Road to Glory - A New Jersey Nets Association

[Valor]

Nets take win in 2OT thriller


East Rutherford, NJ - Mark this game down, and remember it well, for it could be the spark to a brand new rivalry.

The New Jersey Nets managed to pull away at the end of the second overtime to take a 161-153 win over the visiting Washington Wizards. 3 Players scored 40+ points, and 5 players scored 30+ points in this ball game.

Nets rookie Leo Lai scored a game high, and a career high 48 points in 29 minutes coming off the bench (also a career high), hitting shot after shot in his head to head battle with fellow rookie James Harden of the Wizards, who also had a career high, with 46 points and 7 assists in 39 minutes of play.

Yao Ming of the Nets took home player of the game honors after a 30 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, and 7 blocks game. While Devin Harris added in 30 points and dished out a career high 20 assists to add to the cause, he also had a season high 5 steals. Forward Sean Williams had a big game also, with 16 points, a career high 22 rebounds, a career high 6 assists, career high 6 steals, and also 3 blocks in a career high 42 minutes of play.

Meanwhile, for the Wizards, Gilbert Arenas dropped in 46 points, alongside 7 rebounds and a career high 17 assists in 40 minutes of action. Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler were solid for the Wizards, combining for 31 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists, and also 5 steals between them.

The Game was as spectacular as it can be. As Sean Williams and Devin Harris knocked down game tying shots at the buzzer at the end of regulation and the first overtime, respectively, to keep the Nets in the ball game. Lai and Harden went at each other for the entire time they were on the floor, whatever one does, the other responds.

"They were really going at it on the floor" Wizards Gilbert Arenas said after the game "both of them are going to be great players, with a lot of rivalry between them"

Meanwhile, Yao punished the Wizards' newly acquired sophomore center Roy Hibbert, dominating inside the paint and forcing double and triple teams to come.

"He's just too big and strong, and skilled also," said Hibbert, who finished the game with 8 points and 9 rebounds "I've got a long way to go before reaching his level"

The Game started out evenly matched, but the Nets came out for the second half focused and ready to draw blood, and took a pretty decent lead going into the fourth, however, the Wizards fought back and regained the lead near the end of regulation, and as the buzzer sounded, Williams' shot swished through the net for the first OT. The two teams traded bucket after bucket, and with Devin Harris hitting the buzzer beating 12 foot jumper, the crowd went wild as the second OT approaches. The Nets then finally pounded the last blows onto the fatigued Wizards, and managed to get the victory.

"This is as dramatic as a regular season game can get" Nets coach Lawrence Frank said "I'm very, very happy with the outcome, it could have gone either way, we were just fortunate that their guys ran out of gas faster then we did."

The Nets are now 28-21 after this win.






Highlight Plays

Williams' shot at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime


Devin Harris knocks down the game tying buzzer beater and sends the game to the second overtime






Players of the Game Highlights - Yao, Arenas, Harris, Harden, Lai

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[Martti.]

Damn, this was one crazy game.

Superb games by Lai, Yao, Williams and Harris. Also, surprisingly good game by Harden.. God damn.. Nice that you won though in the end.

[kibaxx7]

Harden 46 pts? wtf? Three Nets over 30 points? Impressive!

[Valor]

Damn, this was one crazy game.

Superb games by Lai, Yao, Williams and Harris. Also, surprisingly good game by Harden.. God damn.. Nice that you won though in the end.

you bet it was
it was an EXTREMELY INTENSE GAME!

Harden 46 pts? wtf? Three Nets over 30 points? Impressive!

Harden was shooting the lights out >.< and seeing as it was 2OT, 5 people getting 30+ isn't THAT surprising i hope or is it?

[Martti.]

Well, if both clubs are shooting hot, it is possible. But your 133 FG attempts looks far more unrealistic then the final score

[Fresh8]

Crazy game... thats all i can say... u need to bench Morrison and start Lai

[Valor]

Well, if both clubs are shooting hot, it is possible. But your 133 FG attempts looks far more unrealistic then the final score

that is thanks to Yao and Williams' many, many offensive boards

Crazy game... thats all i can say... u need to bench Morrison and start Lai

I have been considering that right now, but he's right up there in the contention for sixth man of the year....so i donno, award? or starter? tough question
and Adam isnt THAT bad of a player for me, just a bit (well, maybe more then a bit) too inconsistent with his shooting...

[Martti.]

It should be fine to start him now, as you've played 49 games. He can only start 33 games, which makes him eligible for the award.

[Valor]

It should be fine to start him now, as you've played 49 games. He can only start 33 games, which makes him eligible for the award.

hum, i'll see what happens after the all-star game, if Adam's struggles continue, then i'm gonna start Lai, cause right now, he's the only one bringing the offensive punch off the bench (Patty is doing ok, but he's not capable of getting 15 a night..)

[Valor]

Kobe's 42 leads West over East in All-Star Thriller


Dallas, TX - With 42 points, 7 assists, 6 steals, and 3 rebounds on 14 for 30 shooting in 31 minutes, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers took home the 2010 All Star Game MVP trophy after leading the Western Conference All Stars to a spectacular 158-154 win over the Eastern Conference Squad.

The Game was fiercely competed by both teams, unlike some past All Star games, this one featured high intensity and strong defense played by both sides as well as spectacular offensive plays. Yes, that's right, defense was played in an All Star Game.

The East came away with 23 steals and 10 blocks in total, and forced 30 turnovers while the West had 18 steals and 5 blocks themselves, forcing 20 turnovers from the Eastern Squad. However, the East shot below .500 at 47% while the West was 60 for 109 from the field as a team (55%), and that made all the difference in the game.

"We just had a lot of bad shots, to be honest" said Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics, who was chosen as the East squad's Coach "i mean, we forced a lot of turnovers, but kind of turned it over ourselves when we got all those bad shot selections."

Rivers was most likely referring to the poor shooting from Atlanta's Allen Iverson and Cleveland's Lebron James, who were 8-21 and 7-21 respectively from the field, Lebron James was also 0-8 from beyond the arc.

The East was also outrebounded by the West, or specifically by the Spurs' forward Tim Duncan, who grabbed a game high 15 rebounds for the Western Squad, while the East had no body in double digit rebounding, Yao Ming of the Nets had 9 rebounds while Dwight Howard of the Magic, who is the leading rebounder in the NBA, ended the game with only 5 boards.

Bryant came out on fire, as he scored 19 first half points, then turned his game on even more in the second half, scoring at will while playing excellent defense and dishing the basketball efficiently, evident through his 7 assists and 6 steals. Aside from Bryant, Chris Paul of the Hornets and Tim Duncan of the Spurs had MVP-worthy games of their own.

CP3 had a near triple double performance with 20 points, 13 assists, and 7 steals in 26 minutes of play, showing everyone why he is the number 1 point guard in the league today while Tim Duncan reminded us that despite his advanced age, he can still ball with the best of them, with a strong 16 point, 15 rebound, 2 block performance in 27 minutes, his solid play was a big factor in the game.

The East was led by first time All Star Jameer Nelson of the Orlando Magic, who had a double double performance with 22 points and 12 assists off the bench as he rallied the East from a slow first quarter (the East trailed 29-45 after the first) Allen Iverson had a solid game despite the struggles from the field, as he finished the game with a respectable 19 point, 5 assists, 4 steals performance.

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat was also solid for the East, as he dropped in 16 points, alongside 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Yao Ming of the New Jersey Nets had the best All Star Game out of his 8 trips thus far with a 13 point, 9 rebound, 3 steals, and 2 blocks performance in 20 minutes of play coming off the bench.

"Well, we tried our best," said Nelson after the game "But Kobe was on fire, and everyone knows that he's unstoppable when that happens"

This makes it the 4th All Star Game MVP award that Bryant has won, which makes him only the second player in NBA history to have won this award 4 times, the other one being Hall of Famer Bob Pettit of the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954-1965). This also makes Bryant the first and only player in NBA history to have won two straight All Star Game MVP Awards.(He won last year's one in Phoenix with Shaquille O'Neal as co-MVPs)

"It's definitely an honor, to be able to achieve this award once again, for the fourth time." said Bryant "Words can't describe it, it's just, special"

"I had a lot of fun today,"Bryant added "it was a good, competitive game, and fortunately we won, and that's what counts"






Highlights








2010 NBA All Star Game MVP Highlights

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[kibaxx7]

Great ASG. Did you play as East?

[Valor]

Great ASG. Did you play as East?

lol no, when it comes to ASGs i always just watch, and take control of one or the other only to give everyone enough minutes since the CPU often negate one or two players in their rotations
I also turned the minutes per quarter to 12 just for this game, so the score is 'realistic' in terms of ASG scores Kobe was just on fire

[Clutch]

312 combined pts must be a record!

[Martti.]

:shock: 312 combined pts must be a record!

It is, but not by much. Just 9 points more.

Yao was very productive in his 20 minutes. Nelson the highest scorer for the East?

[Fresh8]

Kobe All-Star MVP

He hasn't won it once in my association yet lol

[kibaxx7]

Didn't pay a lot of attention to the boxscore, wow, great game by Nelson

[Valor]

:shock: 312 combined pts must be a record!

holy crap, now you mention it

Yao was very productive in his 20 minutes. Nelson the highest scorer for the East?

Nelson owns

Kobe All-Star MVP

He hasn't won it once in my association yet lol

try to adjust the sliders so he is more aggressive and demands the ball more, not only him, star players in general
that helps with the output of 'realistic' stats

Didn't pay a lot of attention to the boxscore, wow, great game by Nelson

yup, Jameer's the man

[Valor]

Chapter 4

February 16th 2010
Nets Front Office

"Morning everyone" said Toni Kukoc as he walked into the office
"Yo What's happening Toni?" replied Rodman "I suppose you enjoyed your holiday?"
"It was alright," answered Kukoc as he sat down and got his computer started "Fill me in, anything new in the past few days?"
"I suppose it's decent, Kings and Spurs made a trade" Rodman said, reading from the list he received earlier in the morning "Zaza Pachulia, Rasho Nesterovic are going to Sacramento for Kwame Brown, the rook Terrence Williams, and JJ Redick"

Kukoc looked up "You are not serious"
"Feast your eyes" answered Rodman as he handed the list over

Kukoc read closely to the list, and something caught his eye on the 'pending transactions section'
"Dennis, why are you agreeing on trading Darius Miles for Bill Walker and a future 2nd rounder? I thought Miles was doing pretty good for us"
"Ever heard of the slogan used by Obama?"
"Change?"
"Damn straight" chuckled Rodman
"At least get us someone less troublesome then Bill Walker, last i heard, he is worse then Ron Artest going into the stands" exclaimed Kukoc
"You'll see why once you see this" stated Rodman as he handed over a sheet of paper "Don't let anybody know until the trade is complete, or Detroit will never agree to it"

Kukoc looked doubtful, but he took it and read it anyways, then a smile formed on his face "Dennis, you are a genius"
"Stating the obvious again?"
"When was this done?"
"Yesterday afternoon, I figured he'll be doing something like this again, so I got the guys to take a private testing, burn the copy after you've read it, we dont want anybody to know"

----------------------------------
2 Days later

"Lawrence! thanks for coming"
"My pleasure, what did you want to talk about?"
"Oh dont worry, we are not firing you, you've done a great job so far, what do we have now, the 5th seed?"
"Yeah, thats about right, but it's gonna be pretty hard, our bench is thinned by a lot after you traded Darius away.."
"Well, the deadline is tomorrow, so give me an analysis of the team so far, every player, and your view on what we need to add"

---20 minutes later---

"....So yes, we are desperate for a starting 2 guard right now, and as I've previously stated, I have no intentions of letting our rookie start, he's got a bright future, and i dont want to allow him to lose that motivation to work hard and improve"
"I..see, well, let me tell you what i'm going to do....there isn't really many good SGs out there right now for trading, i'm going to cut some costs and see what we can do via Free Agency before the playoffs to boost the team, you don't mind if i trade Chris away right? It's either him, Josh, or Joey, and he's the least dollar to value right now"
"Up to you Toni, just get me a decent 2 guard before mid-march, or we could lose our playoff hopes all together..."
"I'll try, i cant make promises, but me and Dennis will do our best"
"Speaking of Dennis, where is he now?"
"Oh, he just returned from his trip to Vegas, said he needed some time off, If you are looking for him, try the pub on the next block, he said something about hitting there before coming in"
"No that's ok, I'll better go and get the game plan ready for tonight"
"See you around" waved Kukoc as he picked up the phone and made a few calls

"Hello? Kukoc of the Nets here, i want to speak to you about the possibilities of Chris Wilcox......"

[Valor]

A Trade Deadline of Minor Deals

As opposed to past seasons, the 2010 NBA Trade Deadline passed by with just a handful of deals, and nothing in there would shock even the most isolated hermit in existence. There were plenty of big names on the block and too many frugal GMs unwilling to make the big score. The deadline was somewhat uneventful and was more of a forum of penny pinchers more focused on the bottom line than the hearts of the fans.

Overall, this season has been pretty decent in terms of trades, with the biggest one being Yao Ming (really, it's not a lame joke i'm trying to pull here) going to the Nets, and then several big-name transactions such as Carter, Deng, Jefferson, and so on; but February has been relatively quiet, as opposed to the usual storm of deals that gets pulled.

Here is an overview of some of the 'significant' deals that occurred in the month of the deadline


February 15th

San Antonio Spurs trade Zaza Pachulia, Rasho Nesterovic, and '11 2nd round pick to the Sacramento Kings for Kwame Brown, Terrance Williams, and J.J. Redick

The Spurs were struggling with Pachulia manning the middle, and Pop got Buford to make a great deal, scamming the Kings with Pachulia and Nesterovic, as well as a meaningless future 2nd round pick, and got themselves a better center in Kwame Brown (He is bad, but not THAT bad, and pairing him with Tim Duncan will make him look less like a bust, trust me) a possible future star in Terrance Williams to properly back up Richard Jefferson, and also a shooter off the bench in J.J. Redick.

The Spurs might climb out of the 13th place hole they've dug themselves just yet.


February 16th

1.) New Jersey Nets trade Darius Miles to the Detroit Pistons for Bill Walker and '11 2nd round pick

I don't see the logic behind this trade, but certain sources have indicated that the Nets took the cheapest (financially) offer and quickly got themselves rid of Darius Miles after conducting a private drug test, it is not confirmed, but it seems like the Nets have gotten themselves out of yet another mess that Miles have created. So much for the hopes of making a big comeback and becoming an impact player again.

Talent Wise, this is a great deal for the Pistons, but when you consider the possible factors involved? The Nets win this, easily.

Dennis Rodman and Toni Kukoc might not be as good as MJ on the basketball court, but they certainly excel him in terms of managing a team.



2.) The Thunder sends Damien Wilkins and Earl Watson to the Heat for Luther Head and Antonio Daniels.

The Heat dumps Luther Head's 2 year deal to the Thunder, while getting a quality backups at the point and the two with the fact that both are expiring, Daniel's contract is expiring as well, but he's next to useless and paying him 6+ million dollars while he's not making any sort of positive impacts, and when you need a quality backup point, is really useless, Watson has a similar expiring contract, and he can actually be used on the floor, props to Riley for making this deal. Meanwhile, the Thunder took on a crap expiring in Daniels, but Head can really help them out despite his 2 year, 4m/per deal. He is a quality backup 2 guard that can relief rookie Tyreke Evans of minutes, and he could actually defend people; OKC still has a problem with a lack of good bigs, but that's to be expected for most clubs in the NBA today.


February 18th

Nets trade Chris Wilcox to the Orlando Magic for '10 2nd round pick, Anthony Johnson.

The Nets have been the most active team, all season long, and they've gotten themselves another decent deal. It is true that they will be in need of another big now, but Patrick Mills has hit the 'rookie wall' recently and they can't play Harris for the full 48. Johnson is the guy that you can rely on in games, all day long.

For the Magic, they needed a big that can rebound and bang down low ever since Gortat bolted via FA (i'd laugh at you if you think Petro and the rookie Pendergraph are good backups) and Wilcox is a decent, proven big who can get the job done. At 1.4 million with a team option, he's value for money for a team like the Magic.



Note: These are only the 'significant' trades, there are a handful more, but they shall be reported in the monthly review instead of an in-depth article

[Fresh8]

How many trades have you done this season? lol

[Valor]

How many trades have you done this season? lol

including off-season deals, 8
besides Yao, Deng and trading away Carter, the other 5 trades are very, very minor and are done for salary cap reasons
The Nets are a team that are going to change nearly their whole roster even in real life with all those expiring contracts anyways, complete makeover in the offseason is needed if i want to contend, and currently, the team is on a slump, i need a boost via free agency before playoffs....so i needed to get myself some immediate cap space

[Martti.]

So the starting 2-guard spot is still shaky? Anthony Johnson won't be the man, I can tell you that, haha.

[Valor]

So the starting 2-guard spot is still shaky? Anthony Johnson won't be the man, I can tell you that, haha.

Anthony Johnson is my backup one guard now, i'm reducing Patty's minutes since he's been struggling (the dreadful rookie wall...) the starting 2 guard decision....i am still looking for a capable player in the FA pool, i have about 4-5 mill of free cap space now thanks to the Miles trade also looking to sign perhaps a "backup of the backups" big man, cause right now i've only got josh boone and joey dorsey, and if anyone goes down...lets just say Yao cant run the full 48

[Valor]

NLSC Prospects Update!

NLSC Draft Class 2010
NAME | POS | HT | AGE | FROM
W.Sit | PG/SG | 6'4" | 22 | UNC/Australia
M.Must | PF | 6'9" | 21 | Arizona/Estonia
A.Spagnoletti | SG/SF | 6'8" | 20 | Argentina
C.Cruz | PG/SG | 6'1" | 19 | Philippines

NLSC Draft Class 2011
NAME | POS | HT | AGE | FROM
S.James | SG/PG | 6'0" | 19 | Canada
K.Tali | PG/SG | 5'10" | 18 | Estonia
O.Ocho | C | 7'1" | 22 | Lincoln HS/Sudan

Remember, if you haven't applied yet to participate your virtual self in my association, you are all welcomed to do so.

PM me under the title NLSC Prospects Application with the following details...

Name
Age (Birth year would do, i can edit with the editor)
Position(s)
Height
School/Country
Body Type
Body Tone
Perhaps give me a comparison of how you look as well, such as "i look something like yao" (doesn't have to be a baller, just someone that is well known) so i can try to find a face that is similar
Sig Shot, Free Throw Style
preferred Shoe brand
any accessories (head band, armsleeve...), length of socks
Playing Style (good if there are any NBA Comparisons)
5 Strengths
5 Weaknesses

The Prospects will be anywhere ranging from Lottery Picks to Mid first round picks, if you are lucky, you might become a top 5 prospect!

[Clutch]

looking to sign perhaps a "backup of the backups" big man

kinda confused... why didn't you just hold on to Wilcox? he'd seem solid enough; runs the floor, can defend and finish; why'd he get shipped out after being traded for?