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93 minutes of mediocrity: A look at the Brooklyn Nets collapse

By Net Income
Elsa

Ian Parfrey of Brooklyn Fans takes a long look at 93 minutes of basketball, the time it's taken for the Nets to collapse in six of their last nine games. Parfrey looks at who was on the court and who was responsible for the collapse in each.

Here's a summary of what he found:

--Gerald Wallace shot 2-for-13 in these collapses, and missed all nine of his three-point attempts.

--The Deron Williams - Joe Johnson backcourt was used for 45 of the 93 minutes, and got outscored 97-42, which is significantly worse than any other possible backcourt combination.

--Johnson shot 7-for-28, and had one assist in 83 of the 93 minutes. This is more minutes, and more attempts, than any other player over the same period.

-- Andray Blatche has been the main beneficiary of what little passing the Net guards are doing, making 11-of-20 shots, mostly at the rim. His interior play has kept things from getting even worse. Lineups using Brook Lopez at center have been about equally effective.

--The Nets were outscored 32-0 in the nine minutes that Avery went super-small, with Kris Humphries or Reggie Evans at center.

Bottom line for Parfrey: "You can put some of the Nets’ struggles down to failing to make shots, or run the plays correctly, but the team is going through repeated offensive slumps longer than a performance of 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' 25 games into the season."

Jason Kidd described the problem more succinctly. He told Stefan Bondy that it's not Avery Johnson. Williams just has to make shots.

"I don’t think it has anything to do with the coach," Kidd said Thursday. "I think it’s just a matter of getting comfortable making shots. Also, he has new teammates. He’s got to get used to a new crew. It’s always a growing period.

"He’s a grownup. He’ll figure it out. All things don’t go well right away sometimes. He’s just going through a struggle shooting the ball, but he’s one of the best at what he does, so he’ll work through it."

Well, at least they have till Sunday to work things out.

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