Game 12 Recap: Nets 98, Trail Blazers 85. The One Where Reggie, Brook, and Hump Got All The Rebounds

With every game he plays well in, Joe Johnson is looking more and more like a steal for the Nets

Winning their fifth-straight game at Barclays Center, the Nets rebounded (literally) from a bad first half effort to blow away the undermanned Portland Trail Blazers in the second half. Missing All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland didn't have a key cog in their lineup, but that didn't stop them from jumping out to a four-point lead at half behind rookies Damian Lillard and Meyers Leonard in addition to J.J. Hickson and Wesley Matthews as well. Luckily for the Nets, those guys cooled down after the intermission and Brooklyn's guys heated up. 

The third quarter woes that plagued the Nets during some of their earlier losses this season have been thankfully absent from the last two games, counting this afternoon's game of course. In the third quarter, D-Will came out with a vengeance, the vengeance that he expresses with intensity during close games in which he feels he has to take over. That's what he did right out of the break, driving at the rim fiercely on the undersized Lillard, first getting an easy layup, missing the next one, and then getting blocked. Maybe he didn't get the results he wanted from those drives, but the tone was set for the Nets, and that led them to even up the score by the end of that quarter just to run away with the game in the fourth.

Game 8 Recap: Nets 99, Kings 90. The One Where Blatche Went Off

22 points, 11-12 shooting, 20 minutes. Yep, this Andray Blatche. Yep, the guy who was amnestied this summer. Yep, the guy who was sent home by the Wizards last year because of his lack of conditioning.

Another weird, sloppy, and competitive game, another win for the Nets. Brooklyn extended its season-long winning streak to five games by taking care of the hapless Sacramento Kings at the terribly-named Sleep Train Arena (which I thinking should just be called The Sleep Train, in the vein of The Soul Train). It certainly wasn't pretty--we seem to be saying that about a lot of the Nets victories this season--but it goes on the left side of the W-L column which is all that mattered.

The Nets went to the paint for scoring throughout much of the first half, feeding Brook Lopez the ball a bunch early on, and he went to town against DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson. Brook faded away after the first 12 minutes of play and only ended up with 13 and a measly five rebounds on 5-14 shooting. Fellow starting big man, power forward Kris Humphries, was an afterthought on offense, taking just six shots and scoring six points. The real story of tonight's win was a backup forward who possibly had the game of his career.

Andray Blatche was simply unconscious from late in the first quarter to late in the third. Blatche, who I mentioned as a player to watch in my preview, couldn't miss anything. He hit his first nine shots--a miss of crafty layups, drives, and some admittedly low-percentage jumpers too--and scored 18 points by halftime, basically leading the Nets to a 33-22 second quarter by himself, hitting all six field goals he attempted in the quarter. The Nets constantly went to him to build up the lead they would nurse throughout the second half and he responded to the extra burden, attacking the rim with no mercy for anyone in his way. In one word, Blatche was unstoppable, and that's no exaggeration

Game 7 Preview: Boston Celtics (5-3) at Brooklyn Nets (4-2)

Kevin Garnett is scary both on and off the court.

When: 8:00 pm; Thursday, November 15th, 2012

Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY

TV: TNT (Marv Albert is doing the play-by-play!)
 
Three-game winning streaks haven't been all that common for the Nets in recent years. Other than one they had from March 28th-31st of last season, the franchise's last streak of that length was all the way back in the 2008-09 campaign, when they finished up their annual West Coast Thanksgiving road trip with three straight victories against the Kings, Jazz, and Suns. Now, the Nets find themselves in that unusual--yet still completely awesome--position of having won their last three games in a row and can extend that streak to four games if they can hold off the Celtics tonight in Brooklyn. Granted, that won't be an easy task as Boston owns the Nets, winning the last three meetings and, going back even further, winning 18 of the last 20 games between these two squads.

Boston is on its own three-game winning streak right now, with wins coming against the Bucks, Bulls, and the Jazz. In the most recent victory, coming last night at home over Utah, the Celtics improved their season record to 5-3 behind a 23-point performance by Paul Pierce, who was helped out with twin 16-point games by reserves Jeff Green and Leandro Barbosa. Both the Nets and Celtics are on top of their games right now, but those hot streaks haven't come without their fair share of consequences. Of course, those consequences are key pieces not being available due to injury.

Shot Analysis: MarShon Brooks

MarShon! The semi-fro!

This is the 3rd (and final post) in a series on analyzing shot charts of the more important Nets (sans Brook Lopez because of his limited play last year) and how they fared shooting from the field last season. We finish up with MarShon Brooks. Joe Johnson was analyzed last.

In college, MarShon Brooks was far-and-away known for his offensive skills above anything else regarding his status and basketball acumen. College, and pro, basketball fans alike undoubtedly began to hear Brooks' name after he dropped 52 points on a talented Notre Dame team while playing for Providence. Sure, it was just a regular season game between two non-elite squads, but whenever anyone in college--playing with just 2 20-minute halves--scores that many points, they are bound to get attention. Even with all the extra eyes from NBA teams that were trained on him in the second half, MarShon managed to fall to the 25th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, where he was drafted by the Celtics and immediately dealt to the Nets for the 27th pick (JaJuan Johnson) and a 2014 second-rounder.

MarShon Brooks Aggravates Foot Injury, Preseason Return Doubtful

Another season, another injury for the Nets

Bad news coming out of Nets' camp today as the team announced, via Twitter, that sophomore shooting guard, and noted swaggerking, MarShon Brooks has aggravated a prior right foot injury and will be out for 7-10 days. This means that Brooks probably won't play in any of the team's six preseason games for precautionary reasons but that he will most likely be fine for the regular season opener on November 1st.

The Nets, always a team that has extreme issues in staying healthy, can't really afford for their best bench scoring option in Brooks to be out of the line-up for a long time so they need him for their much-anticipated meeting with the Knicks in the official NBA christening of the Barclays Center. Makes sense to hold him out of the meaningless preseason.

Season-In-Review: Marshon Brooks

Marshon certainly hads swagger that goes through the roof, but will his potential and on-court performance do the same this season?

This post, along with the other posts I will do in the Season-In-Review series, will take a deeper look at how all the Nets did last season on the court and possibly off of it. We continue with Marshon Brooks. I covered Gerald Green last.

Ah, Marshon Brooks, the most swagged-out Net remaining on the squad, holding the sole title since DeShawn Stevenson was traded to the Hawks. The 25th overall pick in the 2011 Draft, acquired by the Nets during the draft from Boston for the 27th overall pick (JaJuan Johnson) and a future 2nd-rounder, turned out to be one of the few bright spots for the team last season and showed an inane ability to score the ball. Whether that be from beyond the 3-point arc, via the mid-range jumper, or even an acrobatic scoop-to-the-hoop down low, it didn't matter. The simple truth is that Marshon can score points in the NBA, a talent that he certainly showed during his college years at Providence, most notably in a 52-point performance against Notre Dame.

Ok, I may be fawning a little too much over a guy that doesn't play a whole bunch of defense and might have the worst shot selection in the NBA after Johan Petro of course. However, I don't care because the most important aspect of Brooks' rookie year wasn't that he scored 12 points per or showed he can make shots from anywhere on the court, it was that, as a rookie, he had the confidence heading into his inaugural season in the NBA that he could score from anywhere on the floor.

In basketball, confidence is ridiculously important in order for a player to realize their true potential. If a 6-8, 250-pound tank of a power forward has no confidence in his ability to make a free throw, then they're is a very little chance that he will drive to the paint a lot, greatly decreasing his value as a big-man with no regard to his solid build or even out-of-this-world athletic talents. Without confidence, a NBA player is only as good as his limitations allow him to be, not as good as his true skills or athleticism would suggest.

Netlinked 8/28/12: Former Nets Edition And More

Oh boy do I miss that guy. Remember when we called him Veal Scalapini? No? Ok, maybe that was just my dad and I

Former Net, and current league-wide, fan favorite Brian Scalabrine is close to joining the Chicago Bulls' coaching staff as an assistant. I knew he was a good bench cheerleader but assistant coach? Kinda surprising.

Ex-Net point guard Jacque Vaughn, who played with the Nets from 2004-06, has been hired by the Orlando Magic to succeed Stan Van Gundy as their head coach.

Yet another former Net, forward Eduardo Najera, has officially retired from the NBA to serve as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks' D-League affiliate, the Texas Legends. He will also hold an ownership stake in the Legends and will serve in some capacity in the Mavs' front office.

Shelden Williams has signed with Elan Chalon, a French team. In 58 games with the Nets last year, the Duke product averaged 4.6 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game.

More links after the jump:

Netlinked 2/11/12- Nets Get Crushed by Detroit, Ginobili Returns for Spurs, Nets Front-Runners for Dwight?

Ginobili always seems to have big games against the Nets, hopefully he doesn't continue that dominance tonight

I wasn't able to watch last night's game against Detroit which is why there wasn't a preview or recap for the game. Hopefully this makes up for it:

Last night, the Nets got absolutely ran out of the arena by the surging Detroit Pistons for the second game in a row in a 109-92 loss. The return of Marshon Brooks from a toe injury was spoiled by an incredibly lackluster effort by the Nets in a game that they trailed by 19 points at half-time after only 33 points scored in the 1st half. In their 5th straight loss, the Nets were simply outplayed Pistons team that was rejuvenated by big performances by Greg Monroe (18 pts, 11 rebs), Jonas Jerebko (20 pts), and Rodney Stuckey (19 pts).

The Nets have a quick turnaround from last night's game as they take on the Spurs at the Prudential Center tonight (I will be in attendance). San Antonio will get a huge boost from the return of Manu Ginobili, who will play for the first time since breaking his hand back on January 2nd. I really don't think that the Nets will have a chance tonight but in this compressed season, anything can happen (My full preview for the game will be up later).

Finally, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes that he believes that a resolution to the Dwight-mare will occur in the offseason and doesn't think that Magic owner Richard DeVos wants to trade Howard at all. He also mentions that he still views the Nets as Dwight's current favorite destination for free agency. I hope he's right, this whole saga is taking its toll on Deron Williams and the rest of the team and might even be partly to blame for the poor start of the season.

Netlinked 1/30/12- Marshon Breaks Toe, Dwight to the Bulls?, S-Jax to Return to New Jersey?

Could Stephen Jackson's possible return to NJ help a trade for Dwight?

This is the first installment of Netlinked, the series of link-dumps involving the Nets and general NBA stuff that I will post from time to time here on Brooklyn Balling.

First off, we have some interesting news from ESPN's Ric Bucher who says that the Nets might have to pull off a trade for the Milwaukee Bucks' Stephen Jackson in order to get Dwight Howard to New Jersey. Jackson played for the Nets in the 2000-01 and averaged 8.2 PPG while playing in 77 games for New Jersey in that season. Since leaving the Nets via free agency in 2001, Jackson has bounced around the NBA with a few teams but hasn't really found a permanent home. Bucher also reported that Howard and Jackson have been talking about possibly teaming up somewhere, including with Deron Williams in New Jersey as a possibility.

Now for some bad news. It appears that Marshon Brooks has broken his toe and that he will be out "indefinitely", according to the official Nets' Twitter account. The toe injury is unrelated to his sore Achilles for which he missed a few games to recover from. The injury could potentially be devastating for the Nets and it brings up the question as to why Avery Johnson rushed him back from free agency to play in the Nets' loss last night against the Raptors.