To understand why the Nets seem to be a dangerous team again, it does not necessarily take savvy in X's and O's. But it's helpful to have been a passenger in a car.
"When you're in a car, if you're driving 75 miles per hour and you're the driver, you feel pretty comfortable," coach Lawrence Frank said Monday night before the Nets' victory over the Phoenix Suns.
"But if you're the passenger, you may not be real comfortable. So I think the key is, as much as possible, you have to try and be the driver. The key is tempo and what you can do to control it."
PHOTO: AP
With back-to-back victories Sunday and Monday over one of the NBA's best defensive teams, the Detroit Pistons, and its best offensive team, the Suns, the Nets have shown an ability to adapt to a certain style of play, make it their own and control a game.
They are becoming defined by their ability to play at both ends of the court. Their defense has been stellar and their bench has consistently contributed.
The ingredients are there for the Nets (41-28) to make a playoff push, but the question is whether their current level of play will continue into the postseason. The team president, Rod Thorn, says it can.
"I think we've just played very solidly," Thorn said in a telephone interview yesterday. "And when you play solidly, you tend to do well. We have some talented players. If we're doing the right things on both ends of the court, then we're going to be successful over the long haul."
The Nets will get a chance to further legitimize themselves tonight when they will be host to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Frank and the Nets continue to play down their nine-game winning streak, but Thorn said he believed the league had taken notice. "Teams, now they're looking at us and saying, `Now we've got to bring our A game,"' he said.
The Nets became only the third team to win at Detroit this season, and they led by as many as 42 in what ended up to be a 38-point trouncing of the Suns. In an 82-game season, it is inevitable that there will be lopsided games like the one Monday night against Phoenix. But was that a result of the Nets' excellent play, or an off night by the Suns?
Pistons 97, Mavericks 90
Chauncey Billups scored eight of his 31 points in the final three minutes to help Detroit Pistons beat the Dallas Mavericks 97-90 on Tuesday.
Rasheed Wallace added 21 points and 10 rebounds for Detroit, while Richard Hamilton scored 14 points.
Dirk Nowitzki and former Piston Jerry Stackhouse each had 25 for Dallas.
Bucks 132, Suns 110
At Milwaukee, Charlie Bell had career highs of 19 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds for his first career triple-double, and the Bucks hit a franchise-record 18 3-pointers.
Michael Redd had 28 points as the Bucks set season highs in almost every offensive category, scoring 46 points in a blistering third-quarter 3-point assault.
Steve Nash scored 23 points after his first scoreless performance since joining the Suns against New Jersey the night before in a 110-72 loss. The Suns played without Amare Stoudemire, who went back to the bench because of pain in his knee after playing in the three games following surgery.
SuperSonics 98, Grizzlies 97
At Memphis, Tennessee, Ray Allen made an off-balance 19-footer with 0.3 seconds left, and Seattle overcame Pau Gasol's franchise-record 44 points to snap the Grizzlies' seven-game winning streak.
Allen led the Sonics with 20 points and five assists, one of seven Seattle players in double figures. Johan Petro finished with 15 points, while Rashard Lewis added 14 before being helped off the court with a leg injury with 3:12 left.
Eddie Jones had 16 points for Memphis, while reserve Mike Miller added 11.
Gasol grabbed nine rebounds.
Wizards 97, Kings 84
At Sacramento, California, Caron Butler scored 23 points, Antonio Daniels added 17 and Washington snapped an eight-game losing streak in Sacramento even while playing without Gilbert Arenas.
Antawn Jamison had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Wizards, who won at Arco Arena for the first time since Dec. 19, 1996, despite playing their fourth road game in six nights.
Recent CBA pickup Billy Thomas added a season-high 14 points in a reserve role for Washington, which has won three of four on a highly successful six-game West Coast road swing.
Mike Bibby scored 20 points for the erratic Kings, who flopped in the second half of their second straight home defeat.
Spurs 98, Clippers 87
At Los Angeles, Tim Duncan had 20 points and 13 rebounds, Michael Finley also scored 20 points, and San Antonio broke open a tight game in the third quarter to down the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bruce Bowen added 16 points, Brent Barry scored 11 and Manu Ginobili had eight points and nine assists for the Spurs (55-16), who won for the seventh time in nine games and moved into first place in the Western Conference, one game ahead of Dallas.
Elton Brand had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers (41-29), who lost for just the fourth time in 12 games and need only one victory to clinch their first winning season in 15 years.
Magic 97, Bulls 93
At Chicago, Jameer Nelson scored 24 points, Hedo Turkoglu hit two key jumpers in the closing minutes, and Orlando rallied to beat Chicago.
The Bulls trail Philadelphia by two games in the race for the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot, and they can blame a rough fourth quarter for that. Chicago shot just 3-of-21 and was 3-for-8 from the foul line as the Magic erased an 11-point deficit.
Turkoglu and Keyon Dooling each scored 15 points for Orlando.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
RSS