TSN Nets report

["j.hironaka" <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

The Celtics play the 1st place Nets (10-5) at 1pm Saturday. No scouting 
report for fear of a jinx (I stopped after our fourth straight loss).

This is the front end of a B2B. Boston moves on to Toronto on Sunday.


Nets Team Report November 24, 2001
By Don Burke/The Newark Star-Ledger
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/teams/nets/

POSITIONAL ANALYSIS

Point guard: Kidd suffered through a miserable shooting week, at one point 
missing 21-of-23 shots from the field in a two-game span. The Nets lost 
both. But then he scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to 
help beat Utah and held off the Clippers with six consecutive free throws 
in the final 27.1 seconds of a tight game. He just wins. Grade: A.

Shooting guard: Kerry Kittles continues to struggle with his shot. In the 
first three games of the Nets' Western swing -- before he got hurt against 
the Clippers -- Kittles had made just five of his 14 shots and scored a 
total of 12 points. Fortunately, Lucious Harris has been there to pick up 
the slack. Harris, who had 19 points that night, had made 23-of-39 shots 
from the field (59 percent) and averaged 11 points in the team's last five 
games. Grade: B.

Small forward: Kenyon Martin has decided to play from the outside in, 
letting his jump shot wait until he can get something going inside. He had 
been shooting well over 50 percent from the field using that approach 
during a five-game span that ended when he went six-for-18 against the 
Clippers. He had 12 of his season-high 28 points in an overtime loss to 
Denver in a dominating fourth quarter. His defense and shot blocking have 
been superb. Grade: B.

Power forward: Returning to his roots agreed with Keith Van Horn. He hit a 
jumper from the top of he key with 2.3 seconds left in overtime to beat the 
Jazz in the city where he starred as a collegian at the University of Utah. 
The next night, playing about an hour away from where he grew up in 
southern California, he put together a season-high 34 points and 12 
rebounds to beat the Clippers. Grade: A.

Center: Todd MacCulloch has been up and down, but is still averaging 9.8 
points and 8.8 rebounds per game. He shot 53.8 percent from the field 
through the first dozen games despite a 1-for-6 clunker against the 
Clippers. Rookie Jason Collins has seen increased time. Grade: C+.

"Defense is our staple," Byron Scott said. "I keep saying that and it will 
be like a broken record by the time the season's over. We do a much better 
job on the defensive end when the game was on the line. When we feel we are 
in jeopardy of losing a game, we buckle down."