BROOKLYN — Can one quarter ruin a basketball team’s season? It could if that 12-minute span of poor play happens over, and over and over again — compounding the many problems the team has overall. The Detroit Pistons outscored the Nets 34-15 in the third quarter on Sunday afternoon at the Barclays Center in a 109-97 loss that dropped Brooklyn to an almost unfathomable 3-10 on the season. In the Nets’ 10 losses, they’ve been outscored by a total of 96
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the great landmarks of our country. And right now, it connects the home boroughs of perhaps the NBA’s two most disappointing teams this season. Remember all the back-and-forth this summer between members of the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets? Jason Kidd retired from the Knicks to coach the Nets. Raymond Felton questioned his Knicks being ranked below the Nets. Paul Pierce said it was time for the Nets to start running the city. J.R. Smith
It’s now or never for Deron Williams to prove he is worthy of being the $100 million face of the Brooklyn Nets. Is Williams still an elite point guard? Is he a winner? Or is he the reason his coaches are sent packing and his teams don’t quite measure up? Despite a blockbuster trade to acquire Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who have championship rings and 25 combined All-Star selections, it is Williams who holds the key to Brooklyn’s title hopes. Consider this: Brooklyn
BROOKLYN – Through three regular season games, Alec Burks led the Utah Jazz in points per game (18.0), two-point field goal percentage among players who took at least one shot per game (57.6), offensive rating (107), win shares, win shares per 48 minutes (.131) and PER (19.2). Sounds like someone who should start for a rebuilding team like the Jazz, no? Yet the 12th overall in the 2011 draft has yet to start a game in his NBA career. Why? “He’s deserved to start
Earvin “Magic” Johnson has no reason to praise the Brooklyn Nets being a lifelong Los Angeles Laker, however, he did offer up some kind words to the Nets. Johnson has, himself, admitted that the Lakers will struggle this year after losing Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace in the offseason. Their losses are compounded by the uncertain future surrounding Kobe Bryant’s Achilles injury. The Brooklyn Nets probably have the most talent and could possibly win the NBA Championship. — Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson)
I know a guy who used to work for the Houston Rockets back in the 1990s, when Hakeem Olajuwon was leading the team to back to-back titles and the team played at The Summit — a rickety bandbox that has been converted into a church in the years since the team moved to the Toyota Center. The guy tells a great story about a different era in the NBA, when money flowed as though it was wine at a toga party.
BROOKLYN — The Nets’ blockbuster move to acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry stole headlines, but it says here the bench unit will be the steal of the summer at the season’s conclusion. Garnett is the team’s elder statesman, ranking sixth all-time with 47,801 minutes played over 19 seasons. Paul Pierce, Garnett’s counterpart, will be 36 when the season starts. However, Brooklyn boasts the league’s only bench unit with four double-digit scorers and one double-digit rebounder from last season. [Read
With wing extraordinaire Paul George signing a max-level, five-year contract with the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, a legitimate argument can be made that the Pacers have the most secure medium to long-term future of any Eastern Conference team. At just 23 years of age, the 6-8 small forward already is one of the top five defenders in the NBA, as evidenced by his regular season advanced numbers, and is quickly developing a really strong offensive game. [Read more…]