Nets Loose Another Close Game

Jan. 31 2010

East Rutherford, N.J. – The New Jersey Nets came very close to winning, again, on Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers. Instead, they lost for the 42nd time this season — they have only four wins– and are on pace to break the record for the worst season ever in the NBA held by the 1972-73 Sixers who had only nine wins.

“We held them to 83 points but we weren’t able to score enough,” said forward Kris Humphries. “I know it’s pretty simple but when you look at it you know, we’ve got to score more then 79 points.” The Sixers were the third team in a row to be held under 90 points by the Nets.

If New Jersey’s defense was in good form, the offense crumbled, especially in the second half. “We had plenty of shots and we worked hard to get them but we just missed them,” said interim head coach Kiki Vandeweghe.

The Nets led by as many as 10 points in the first half but scored only 31 points in the final two periods. But despite a failing offense, the Nets managed to stay within reach of a win until the very last seconds. With 23.4 seconds left, forward Yi Jianlian’s three-pointer brought the Nets back to 80-77. Forward Elton Brand missed two free throws for the Sixers and the Nets had the ball with 22 seconds left.

“We obviously needed three, and two wasn’t gonna help, and they knew that and they were switching everything,” said Vandeweghe.

The Nets called timeout to set up a play that was supposed to end with a three-pointer. But, as Vandeweghe admitted after the game, this was a play “you typically run from the full court and we tried it at the half court.”

Brook Lopez passed the ball to Jarvis Hayes on the far right side of the court. With 08.9 seconds left, Hayes took the shot from the baseline. ”The chances of that shot going in are slim and none anyway,” said Hayes. “But I had to take it.”

Up to that point, Hayes had made four of his seven three-pointer attempts, including two in the fourth quarter alone. But under heavy pressure from Sixers forward Andre Iguodala, Hayes threw up an air-ball.

“It’s frustrating because we was in the game, we had confidence going into the last couple of minutes,” said Hayes. “But we couldn’t close the deal.”

Thaddeus Young caught the ball for the Sixers, was fouled and made two free throws to seal the win for Philadelphia.

“I’m going to take responsibility for that,” Vandeweghe said. “We tried something that perhaps was a little tricky.” Despite the loss, Vandeweghe said he was “proud of the way the guys played.” And Hayes got special praise despite his last minute miss. “He came to play at both ends of the court,” said the coach.

Hayes finished with a season-high 18 points and eight rebounds. The Nets’ forward admitted he was still working into shape. He came back on Jan. 5 after missing 32-games due to a torn hamstring in the first game of the season.

“It’s mid season but my body’s not in mid-season form, I’m just getting out of training camp,” said Hayes. “You can’t speed up time.”

Center Brook Lopez led the Nets with 18 points and nine rebounds and Yi Jianlian finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

With their victory over the Nets, the Sixers broke a three-game losing streak. But after holding their ground in their loss against the L.A. Lakers (91-99), Philadelphia struggled to beat the worst team in the country. “It wasn’t pretty but we got it done,” said Sixers head coach Eddie Jordan.

Iguodala led his team with 14 points and nine rebounds, Allen Iverson failed to match his last performance. After leading his team with 23 points against the Lakers, he finished with only 11 points at the Meadowlands.

After having losing streaks of 18, 10 and 11 games, the Nets have started a new one, but the team is trying to stay positive. “If we can keep holding people to low 80s points, we’re going to win eventually,” said Humphries. The Nets will have to prove that, on Tuesday, when they play Detroit.