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The Nets have won two straight for the first time since early December and now has five wins in their last nine games. Their three point shooting is top five since Tony Brown sped up the tempo. All this without Jarrett Jack, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and now Joe Johnson. But alas, none of that is good enough to get the Nets out of the Bottom 5. Only one power ranker, Tim Bontemps, has them outside the lower circle. He has them at No. 23.
What will they need? Marc Stein, who dropped them one place this week, says it best. The Nets STILL "rank in the bottom five in both offensive and defensive efficiency." Ugh. One piece of minimal good news: The Knicks are falling into Nets territory.
The Nets have won two straight games and held two straight opponents under a point per possession for the first time since Lionel Hollins was fired. They have been a top-five 3-point shooting team since Tony Brown took over and have kept things going in that regard, despite the departure of Joe Johnson. Bojan Bodganovic stepped into the starting lineup and hit five of his 12 threes in Phoenix and Utah.
The first step to getting out of our bottom five for the Nets, if that can still be classified as an important goal this season for Mikhail Prokhorov & Co., is getting themselves off the following list: Brooklyn joins Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers as the only teams on the NBA map at present that rank in the bottom five in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Deron Williams, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson are all gone. Left Behind: The Brook Lopez story.
Break up the Nets, they have won two games in a row. Bojan Bodganovic is starting in place of Joe Johnson and is trying to show other teams he can knock down threes (which has been a good thing for the lowly Nets offense).
Tim Bontemps, Washington Post (23)
The Nets are now 3-2 after hiring Sean Marks, including winning back-to-back games in Phoenix and Utah this week. [The Brooklyn Nets must learn from their past to have a better future]
Jeremy Woo, Sports Illustrated (26)