Houston to Sacramento and then finally Detroit.

A year before picking Williams, the Nets drafted Chris Douglas-Roberts with the 40th pick of the 2008 Draft, in the 2nd round out of Memphis. CDR was cut by the Lakers today but, unlike T-Will, was widely believed to have a legitimate shot at making the Lakers' squad. His skill set--bench scorer, occasional defense, consistent hustle--is one that a bunch of teams in the NBA could certainly use.

And finally, the NBA's annual survey of general managers came out today and the Nets were pretty well represented in the results. The most glaring and predictable of them? Roughly 60% of the 30 NBA GMs voted the Nets as the team that is most likely to be improved this upcoming season. Makes sense, the Nets have been flipped and turned upside down (to quote Will Smith from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") over the offseason and are a completely different team from last year, as most of you already know.