Nets Finish Off Bobcats To Win Fifth Game, 103-94

Brook Lopez owned it everytime he had the ball I was happy because I knew he would score.

Courtney Lee really busted his butt and helped carry this team

Devin Harris looked Good

Boone looked good

Hayes knocked down big shots in 4th

Yi was terrible like always

Analysis:
Devin Harris- played like a true point guard. Looked like an allstar again. He found open men, attacked the lane, and took and made open shots. He allowed the game to come to him and that was essential.

Courtney Lee- his offense was much needed. He helped the nets in tough situations and played good defense while grabbing needed rebounds.

Jarvis Hayes- Key late game situation baskets by hayes. He shot the ball a little too much, rushing his shots but the nets won and that’s good enough.

Yi- what can I say? He played alright once again. He was okay on the boards and hit open shots.

Lopez- was a monster to start the game. Played good defense, controlled his emotions better, and was very patient on the offensive end. He got the ball in low post situations and passed the ball bak out, making his own shot better. His fundamentals are improving.

CDR- Nice piece off the bench, didn’t hurt or help the Nets. Nice to see him back in the rotation.

T-Will- A nice game for him as well as he contributed towards the end and played good ball throughout.

Keyon Dooling- GREAT job backing up the great harris and helping the nets maintain good energy.

Josh Boone- we might not have won this game without him. Did you notice at the five minute mark he waved off Humphries from posting up and then scored himself which was very important as was his late offensive rebound.

Kiki- his best coaching all year. Played who was playing well, yelled at some players, played Boone, played CDR.

Overall: great offense, hard defense translates into a win.

YES!

Good Game for Court and Dev. Good win for Nets now we just have to keep it up closer to avoiding THE record

(Marks the date we play the Bobcats again)

wow the Nets won…. although i was scared as heck down the stretch… a big game from Lee DHarris and Boone…. Boone probably saved the game for us….

It’s quite simple: stop licking Yi’s butt, play boone who had many winning plays for us today, and we might win. I am not Lee’s biggest supporter, but he has played very well the last couple of games.

It’s a win baby!!!!!! Mazel tov !!! Haha

Bobcats won’t be making playoffs.

Without Yi, would have been a 18 pt. win.
With a decent PF instead of Yi, would have been a 25 pt. win.

Ian Eagle says at end “Nets have to decide whether Yi has a role on this team” paraphrased.
Hope Thorn was watching game with Proky (LOL).

Maybe Proky would say, can we trade Yi tomorrow.

Andres, myself and others Were correct to say “Play Boone”!

CLee is a keeper though and will be a pretty good bench player behind Evan Turner next year.

I think the “Drive for Five” was supposedly at least 5 more wins. That one was called “I need a fifth….. BAD”

ma man Courtney Lee – 21 points ,im tellin you folks , give him some more time and he will bust that lol

not to mention Twill with that dunk , wOoOOo , Twill= Future all star

Start Boone and brook together…Nets win!

WOOO HOOO! THE NETS WIN! Magic number is 5 to stay out of therecord books! I like the big man rotation of Brook, Boone and Humphries. Everyone played very well tonight, except Yi. Devin, Keyon, Jarvis, Terrence, Humphries, BOONE, and Brook all played like a team who can win some games. Hustle, defense and rebounding is a perfect formula for staying in games.

nets lead from start to finish an did not spend one second behind??

i must be dreaming!

Lighting in a bottle. Josh “Bolt” Boone was the man tonight. Simply put he was the difference. Lopez in foul trouble and Yi stinking up the court as usual, Boone saved the day.

Kiki seems frustrated with Yi.
Did you see Kiki tell Yi to use your head (think)?

Noticed Hump’s frustration when Kiki put Yi in instead of him when BLopez got his 6th foul.

I’m sure Yi is becoming a distraction for the entire team.
It is too obvious to hide.

If only Nets would get someone like Brandon Bass, who Orlando doesn’t even want, I’d bet Nets win 10 more games this year (that is if they got a new coach too).

I think at this point, the Nets couldn’t move Yi if they wanted to, without giving up draft picks too.

Are the Bobcats the best team we have beaten this year??
Maybe somebody takes Boone off our hands, based on tonight’s game???YI looks awful and CDR is just lost. But this year, I’ll take a win any way I can get one. We need five more wins before the end of the year, and at least we won’t be the worst team ever. DO YOU BELIEVE THORN when he says probably nothing will happen with the roster this trading season? Can’t we trade some of the expiring contracts for at least a rotation player? Someone worth keeping for next year? Maybe we can make THE CAVS think that Simmons is their ticket to a trophy?Maybe you’d like to buy that pretty bridge that goes between Brooklyn and Manhattan?

I forgot to mention Courtney above! Great game, he is also playing agrressive and making good decisions.

every game we should play against for the remainder of the season is the bobcats we seem to win against them

Kiki just said, Josh is a very good player but sometimes he does not fit in rotations? SIT YI AND START BOONE!

MAZEL TOV.

Yes!!! Just 5 more to go!

Yi had an outburst of energy the last few games when he put +15 pts, now he is back to the same -10 ppg inconsistent and asiatic fag……

and to believe that PHX offered amar´e for yi last season.

Thorn suck!!! :(

Good win, but still we arent going anywhere :( :( :(

STILL FIRE KIKI !!!!!!!

John Wall on ESPN now people.

Yi,what’s wrong?

The robot is taking minutes away from Hump and Boone. The Nets wanted Yi to make shots and be tough, sounds like Hump. They also wanted Yi to grab boards and defend, sound like Boone. Give the Robot a rest and let the real PF’s on this team play. Please.

whew. 5 more lets go.

Yes We win the game

I am really glad for Josh Boone. I never understood why he was out of the rotation. He was always a good defensive player and rebounded. I hope he continues to get more playing time, preferrably over Yi.

we played awesome i was at the game. the nets were upbeat having good time and keyon dooling was like a coach. i think we will lose to heat though

it’s not like we’ll win 10 in a row now, but it once again proves that playing D and playing hard, well, it will result in a couple of more wins this season. Great win.

Boone!

When was Boone ever that bad? I always remember him getting 6-9 points, 7-10 boards, a block or two, and a bunch of missed free throws. Dude is solid.

We also won the rebounding by 10 over Charlotte. Josh and Hump had 8 each.

The lack of response here after a win tells it all.
Nearly everyone has already given up hope.

I have no doubt anymore that reason Nets aren’t shopping Yi is that Thorn already knows no interest, so why get something embarrassing into the news.

Thorn says there won’t be any trades, unless someone calls for an expiring. At least CDR is safe.

Only hope would be if Proky was able to watch game and ordered Thorn to get rid of Yi.

Someone may be calling for Boone, but I would keep him, but buy out Battie.

Don’t give up on Boone.

Our big man rotation should be Lopez Yi Humphries and Boone

We have played pretty well in the last 10 games. We probably should have won about 3 of them. I honestly don’t believe that we set the record.

I am really hopeful though that Rod and Kiki pull off a big time trade – preferrably Simmons expiring contract and Yi for Andre Iguodala. Philly is hemmoraging money and they don’t have a billionaire owner coming to the rescue like us. The Nets should do whatever it takes to add Iguodala. It takes off a lot of the pressure on us in free agency – and his versatility would allow him to play on the same floor as Lebron if we get really lucky. Or Carmelo if we make a run at him in 2011.

Tonight, Devin and Courtney played well. Trading Devin would be a mistake – regardless of what happens in the draft. I almost think it would be better to get the 2nd pick and be “forced” to take Turner rather than Wall.

A starting lineup of Devin, Turner, Iguodala, ?, and Lopez would be really good – especially with a bench of TWill, Lee, CDR, Hump and hopefully Boone, Hayes and Keyon.

Keeping Boone beyond this season is something the Nets really need to consider. There are not many big men who can consistently give you rebounding, defense, blocked shots and some points off the bench.

Winning a championship comes down to having depth on the bench. Giving up a young big man who can provide the little things off the bench is not something to buy out or throw away. Unless he has a monster final 29 game effort – Josh is going to be a reasonable resigning.

C.Lee nice going man ,Brook is for real,what a steal at

10.TWill looking better,becoming more mature.

It has been obvious to many regular commenters here that the Nets need a big who primarily provides defense and rebounding playing next to Lopez. Boone can provide those. Scoring is secondary when you have a center who can score like Lopez. Kiki, thank you for finally playing Boone. Congrats Nets!

WHOA!!!! i wouldnt hop on Boones lap so fast. And nobody is mentioning Hump – HE SHOULD BE STARTING!!! Boone should get HUMPS min and HUMP should be getting YIs min.

ummm trade KIKI a fire YI or is it the other way around.

and CDR should be regutlated to mascot duties…

Anyone notice that Boone’s free throw shooting form was better when he knew he had done good. Another words its a mental thing. He should be a 60% shooter. I bet he does that in practice.
Too bad, because his free throw shooting and confidence problem is what has ruined his career.

@ Ryan243

I agree. I like the thought of Humphries and Boone as our main bigs off the bench that should be keepers going forward. They are both young. In addition, they hustle rebound and get easy put backs around the rim. We just need a legit starter next to Brook.

I’m happy about the win, but really no trades? Wtf with all the expiring contracts wasn’t the point of acquiring them to be able to make a big trade and sign FA’s? I can’t imagine any of the big name FA’s are gonna wanna come here if we’re not adding at least one other player with them and the easiest way to do that would probably to trade for one then try to sign two.

Also yeah I cosign that Hump and Boone should be getting Yi’s minutes and Yi should be making sure the bench doesn’t move.

CDR’s decline started when Yi returned. He used to be able to drive to basket at will. There must be a connection? – guess I blame Kiki.

Since Thorn won’t (can’t) trade Yi, maybe we should just hope for another injury – then bring up the best big man from the D-League!

I would bet there are at least 5 D-Leaguers who could help Nets more than Yi.

Tonight was nothing atypical from Josh Boone…That is basically what you can expect from him. I think Josh not playing was strictly politics…

The Nets and the powers that be NEEDED to try and prove that Yi was going to be a stud. But now with Proky coming in and jobs on the line…trying to prove Yi is not a bust is secondary to keeping their jobs. So expect to see Boone back in the rotation.

Also not sure why I wrote a post on Yi having the worst hands in the NBA at the PF position – which is the reason why he will never be anything but a rotation player and it was blocked….Guess Yi politics are in play everywhere.

big game coming up tommrow with the heat who just smashed the 76ers we will see if they can carry it over

Oh and TWill once again was robbed of at least a few assists from Yi dropping a give me pass and missed shots by the Nets. His stats truly never tell the whole story of how he played. That is why stats can never truly measure a guy’s worth on the court.

next game we should smash the heat and make wade realize that he should come over here. but only i can hope

Dallas lost again that first round draft is looking better

and better .Dallas is an old team ,nets please hold on to

that draft

nobody is mentioning the great job loyer did on the bench. i was watching him closely and he was getting on the players and calling out movement from the bench. i think he helped alot tonite.

yi is just a dumb nba player, he has no bb iq.

boone saved us tonite. without him we lose this game.

I am just glad we won either way.

WIN!!! 5 more to go…

as always, TRADE Yi and FIRE KIKI!!!

What a great night. Nets win. Wall and cousins and jarvis varnado (potential second round target) on ESPN. Dallas lost and Lost on dvr

either hump or boone should always be on the court at all times…their hustle on the boards is needed at all times what with lopez being a below average rebounder especially considering his size and yi playing like garbage everytime his offensive game isn’t going…

hmm rubenp has a point and the mavs made that big trade. Could it be the Mavs pick is gonna be a value pick WOW. Might wanna hold on to that pick and trade it and our 2nd along with expires / players and get another top ten pick that would be greeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!

This is irrelevant to this topic y’all but by the looks of it we need a true bigman because Yi just doesn’t do it for us. This kid Damarcus Cousins Is the real deal. I can see him playing next to B.Lo that combination would be so dominate.

@ mikee21
how would cousins and lopez play together theyre too big? But boy would that be amazing. if we could some get some trades to get wall, turner, and cousins or some 2 out of 3 of those that would be great.

the last thing we need is both lopez and cousins whining like little babies and crying over every little call. Cousins really needs to control his emotions

Cousins is head and shoulders above favors. He has great hands a big body and a tremendous rebounder. If Dallas keeps losing we have a great shot at getting a second lottery pick. I would then offer Dallas pick, our second and a future first rounder to move up for cousins. Prob u need to get to top 7.

Give Boone the minutes. He does the things that help the team. Not an offensive force but he makes the most of his minutes doing little things that help the team. Sit Yi and see what happens.

@ NetsDaily – Maybe you should do a post on who the Nets might draft this year.

@i

Anybody over Yi at this point would be great. I just really gave up on him months ago. Cousins is a real legit big man and if we have the opportunity to get him I wouldn’t pass him up he’s athletic, Hustles after rebounds and plays with alot of emotion that’s something every team craves for.

Another big man who we’re projected to draft in this years draft with the Mavs pick is Vernando and I’m Finally getting the chance to see him play he’s also another Legit big who could come off the bench with ALOT of energy but we’ll see what happens either way the Nets can’t go wrong in this years draft there’s NO WAY there’s too much talent this year.

Cousins can really pass out of the post. Not many young bugs have the bball iq or vision to do that. Good sign for his potential and ability to play with brook.

cousins would be gone by 7 but id take favors because he can develope under lopez. he would not have to be the man. or maybe ed davis or cole aldrich. cousins is great but man o man is he a wuss he cries like my god son

hump and boone playing for 40 mins = a 20/15 guy…who needs chris bosh?

id take dexter pitman out of texas also

What I don’t get about alot of y’all is the fact that y’all confuse players “crying and blah blah blah on the court” as a sign of weakness and like spider man put it being a wuss crying like his “God Son”. What y’all need to understand is all of that is pure emotion and passion and I find it good for players because there just passionate about the game. He’s a winner and like CD-R doesn’t like to lose I find nothing wrong with a player being passionate about the game and not liking to lose. In addition, understand that these players are “Still Young” Cousins is only what 18, 19 lets be for real now people. How are you possibly complaining about a 18, 19 year old “crying on the court all the time” I just don’t get it.

nice win! Just can,t believe all those who call for CDr and TWill.Just watch Cdr break into a fast walk getting back on D.He won,t drive or shoot because he is sulking.TWill is a turnover machineHope he is used in a trade.Boone is a backup who plays hard and a true professional.

Robin Lopez went for 18 and 10 tonight, he’s really improving!

We Need John Callipari Great Coach Great Coach!

Pittman has conditioning issues and is a late first round pick at best. Ed Davis had unimpressive year and I believe done for year with broken wrist. Should stay in school. Not sold on favors. Cousins will not go top 5 due to conditioning and maturity concerns.

Yi God love him… has got to have THE worst butter fingers I have ever seen on a human being in my entire life.

I’m just type happy Kiki is starting to see what every one else sees in Yi. And if he keeps it up I might just take the grudge away that I have with him give him one position and one position only and that’s the draft. Let him be a scout or something in that category.

Fire YiKi!! The two of ’em!

Hollah!

trade Yi for Robin Lopez!!!!!!!!!!!

i think that would be a nasty duo; Brook & Robin

Guys Kiki is a great GM. He is very good at identifing talent in the draft. He is also doing a very good job of young player development. With all the picks in the draft for the next few years – I think it would be a big mistake to get rid of Kiki. We can not afford to have misses in the draft. This year we need a stud and some bench depth with the Dallas pick and our 2nd rounder (or even a second stud with that Dallas pick) and going forward we will need to find bench depth if we truly have a shot at a championship. The elite teams always seem to find value that benefits their depth late in the first round.

Yeah I actually don’t mind Kiki as a gm, Yi experiment aside and even I don’t think that was that bad a trade at the time. But he definitely shouldn’t be making in game decisions on who to play. A lot of the moves he made he was handicapped by having to shed payroll because of Ratner and he still got decent value, the expiring contracts and Lee for Carter, Harris and the draft picks for an aging expensive Kidd(and Kidd is my favorite player of all time, I’m not trying to selling him short). But he shouldn’t be anywhere near the coaching sideline.

You gotta really think about it. Since the W against the clippers we really have been playing much improved ball. I have been telling friends that I think C Lee is a keeper. He is a shooting guard who doesn’t have to shoot everytime he touches the ball. He isn’s selfish. He rebounds well. He plays great perimeter D. I love this young core. We will be much better next year. Nets fans hold on for real. Don’t get overhyped on a win like this or discouraged with the lots of losses in the future. This is a long term project. I like what a lot of people said about Boone. I would give him a 3 year 8 mill dollar contract. You don’t find big men for cheap. Even Dalembert and Haywood make good money because solid rebounders/defensive centers are hard to find. Lets go nets. Keep playing hard. DH keep doing your thing I have supported you all year long unlike everyone else on here. (except netincome) Keep it going. Payback Miami and Dwade for that WIn they took away from us.

@FrankC – how can you diss TWill after tonights performance? He was level headed and played real well. A bunch of sweet passes and constant aggression. He got the ball and pushed up the floor with a great combination of speed and control. Some of his moves on the wing faked his defenders out of their shoes. I don’t get your rant on a day where nothing was immature about TWill’s game or demeanor.

Nice win. Harris can be a very good point guard at times, but not consistenly enough and he’s an injury magnet. Great game by Lopez when he wasn’t in foul trouble. And Lee showed the talent that I just don’t think CDR has, but Williams might someday.
Should have been a wider margin of victory, but…
Yi is so bad it’s hard to take.
Sure, he gets some boards and makes a few shots, but he’s just awful in ways that don’t show up on stat sheets.
—can’t guard anybody
—soft screens
—butter fingers when getting an entry pass or trying to catch the ball on the run
—stripped frequently when he gets (or almost gets) a board in the paint
—dumb fouls
Can we pleeeeeeez bring this guy off the bench?!

But I’ll take the win and at least 5 more like it!

oh mikee i see u called me out. hahah good i like that :0 BUT u like guys like CDR huh?? crying and whining lmaoooo theres no crying in basketball brother im sorry and i like cousins but if he is anything like CDR id pass sorry and good nite :)

Yi’s a rotation player on legit team when his game is on, and he’s been on way more this season than ever before. He intimidates a lot of shooters, and gets some blocks and deflections. He get some good rebounds, as he did early in the game tonite. When he is shooting right, his stroke looks so good and the swishing ball does not pass within an inch of the rim in any direction. The minuses on Yi are big and there’s no guarantee they will ever go away: low BB IQ, butterfingers, easy to strip the ball from him, weak 1-on-1 defender, gets in a funk and can’t do anything right. But he’s not currently dog waste, whether he ever gets much better or not. One area where he is growing and can grow a lot more: close-in offense. Taking it to the hole and posting up. When he does it right, he’s hard to stop.

another problem with Yi — boxing out.

yesterday was a wonderful day for me, capped off by the Nets getting a rare W :) it felt good watching them finish strong and execute for four quarters.

Last night was the best i’ve seen Harris play all season on both ends of the floor. Where has that been all year?? Just an awesome game from him. Lets hope this Devin Harris stays and _evin Harris never, ever returns. Please Devin, please play like that for the rest of the season.

Lee picked up right where he left off. Finishing plays, making shots, defending. Great game

Josh BOONE. I was saying prior to the break that there is no reason why this kid doesn’t get any minutes when the nets lack rebounding and defense and he proved my point. Way to go Josh, out of anyone, he needed that kind of game. The Hump and Boone need to take Yi’s minutes away. Totally. We are just a better team with Yi off of the floor, period. David Lee is looking like he should be the first player we offer a contract to this off season.

Team effort was great overall and hopefully this isn’t some fluke and this signals what we should expect from the Nets post all star break. I also noticed that there was a ton of camaraderie this game. Also, loved the bench this game. T-Will and the Hump were solid. CDR needs to get it going, he didn’t hurt the team but some offense would be nice.

btw…the refs give Lopez no respect. Who the heck fouls out on a weak over the back with like a minute to go?

Kudos to Josh Boone. KUDOS!!!!!

There’s no reason why this kid shouldn’t have been playing more.

Have to say that I like Boone more than Humphries. Humphries has really started to get on my nerves…he definitely thinks he’s better on offense than he really is, trying to do too much and not being effective with it. Boone understands his offensive limitations, acting as the clean-up man rather than forcing dumb shots. And I think Boone is a better rebounder and defender. I’d like Boone a lot more if he could hit a FT, tho…

If Boone shot FT’s a 75% clip he would average at least 12 points a game. Maybe he needs to start taking Xanax before games or something to get over the anxiety at the line

Maybe THorn is smarter than we think! Maybe Thorn made Kiki a coach, so he could see how bad his moves were! Maybe Kiki was like: Yi will be a star! And maybe THorn said, okay, make him one! Now Kiki sees how bad his moves were, eats crow, and maybe, understands he is not as good as he thinks about evaluating talent. Now trade his 4 mil of cap waste!

The Nets do not win the season series with the Bobcats (yet). The series is currently 2-1 to New Jersey (loss at Charlotte November 2, first win of the season December 4th and this win at Charlotte February 16). The Nets’ home finale is against the Bobcats on April 12.

I think Yi’s problems are mostly mental/emotional. It was clear when he came back from his injury that he does actually have skill and ability…the only reason I can see for his reverting back to just slightly-better-than-before form is because he is depressed or something like that. Maybe he hates the losing…or his teammates don’t treat him well…or the media is harsh on him…or the fans are harsh on him. In any case, it’s no excuse, and he should play to the best of his ability, which is much higher than he has been playing. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him be a much better player if traded to a better team…

You win as a team and lose as a team.

Anybody who thinks Boone is more valuable then Yi is being ruled by his/her heart, not head.

What would you do with Yi anyway. Cut him, trade him for a second round pick, send him to the “D” league?

I would give Yi at least another full season before throwing him over board. Maybe he comes off the bench but to just get rid of him now would be foolish. A foolish pleasure for some.

Good play by Josh Boone. It seems like he needs months at a time to recharge his brain and break free from the binds within him that seem to keep him tied.

The vision I had in my head last night was:
Devin Harris, Kevin Martin, Evan Turner, _, Brook Lopez
…thoughts?

@Dirt;

Sounds more realistic then Wall, Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Lopez…

Too many people on this website have unrealistic dreams of having a superstar championship contender team by next season. Hope we do, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen that quick. Maybe 3 years from now.

Maybe David Lee fills your empty slot.

Dirt,

No thanks on Kevin Martin and Harris in the same backcourt.

Would not go after Kevin Martin. Another injury prone slight guard. He is not worth the added money that Courtney Lee makes.

I do like Evan Turner a lot. That is going to ultimately be like a Oden-Durant dilemna….Wall is the consensus #1 pick – but ultimately Turner might be the better value in the draft.

Wall is very good at finding the open big man though underneath – which is a good sign for playing with Brook.

I still think the most important thing will be where that Dallas pick ends up. If they fall out of playoffs and we have 2 lottery picks, we might be able to seriously move up in the draft with that Dallas pick and come away with 2 of the following 3 – Wall, Turner, Cousins. That would be huge for us. Then in free agency we could focus solely on some solid veteran players to help this young core come together.

@ Mike

You are right that Yi is more talented than Boone. But, the team functions better with Yi off of the court. Yi is untradeable at this point, as his weaknesses are too well known. Watching him play with the rest of the Nets reminds me of watching the weakest wildebeaste in the pack when the lions arrive. NBA players are preying on Yi. They prey on his weak and confused defense. They prey on his “butterfingers.” The prey on his weak picks and failures to box out.

Yes. Yi needs to go to the D-League so he can try to cure his weaknesses, which makes his strengths (good shooting, good foul shooting, reasonable driving moves, ok use of long arms in changing shots) insignificant. Why is that so unthinkable???

I personally have never seen anyone dunk from that far away in an actual game(not dunk contest) Twill is a stud. Has anyone ever seen such a long jump? My dad always speaks of a time he saw Dr. J do it from the FT line in game, but I have never seen it. Terrence almost jumped from the FT line if you take into account he jumped at an angle.

@Robby;

 Yi is not going to the D-League. His trade value might be much higher then you would think. When visiting other teams forums you would be surprised how players are viewed from other fans point of view.

 If Thorn is not happy with Yi, everybody says he Kiki’s boy, we might find out soon what Yi’s value is really at.

 I have my favorite players on the Nets just like most of us, but if they decide to trade Yi then I will hope it will improve the Nets.

 When push comes to shove I’m a Nets fan first and foremost…

@ Robby

That made a lot of sense.

As a practical matter, no way they’ll do it though.

@Robby,

Yes in the D-league they will teach him to put sticky stuff on his hands?

@ Tim – UGH!