Nov
25

By

Time for some answers

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It’s not even Thanksgiving and the Brooklyn Nets season is on the brink of total failure. Another lackluster effort. Another disastrous third quarter. Another loss. Despite Coach Jason Kidd mixing up his starting lineup and rotation the results were the same. Worse yet, the refrain from the players post-game is becoming redundant.

Andray Blatche summarized the disappointment. “I don’t know. It’s very frustrating and very, very embarrassing. It’s like, I don’t know.” He continued, “We’ve got to play with more pride. I don’t know. There’s no excuses, nothing. We’re all just playing bad, and we’ve got to do something.”

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Nov
22

By

Weekly wrapup: An unfortunate turn of events

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Up close & personal with frustration

By Brian Faith

After a stirring win in Phoenix last Friday night, the Nets took on the Clippers without Deron Williams, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Brook Lopez, or Andrei Kirilenko a day later. The undermanned Nets hung around the Clippers, but ultimately the game got away from them in the fourth quarter. On Monday, The Nets returned to the Barclays Center with an eye on turning things around, and for one quarter it seemed like they finally had. Kevin Garnett got the offense rolling early, knocking down his first six shots for 12 points. The Nets were pinging the ball around the perimeter and finding the open man. Wesley Matthews kept the Blazers in the game with his hot shooting from deep, but still, the Nets were feeling great after a 40-point first quarter. The first quarter shot chart was a thing of beauty and it looked as if Brooklyn was going to put an emphatic stop to the Blazers six-game winning streak.

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Nov
19

By

3-7: What Gives?

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KGTowelOverHead

Ten games in, this season has been a bit of a roller coaster, to say the least. On one hand, you have the highs. (No, literally. I can count them on one hand.)

And on the other, all those lows. The good news, however, is that we’re currently ten games into an 82 game marathon. Whatever’s happened over the course of these last two weeks, good and bad, will eventually regress to the means. Unfortunately, a few signs point to a couple of particular issues not heading in the right direction.

But first, the good.

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Nov
15

By

Weekly roundup: Eyeing the panic button

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When do we worry?
By Brian Faith

Last week the theme for the Brooklyn Nets was consistency. An up and down start had them at a perfectly average 2-2 heading into a Friday-Saturday back-to-back. One week later the consistency issues don’t seem to be the problem. The Nets were consistently and almost eerily awful over their last three games. It’s not quite time to hit the panic button in Brooklyn, but after Wednesday night’s abysmal showing against the Sacramento Kings it is clear that changes will need to be made. A quick scan of the box scores from the last three games reveals some major issues for the Nets:

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Nov
8

By

Weekly wrap-up: Kidd’s coaching debut, KG’s knees, Kirilenko’s hair

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Brooklyn Nets v Washington Wizards

A tale of two cities
By Brian Faith

The first two games of Jason Kidd’s coaching career were complete opposites. On Sunday the Nets traveled to the Magic Kingdom and were sawed in half by Victor Oladipo. Then back in Brooklyn on Tuesday, Brook Lopez tuned down the Utah Jazz, earning Coach Kidd his first victory.

A first-time head coach, plus a roster full of new players is destined to struggle with consistency early in the season. The shocking part of Sunday’s loss was that the Magic beat up the Nets on the boards — one of the areas that was supposed to a strength all season long. Nikola Vucevic and Andrew Nicholson had 12 and 11 rebounds respectively, as the Magic swiped 54 total boards to just 42 for Brooklyn. Paul Pierce should not be leading the Nets in rebounding, but that’s what happened.

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Nov
8

By

The Nets get a makeover

I can’t be the only one getting Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! vibes off this, right?

Nov
4

By

Why Coach Kidd’s regular season debut was a letdown

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The NBA schedule is full of potholes. Back-to-backs, West Coast swings, four games in five nights, trips to Milwaukee and Minnesota in the dog days of February. Unfortunately, a head coach’s debut in the third game of the season in Orlando doesn’t fall into any of those categories. That’s what makes Sunday night’s dispassionate display from the Brooklyn Nets so mystifying.

The Orlando Magic are an up and coming team with a long term strategy toward winning. They have stock piled draft picks in the post-Dwight Howard era and have put together a solid nucleus for the future. For the future. The Brooklyn Nets are built to win right now. Right now. The Nets are the only team in the league with a payroll over $100 million, and are spending upwards of $35 million more than the Magic. Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett were brought in for their experience and championship pedigree. Victor Oladipo, Moe Harkless, and Andrew Nicholson have a combined two years NBA experience between them.

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Nov
1

By

Brooklyn’s Finest Podcast: 11/1/13, Miami Heat

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First episode of the season! Chris talks to the world’s most confident Heat writer, Scott Salomon (@scottsalomon) of SB Nation’s Hot Hot Hoops and Jeremy Gordon about tonight’s Nets-Heat matchup, the greatness of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade’s health, the Nets 0-1 start and more. Feel free to leave comments and please subscribe to us on iTunes.