The Nets

[opi@unesco.org]

-After an impressive turnaround from their 2-15 start, the New Jersey
Nets have suddenly lost 6 of their last 7 games and 9 of their last 12.
Two of those losses came against the Celtics.

-Nevertheless, the Nets are tough at home (14-11) and hope to prevent a
Celtics (4-18 road) season sweep of them tonight.

-Stephon Marbury and Keith Van Horn average over 40ppg between them. Van
Horn averages 8 boards. Marbury averages 8.5 assists. Neither player has
ever been selected to play in the All Star Game.

-The Nets feature two more occasionally explosive scorers in Kittles
(14.1 ppg 4.0 boards and 2.3 assists) and Gill (12.5 ppg 3.7 boards 2.4
assists). Pierce and Griffin will match up quite often with this pair.

-Kittles went for 33 points including 13-15 FT shooting against the
Pacers last month. Among their top gunners, he is the only one with a
half-way decent FG% at .437 (nothing really to write home about though).

-Gill went for a season-high 25 points just two nights ago against
Golden State. He's had high games of 7 assists, 7 steals and 8 rebounds
this year.

-The seemingly ageless Johnny Newman (9.8ppg on .462FG%) has been a
solid player for the Nets.

-The 25-year-old Jamie Feick continues to average a Jayson
Williams-esque 11 rebounds per game, including 4.0 per game on the
offensive glass.

-The Nets have never liked to pass very much. They average just 19.6 per
game or 26th in the NBA, leading to a sorry .424 team FG% (28th in the
league ahead of the Bulls). Our Celtics incidentally averages a middle
of the pack 21 assists per game (21st in the NBA) and .443FG% (20th).

-The Nets rank very high in the NBA in steals (7th). This is also a
bright spot for the Celtics, who have ranked in the top five most of the
year (4th presently).

-Like the Celtics, the Nets have a relatively thin bench. Five starters
average 30 or more minutes per game, led by Marbury with 39 mpg.

-The Celtics are 1-3 to start this difficult month, having lost to
Miami, Portland and Indiana by a total of 11 points.

-None of our key guys have found consistency this month. Antoine has so
far had a high of 35 points and a low of 10 points.

-Similarly, Pierce has had games of 10 rebounds and 2 rebounds, not to
mention two game with an uncharacteristally low one assist. He's also
averaged just 0.75 steals this month, although he's still holding onto
the second overall position in the NBA at 2.24 per game.

-Potapenko's scoring has ranged from a team high 19 against the Blazers
to just 4 against the Heat. Vitaly had 12 boards against the Pacers but
just 3 against the Blazers.

-Tonight's game is the very definition of a mid-season "must win" on the
road.  The Celtics do not want to fall six games under .500 facing a
back-to-back tomorrow night against the East's best team (Indiana)
followed by the annual West coast road trip that begins in Utah and
ending against the Lakers.

-Five of our next eight opponents should rightfully be favored to blow
us out. Our three theoretically "winnable" games include two tough road
matchups (Golden State, and the revenge game against the Grizzlies). The
Celts will need some heroics this month in order to stay within sight of
.500 for the stretch run.

-Boston's last two wins against the Nets have been very close (3 and 5
points respectively). The Celts had one of their best early season games
back on November 19th in a 13-point victory, shooting .500 and scoring
109 points through 26 assists and 49 individual rebounds. They held the
Nets to 42% shooting. Three Celts had 5 assist games (Griffin, Walker,
Pierce). Four different Celts had 8 or more rebounds led by Griffin's 11
(Walker was not far behind with 7).

-On the 15th of January, Antoine Walker went for 39 points and 11
rebounds. He ate KVH alive with 17-24 FG shooting inside the 3-point
line. Walker followed that up with a quiet and by most accounts "mature"
game (10 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) last Friday.

-The Celts are healthy and should try to hustle all out for wins tonight
and tomorrow, what with six whole nights to rest before kicking off the
start of the West Coast trip next Tuesday.

-The Celts are only three games out of the playoff race, despite
slumping to a season worst five games below .500

-I'm obviously concerned that this month could extinguish our playoff
aspirations, just as last February wiped us out last year (or was it
March?). But something also tells me the young Celtics are starting to
gell into a pretty good team.

-Even if the Celts do play below .500 the rest of this month, they
should not get too down on themselves or stop playing hard every night
as a team (just PLEASE give us a win against the Fakers). As noted
before, the Celt's schedule after February looks almost surprisingly
easy and so it's very possible to imagine an 8+ game winning streak at
some juncture to get us right back into the playoff picture.

-From now until the end of the year, the young Celts have to gell in
time to try to leapfrog Orlando and Detroit (which holds the 8th spot
presently). Philly and Toronto (5th and 6th seeds respectively) are two
other clubs that the Celts must try to prove they are better than.


Go Y2K Celtics!

Joe