Just Pissed
Listed in:Originally I had a nice college football write up for you. But I’m too pissed right now. So instead you get a rant.
The New Jersey Nets just gave away a game they had won, all thanks to their coach Lawrence Frank. There’s just no freaking way around it. After trailing by 12 at the half, the Nets had stormed back to take an 11 point lead with four minutes to go. But they melted down and lost, and the problem was the players they had on the floor.
Forward/Center Sean Williams had been absolutely tearing it up. The guy was fighting for offensive boards. He was blocking shots. He was all over the place. So what does Frank do after the Hornets tie up the game because perennial black hole of utter suck-a-tude Jason Collins completely handed the Hornets four points? He pulls Williams off the floor! WTF? If he wants to put Nenad Krstic in, which is fine, WHY, WHY is Collins the one who stays on?
Perhaps I’m not properly explaining how disastrous the aforementioned sequence was. The Hornets missed a shot. Collins had the rebound. He proceeded to let himself get stripped as he was looking for someone to pass to, by Chris Paul. Paul then passes out to Morris Peterson for three. Peterson hits the three and is fouled by… wait for it…. Jason Collins!!! So naturally the correct coaching move is to replace the player who has been contributing on both ends of the floor instead of a guy who just cost you four points.
Then the Hornets won the game on a Chris Paul drive with two seconds to go. The play looked eerily familiar- maybe because five minutes earlier when Paul drove to the same spot and took the same shot, Williams rejected it. But there could be no Williams block this time because he was not on the floor!!!
Furthermore, the Nets have apparently decided that Malik Allen’s woefully inconsistent jump shot is legitimate reason to put him on the floor over Josh Boone. Allen is not a good defender and committed a costly foul earlier after a three. He fouled on a push off looking for a nonexistent rebound, giving the Hornets a free point. That got him pulled off the floor for… Jason Collins. So in essence the combo of Allen and Collins gave the Hornets five points down the stretch. The Hornets won by two. Simple math will tell you what I said before:
Lawrence Frank cost the Nets the game.
This is painfully obvious to people who’ve watch this team. They have athletic big men. They actually have basketball sense. Meanwhile, Jason Collins was a useful player- he’s not anymore. Same can be said for Jamaal Magloire who thankfully didn’t play tonight. Allen never could make that statement in the first place. So why are they playing? Collins is an inferior post defender and rebounder to Boone at this point- the per 40 minutes from last year could tell you that. Boone in 11 minutes did what Collins did in 30. Williams is a ferocious shot blocker because of his tremendous ups. Both actually can move with defenders, not get completely lost if they get switched off and can get themselves in position to score by running the break and coming off the pick and roll. Amazing the Nets played their best second half defense in the Celtics game against Kevin Garnett when he was matched up against Boone and Williams.
So why are they on the bench???
At this point it’s clear. The Nets best lineup is Kidd, Jefferson, Antoine Wright, Boone/Williams and Krstic. (We’ll get to why Richard Jefferson has rendered Vince Carter useless another night) I don’t care which one of them starts in all honestly. Just as long as they are both playing major minutes, I’ll be happy. And the Nets will be better. Is this so damn hard?
I’m sick of this disgusting, yet prime example of “veteran obstinacy”, where a coach plays the vets over the kids because they’re vets. What’s so damn frustrating is that these two guys could seriously make the Nets a true contender in the East. I came away “wow-ed” after watching Williams the past two games. The guy is a freak. 6’10, with a seven foot wingspan and can jump out the gym. Why was he on the bench in crunch time? Because he didn’t start? He was the Nets best freaking player in fourth quarter!!!
Don’t believe me? Williams had 6 points, 8 rebounds, one steal and four blocks in 19 minutes.
While Boone didn’t play tonight, you’ll have a tough time arguing he could do worse than the combined might of Allen and Collins. The two managed, in a total of 42 minutes, 2 points, 3 personal fouls, two of which were absolutely brutal, four rebounds, 1 turnover, zero blocks on a beautiful 1-4 shooting. Seriously, tell me Josh Boone couldn’t do better than that in half the time. Like I said, he already did better than that in a quarter of the time last year.
I’d feel better about this loss if this actually made Frank realize that he needs to stop this garbage and play his best players regardless of age and reputation. But we all know that won’t happen. The Nets keep insisting they are committed to the likes of Collins and Allen, even as the duo insist on trying to show them every reason why they shouldn’t be.
So sadly, I feel like this is just the first of many frustrating nights I’m going to be watching as a Nets fan this year.
