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It's not often a regular season game in early November brings much hype and anticipation, but with Jason Kidd making his official coaching debut for the Brooklyn Nets, this game carried much more weight than normal. Unfortunately, a little too much heavy lifting for the Nets, who played a sloppy, sloppy game.
Coach Kidd's regular season debut was spoiled by some uninspired play, as the Nets fall to 1-2 after losing to the Magic, 107-86.
The Nets, coming off a highly emotional one-point victory over the defending champs, the Miami Heat, started off slow, missing their first four shots before Paul Pierce started to take off. Such is a general theme we'll likely see this season, with the Nets so deep and talented offensively, they can actually lean a different player -- a hot hand -- from one night to the next.
Brooklyn once again showed off their depth, and did so early. Ten guys played in the first quarter, with eight playing at least three minutes -- 11 seeing first-half minutes.
Three-point shooting and overall field goal efficiency was an issue for the Nets in the first half, as they went 1-of-8 from downtown and shot 36.4 percent from the floor over the first 24 minutes. They just couldn't get anything to fall, but luckily, Orlando wasn't much better, as the Nets only trailed by a score of 41-38 at halftime.
The second half wasn't any prettier, as the Nets seemed to have lost all rhythm and any sense of urgency while the Magic pulled ahead by 14 points midway through the third quarter. A young-man's dunk by Paul Pierce really started to set things off for the Nets, who finally, seemingly, decided to show up.
Unfortunately, so too did Victor Oladipo who just took the game over after the Nets went on a 8-1 run. He responded with eight points of his own in the third quarter, and the Magic took a 74-59 lead into the 4th. .
From here, the Magic continued to out-hustle and out-rebound the Nets, as they ran away with this one, winning 107-86. The Magic finished plus-13 in rebounds and held the Nets to 37-percent shooting from the floor. This was no championship-contending performance
Victor Oladipo was fantastic, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes (also, seven turnovers). Nikola Vucevic was dominant as well, cleaning the glass and providing the inside look on the offensive side of the ball, posting 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Brook Lopez led the Nets in scoring with 21 points, adding five blocks and six rebounds, while Pierce added 16 points. Other than that, no other Net posted double-digit scoring totals.
It's early, the Nets didn't look crisp, they didn't have a sense of urgency, etc. The Nets do need to continue to get more familiar with each other on both ends of the floor, even Joe Prunty said as much as we were all celebrating their performance.
The loss left two veterans frustrated.
"[If] we want to be one of the best teams in this league, the best team in this league when it's all said and done, we've got to perform better in these situations," said Deron Williams
And it had Kevin Garnett already questioning his role, considering he has yet to crack double-digits scoring. "I've got to get better with what I'm doing, making my minutes more productive," Garnett said. "I'm just being a little more passive, trying to be the glue, if you will. I need to be a little more aggressive at times."
Here's my "relevant" tweet of the night:
If you had the Nets going 81-1 this season, yeah, you should totally panic.
— Tom Lorenzo (@TomLorenzo) November 4, 2013
Of course, if you had the Nets going 81-1 this season, you probably shouldn't be making predictions.
Note: Kevin Garnett passed Wilt Chamberlain for 5th all-time in NBA minutes played (47,859); Mason Plumlee scored his first NBA bucket in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
For more on the Magic, see: Orlando Pinstriped Post
- Nets at Magic - November 3, 2013 - Box Score - NBA.com
- Magic rout Nets 107-86 - Yahoo Sports
- Magic 107, Nets 86: Orlando wins second straight as Victor Oladipo takes over - Evan Dunlap - Orlando Pinstriped Post
- Game Thread: Brooklyn Nets vs. Orlando Magic, 6:00 PM - NetsDaily
- 2nd Half Game Thread: Nets vs. Magic - NetsDaily
- Harkless Theft and Score (Video) - NBA.com
- Nets vs. Magic: First half (Video) - NBA.com
- Open In The Lane (Video) - NBA.com
- Spin Cycle (Video) - NBA.com
- Pierce Rewind in Time (Video) - NBA.com
- Jason Kidd talks about his first game as head coach (Video) - YES Network
- Jason Kidd talks about his coaching debut (Video) - YES Network
- Joe Johnson talks about the Nets' loss (Video) - YES Network
- Deron Williams on the Nets' struggles (Video) - YES Network
- Brook Lopez on loss to Magic (Video) - YES Network
- Victor Oladipo kills Nets with 360 dunk, ridiculous spin move - SBNation.com
- Nets Hit Depths 2 Days After Conquering the Heights - Andrew Keh - New York Times
- Nets Can't Top Magic - Alex Raskin - Wall Street Journal
- Rapid Reaction: Magic 107, Nets 86 - Mike Mazzeo - ESPN New York
- Brooklyn Nets Jason Kidd's coaching debut is a disaster - Mike Mazzeo - ESPN New York
- Starting Five: D-Will not 100 percent - Mike Mazzeo - ESPN New York
- New York Jets, Brooklyn Nets Make For Bizarre Sunday Viewing - Steve Lichtenstein - WFAN
- Nets have no Magic in Jason Kidd’s debut - Tim Bontemps - New York Post
- Big night for Magic rookie Victor Oladipo - Tim Bontemps - New York Post
- Nets routed by Magic in Jason Kidd's coaching debut - Rod Boone - Newsday
- No butterflies for Jason Kidd in debut as Nets coach - Rod Boone - Newsday
- Jason Kidd debuts as Brooklyn Nets head coach in blowout loss to Orlando Magic - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News
- Nets fall in Kidd's regular season opener - Lenn Robbins - Brooklyn Nets
- Video: Paul Pierce With the MONSTER Dunk - The Brooklyn Game
- Video: Victor Oladipo Throws Down a 360 Dunk - The Brooklyn Game
- What in the world just happened? Magic 107, Nets 86 (GAME GRADES) - Devin Kharpertian - The Brooklyn Game
- Disappointing Nets loss reminiscent of New Jersey - Daniel Savitsky - The Brooklyn Game
- Nets stomped by Orlando in Jason Kidd's coaching debut - Ali Tahir - Nets Take Over
- Brooklyn Nets Get Embarrassed in Orlando Thanks to Victor Oladipo - Jonah Mars - From Russia With Dunk
- Magic upset the Nets 107-86 behind big nights from Oladipo and Vucevic - Josh Robbins - Orlando Sentinel
- Grades: Orlando Magic 107, Brooklyn Nets 86 - Jacob Frankel - Magic Basketball