Update: Nets beat Chi-town in double OT 111-106

[Henacy]

@

<font color="Navy">New Jersey Nets </font> <font color="Red">Chicago Bulls</font>
Time: November.5,2004; 7:30pm
Arena: <font color="Red">The United Center </font>
TV: Yes Network

Preview: Tonight is the season and home opener for the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls enter the 04-05 season as one of the teams in the league looking for an identity and style to call their own. Poor or questionable draft picks & trades over the past few years still has this Bulls team trying to find a identity past the post Jordan area. But after a strong offseason of moves led by GM John Paxson, the Bulls finally have a team they feel they can move toward the future. Offseason additions of rookies like Ben Gordon, Loul Deng brings back a bit of hope to CHi-town. The Bulls 04-05 journey begins tonight.

The Nets got their 04-05 season off to a rocky start as the suffered the worst opening day loss in franchise history, with a 100-77 loss to the Miami Heat. The Nets are similar to the Bulls in the fact they are also a team serching for an identity. The offseason losses of Kerry Kittles, Kenyon Martin, & Lu Harris have the Nets wondering whats next. The Nets continue to serch for answers tonight as they look to bounce back and start a winning tend for 04-05

<u>Starting 5</u>

Backcourt:

PG:

Zoran Planinic (Nets)/ Kirk Hinrich(Bulls)*

SG:

Ron Mercer(Nets)/ Ben Gordon(Bulls)

FrontCourt:

SF:

Richard Jefferson(Nets)/ Andres Nocioni (Bulls)

PF:

Eric Williams (Nets)/ Tyson Chandler (Bulls)*

C:

Jason Collins(Nets)/ Eddy Curry(Bulls)

<font size="1">*Kirk Hinrich and Tyson Chandler are questionable for tonight's matchup </font>
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<div align="center"><u>Players To Watch</u>

</div>

Why?
With the Nets frontline being extremely undersized the Bulls' <font color="Red">Eddy Curry </font> really has a chance to get his season off to a strong start. Many around the Chicago area still have doubts about the consistency of the 4 year pro,so Curry needs to have a standout season in 04-05. And tonight against Jason Collins' is a favorable matchup for him. Jason Collins often struggle defending bigbodies who know how to use their bodies down low in the low block area. And with the Nets being so small that doesnt leave much room for help defense from their frontline, which may leave Curry in alot of one on one situations with Collins. It wouldnt shock me if Collins gets into early foul trouble trying to contain the size of Eddie Curry.

The Nets' <font color="Navy">Richard Jefferson</font> is always the player to watch as far as New Jersey is concerned. With Kidd on the injured list and the loss of major offseason weapons, Jefferson finds himself carrying more load then he ever has before in his NBA career. Tonight could be an explosive night for Jefferson with a rookie guarding him. Jefferson is extremely quick and crafty, he knows how to get in the lanes both in the opencourt and off the dribble in a half-court setting. So Andres Nocioni will have his hands full trying to keep RJ out of the lane without getting into foul trouble. Richard Jefferson perimeter game is getting stronger & stronger. But its still a hole in his offensive arsenal, so Nocioni may want to think about letting RJ have the perimeter shot early as a way to keep Jefferson out of the lanes. When Jefferson gets in the lanes, he is then able to set up teammattes who cant create their own shot.
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<u>Key Bench Players for Tonight </u>

With Eric Williams forced into the starting lineup the Nets lose his pressence as a 6th man off the bench. But for tonight's matchup, I think the play of <font color="Navy">Rodney Buford</font> will be big for them off the bench. Buford is extremely athletic and has good scoring ablities, the Nets may need double-digits off the bench for Buford in the matchup to provide some add perimeter scoring.

<font color="Red">Antonio Davis</font> is the veteran pressence off the bench for Chicago. And with Tyson Chandler being questionable on the Bulls frontline AD, may need to step up. And fill in the minutes left by the absense of Chandler.
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<div align="center"><u>Things To Look for In Tonight's Game</u> </div>

Matchup at the 2-guard position. The Matchup at the off-guard spot between Ron Mercer and Ben Gordon should be very interesting. The Rookie Gordon is trying to adjust to life as an NBA 2-guard with piont guard size. Ben Gordon's lack of size could really open up opportunties for Ron Mercer to exploit. Mercer really struggle in his open night as a Net, going 4-11 from the field. So he definately will come out looking to improve on that poor performance. But Ron Mercer must also be up for the task on the defensive end.

When the Nets signed Mercer during the offseason, the major question was about his effort, defensively. Well Mercer's on-ball Defense will be tested in a matchup vs Ben Gordon. Gordon is extremely quick guard off the dribble. And should be able to get into the lanes anytime he wants against Mercer, who iankle still isnt 100%. So the opportunity for success is their for both players, lets see who can take advantage. Also on a side note to the matchup, the Bulls are Ron Mercers' former team. And when he got traded for Jalen Rose a few Years back, his career went on a fastbreak in a down ward direction.

Nets lack Power at the 4. The Nets have no power at the power forward position ,right now They are extremely undersized starting Eric Williams. And coming off the bench with Brian Scalabrine, niether one of those guys give the Nets much in the low block area on either end of the court. That is a matchup that Tyson Chandler & the Bulls can really exploit, on both ends.

The Zo factor. Alonzo Mourning is always the wild card for New Jersey. If Zo can come in and contribute in 15-20 minutes tonight then that helps to strenghten New Jersey's then frontline. But with zo playing, just his 3rd game returning from major Kidney transplant, its hard to tell what Zo will give on a night to night basis. Zo's performance tonight will be interesting to see.
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<u><font color="Navy">Keys To Success For New Jersey</font></u>

<font color="Navy">Experince Factor</font>. Despite the Nets having alot of new faces, they still have a large veteran pressance on this team with guys like Eric Williams, & Zo etc. The Nets must use this to their advantage against a young team like the Bulls. Force the young Bulls into silly mistakes that young teams often make, like turnovers and silly fouls. The Nets must use their experince to win the battle of intangibles.

<font color="Navy">Richard Jefferson's help.</font> Richard Jefferson needs some help carrying the load on the offnsive end. That means guys like Ron Mercer, Rodney Buford etc must step up and provide the Nets with some scoring and smart shot selection.

<font color="Navy">Team Rebounding</font>. The Nets did an extremely poor job of team rebounding in the game Wednesday. The Nets are two small on the frontline for the guards and wing players not to help on the backboards. Collins needs some help rebounding guys like Mercer, Buford, even Zoran Planinic must help out E-Will and JC. The Nets also need a strong rebounding effort off the bench most notably guys like Aaron Williams.

<font color="Navy">Dont Be Scared To Run. </font> I know Kidd's on the IR but the Nets still must push the ball. They are a small team, they cant shot from the perimeter in a half-court. So they must create easy baskets, the only way that going to happen is by getting up & down. Zoran Planinic did a solid job of pushing the ball during preseason, he must now show he can carry it over to regular season play.
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<u><font color="Red">
Key To the Game For Chicago </font></u>

<font color="Red">Limit Silly Turnovers</font>. When ever you have a young team, with alot of new parts the potenial for silly tunovers is always there. Players tend to try to do to much, guys arent adjusted to playing alongside each other all adds up to alot of unforced mistakes. Kirk Hinrich did an excellent job of running the Bulls offense last season. It will be is job to make sure that he gets Chicago into their offensive sets smoothy. And control the temo in Chicago's favor.

<font color="Red">Playing Inside-Out</font>. The Bulls definately want to establish a pressence down low early against the Nets. Get Chandler & Curry going on the inside and then things will become alot easier for the players on the perimeter like Gordon having driving lanes open up. And good looks from the outside for Hinrich.

<font color="Red">Controlling the backboards </font> The Bulls led by Curry & Chandler should have control of the boards against New Jersey, which is key. If the Bulls can limit the Nets 2nd chance pts then they will control what New Jersey can do on their offesive end especially since Jersey doesnt shoot well from the field. And the Bulls creating 2nd chance points opportunities will lead to breakdowns in New Jersey's defense.
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<u>Closing Statement.</u>

I hate to say game 2 of an 82 game season is must win but the Nets need some confidence to the start of the season especially after the Miami game. Looking at the Nets upcoming schedule with teams like PHX, Dallas, Portland and Philly, coming up this is definately New Jersey's most winnable game of their next 5 or 6.

It wont be easy to go into Chi-Town and beat the Bulls in a game where the crowd should be really pumped for a season opener. But Balance is what it will take for the Nets to win. I think they have to have good efforts from all their main perimeter guys Mercer, Buford, Planinic, & of course Rj. And Team rebounding will be major as well. If we put the effort in on both ends I think we can sneak out a victory

Enjoy the Game.

EDIT: I think the suspension is in effect for Eddy Curry & Antonio Davis for their roles in a preseason fight with the Wizards.

 

[Moo2K4]

Something about your starting 5 real quick. I believe that I read over at nba.com earlier that Gordon will be coming off the bench and Deng will be starting tonight.

Anyways, to my thoughts of the game. I think the Bulls have a legit shot at being good this year in the East. They have a young and talented team and they're going against a Nets team that is without their leader in JKidd. I don't believe the Nets will be winning this one tonight. If they are to win, they need a couple things. Firstly, they need a big game from RJ. He's going to go against a couple of rookies tonight in Deng and Nocioni, so he needs to take advantage of their lack of NBA experience. If they're to win, he needs to be huge tonight. The second thing is they need to stop the frontcourt of Curry and Chandler. If the Bulls get those two going early in the game, watch out. The Nets frontcourt has been thinned down with the loss of KMart and the Bulls have a potentially, very good frontcourt this year. Key word is potentially. However, I think the Bulls frontcourt will have a big game tonight against the likes of Williams and Collins. So, my thoughts here, Bulls, unfortunately for the Nets, will be winning their home opener in style this year. I say Bulls by 8.

 

[Henacy]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2K4:</div><div class="quote_post">Something about your starting 5 real quick. I believe that I read over at nba.com earlier that Gordon will be coming off the bench and Deng will be starting tonight.

Anyways, to my thoughts of the game. I think the Bulls have a legit shot at being good this year in the East. They have a young and talented team and they're going against a Nets team that is without their leader in JKidd. I don't believe the Nets will be winning this one tonight. If they are to win, they need a couple things. Firstly, they need a big game from RJ. He's going to go against a couple of rookies tonight in Deng and Nocioni, so he needs to take advantage of their lack of NBA experience. If they're to win, he needs to be huge tonight. The second thing is they need to stop the frontcourt of Curry and Chandler. If the Bulls get those two going early in the game, watch out. The Nets frontcourt has been thinned down with the loss of KMart and the Bulls have a potentially, very good frontcourt this year. Key word is potentially. However, I think the Bulls frontcourt will have a big game tonight against the likes of Williams and Collins. So, my thoughts here, Bulls, unfortunately for the Nets, will be winning their home opener in style this year. I say Bulls by 8.</div>

My bad on having Gordon starting over Deng, I didnt know who won the starting job during preseason. And I figure that Gordon was best ready to start in this league between those to because of the level of expereince he got during his college career. Deng didnt get that in his one year at Duke.

But yeah I really think this game could go either way I think the Bulls have more balance to their team as far as having guys like Currywho can be a pressence in the low block and Hinrich who can have an impact for the outside. But the Bulls are an extremely inexperinced team. And that inexperience could really show in a game like this, home opener, alot of nervousiness going on, equal the youngs trying to do to much or things they arent use to doing or are capable of doing, so I really think this game could go either way.

 

[Henacy]

Game Recap

Well, it really turned out to be a good game even with the absence of Antonio Davis and Eddy Curry due to suspension. The Nets pretty much dominated the entire 1st half leading by as many as 23 in the 1st 24 minutes of action. They even went up by 27 early 3rd quarter. But then the Bulls just got explosive from behind the arc, lead by Kirk Hinrich(who finished the game with 34pts). And the Nets started to come apart seemingly turning the ball over on every play down the court. So the Bulls cut the lead down to 7 by the end of the 4th quarter.

The Nets gained back control of the game early 4th increasing their lead backup to ten. But young Bulls still had alot of fight in them, guys like Loul Deng(who finished the game with 18pts, off the bench) and Andres Nocioni(who finished the game with 17pts and 14rebs) made some huge shots from the perimeter to get the Bulls on the attack opnce again. And Othella Harrington pick up in the 4th quarter, what he started in the 1st(Harrington had 19pts 7rebs). And the Bulls took a two point lead into the closing moments in the game. But Richard Jefferson last play for the Nets took the ball the lenght of the court and knocked down a long perimeter J, to tie the game, Coach frank left the court thinking RJ hit the game winner from three. But Jefferson clearly had his left foot on the three point line, its was only a long two pointer. So the game was headed into OT.

The 1st OT was pretty subdued for the most part. Both teams only combined to score 10pts. But the Nets did have several chances to put the game away. Richard Jefferson had the ball at the top of the three point strip with lesss then 20 seconds left to play. RJ dribble most of the clock out and then penetrated the Lane against rookie Loul Deng, RJ easily got to the hoop but missed a layup that he makes 9 out of 10 times usually. So the Bulls had a chance to steal the game with 2 seconds left in the 1st OT. But a poor inbound pass from three quarter court, wasnt touch by anybody. So that meant the Nets would get the ball back with the full 2nds left on the clock. Coach Frank drew up a play to free RJ up for the corner game winner from three. And the play was excuted perfectly RJ came off an double screen caught the inbound pass. And had a great look but he fade away on his shot release a bit. And the shot hit back iron. And we were headed into a 2nd OT.

The 2nd OT was all about the Zo factor. Zo, who had enter back into the game in the 1st oT for Jason Collins(16pts), who foul trying to keep Othella Harrington in front of him all night, really pretty much took the inside away from the Bulls. He got a couple of Blocks dowm low. And really made it difficult for Harrington to get his shot off against him. And then early in the 2nd OT Zo fouled out Harrington. And after that it was pretty much New Jeresy. RJ penetrated two straight times down the court and found big Zo in the middle with two great passes. The last Richard Jefferson(26pts, 21rebs, & 9ast) and Alonzo Mourning(17pts) was the one that really end the game. The Nets out scored Chicago 12-7 in the 2nd overtime. And went on two win the game 111-106. RJ really proved why he is ready to take over as the best player on this team with his play making, making big shots. And pretty much just keeping the fight in this team even after they blew a 27pt lead in the 2nd half.

The problem now, is that was the 1st game of a back to back. And the Nets have to comeback tonight and take on a high octane PHX Suns team. So it will be interesting to see the energy level of the team tonight.

Boxscore