Teletopez

Good news: 1) Brook got a haircut! 2) Brook is off to a nice start. 3) We have a nice inside game going on here that has gotten us off to this 9-0 lead.

Bonehead play by Lopez in the end to choose a layup over a dunk and then react how he did. That said, it's not worth flipping out on him as much as some fans are. Consider it a tough period of time waiting to be put behind him. On a similar note, I'm sick of everyone calling Pez out for his softness, as if it was really easy for him to progress with his body strength over the offseason. Mono hit him hard, and it hampered his progression towards becoming physically tough. Much better game tonight. Still plenty of areas that can be criticized, of course, but it's encouraging to know that we can take a talented team to the final minute when we are in the game mentally. Did anyone see Avery's post-game interview?

Why we decided to double on Evans on their final possession when he was handling the ball a few feet in front of the half-court line is beyond me. Arguably our sloppiest game of the year. We scored 81 points against the league's worst defense.

Surprising: Humphries and Favors. Humphries was impressive last year too, but when Lopez went into his slump, Kris really took over. Favors has gotten off to a much quicker start than projected, and as you'd expect, the Nuggets have still have their eyes on him. Also nice to see Harris showing signs of his 08-09 self over the past couple of games. He is the main source (on the court) of our offense's success in terms of play execution, but he has also started adding to the point totals himself. Disappointing: Lopez has had an inconsistent first ten games. That slump in the middle was pretty ugly, and his stats reflected that. He was forcing a lot of his shots. Even now, his jumper isn't nearly as consistent as it was last year. Outlaw started off very disappointing, but his shooting percentage has rocketed up since then.

Officials have made some ridiculous flagrant foul calls over the past couple of years, but the call on Shaq might be the worst I've seen. It looked like he was going for the ball from every angle shown. May have cost Boston the game.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/nets/2010/08/nets-acquire-troy-murphy-solid.html http://www.otrbasketball.com/forums/topic/19016-nets-will-probably-trade-troy-murphy/

Yankees traded Miranda for 19-year old pitching prospect Scott Allen. Not a huge prospect at the moment, but he has good upside for his age. When I saw the news, the first things I saw were "Yankees complete trade with Arizona," and thought we brought over Upton. Bombers also signed 19-year-old Dominican RHP Rafael DePaula, who was suspended for all of 2009 for identity fraud. There are conflicting reports. One report said the Yankees offered Jeets 3/$45, another 3/$63. He is likely still asking for four to six years. As for the pitching coach hire, I am not very familiar with Rothschild, but you can guess that it was Girardi's selection. When I saw that he was on the Cubs' staff from '02-'10, I wondered whether he had any effect on Prior's health issues, but from what I've read, Baker was the one who really pushed him, and Rothschild wasn't the only coach who figured that his mechanics were fine. After the Joba Rules, I'm just concerned about how Girardi and Rothschild handle some of the big names making their way through our minor-league system. The one thing that has been noted about him is his influence on the K totals for Chicago. Highlights from Rothschild's Press Conference Yankee fans: proceed with caution. Would make a great story if Jeter killed the Sox payroll, haha.

Miami looking like the envisioned super-team-Miami on their first three possessions. Wade showing encouraging signs in terms of his effort.

Gardenhire wins AL Manager of the Year, Bud Black NL. Dusty Baker fell one point short of Black.

Yep, no idea what was going on there. The only thing I can think of was that the coach saw something in Connecticut's formation that she wanted to prepare for. Outside of that, I don't see why the timeout UConn took shouldn't have been sufficient enough time to draw up the defensive stop.

So after we thought that Joba would be a favorite for a spot in the rotation, Cashman says that the decision was made back in spring training to keep him as a reliever.

Clippers' starting five has two players 20 years old, two 21 years old, and one 22 years old.

Yanks won't interview Leo Mazzone or Rick Peterson for the pitching coach spot.

Tough loss, but this game is probably one of the best games we've played in a long time. Good to see Lopez rebound against the same team that started his slump.

Humphries' and Lopez's roles today were basically the opposite of what they were expected to be. Hump tied his career-high 18 boards and was incredible in the paint. Morrow responded to Gibson's performance yesterday with a similar one of his own. Harris' presence on the court is usually noticed through the performances of other players, but tonight, he was a scoring threat as well.

I wouldn't be so quick to say that, especially after seeing Outlaw's performance in Orlando and Morrow's in Miami following all the criticism that they received. Also, these four games were like Murphy's preseason.

Well he's going to need to hit the weight room. Mono over the offseason made things especially tough for him. His struggles against Dwight might be partially mental as well. He seemed to overcome his troubles against Duncan when the Nets beat San Antonio last year, so I'm hoping it's not too long before he gets past his struggles when matched up with Howard.

I love how J-Rich jumped up for that alley-oop with a perfectly straight stance in the air. http://oi52.tinypic.com/23jqt8h.jpg

Seems like closing out smoothly quarters has been a recurring problem for us for years now. Nevertheless, great second quarter. Hopefully, our hot shooting carries over into the second half. Who would've guessed that this would be the score with Lopez on the bench with 0 point and 0-8 from the field?

At the time, I loved the fact that we received Lee in return. I think Orlando refused to give him up unless we gave them Ryan in return. They were going to select Anderson at 22 in the '08 draft, but we took him at 21. After a tough first quarter, our shooting has been incredible in the second quarter. Outlaw has knocked down three shots from downtown!

I would respond to the first part of that, but we're on two totally separate pages so it's not worth it. Not quite sure what you mean by "this isn't a good sign at all," though. The problems we saw last night can be attributed to the team's youth. I don't expect it to be the last time their inexperience shows this season. Would it be great if we didn't have to go through it? Of course. But just about any group of guys at this point of youth is likely to travel on a rocky road. To be honest, I've observed more good things than bad from these first four games.

Exactly, tonight proves that this team is bad. Check that, awful. The first two games were flukes. If the Nets aren't making the playoffs, no New York team is, so tri-state area fans can just wait for the NFL playoffs for some excitement... In all seriousness, though, we were asking for trouble throughout the game with the turnovers. It's been a problem for us in every game, but tonight is the first time it was probably the difference between a win and a loss. There were also several stretches in the game where we were killing time on the shot clock and not executing any sort of play, leading to forced shots and sloppy drive attempts in the final seconds of the shot clock. Harris being off the floor seemed to contribute to that. We picked it up when Harris returned, but there isn't really an excuse for some of the miscommunication that was going on without him. The final play of the game brought back memories of how we tended to close out tight games last year. All that being said, it's a young team. We closed out the home stand 2-2 and came through in the clutch two out of three opportunities (this is something that we failed at countless times in 09-10). There are bound to be frustrating moments. Avery's moves might be questioned, but he has player development in mind while going after wins. Outlaw had another game that is causing Nets fans (and hasty analysts in this thread) to criticize him. We're four games into the season. How quickly people forget that player development is a huge part of this season, even for a 26-year old. Not only that, but this would probably be considered his first good game of the season were it not for the last 2 minutes. It was really only decision-making that led to a blown potential offensive board and the sloppy last play. Outlaw's early struggles aren't a concern for me at the moment.

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