Last night the Nets were able to beat the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.  As much of a moral victory as this was for NJ it was equally as humiliating for the Knicks.  Losing at home to the worst team in the NBA is always cause to hang one’s head in shame and dejection.  This victory occurred a week after the Nets managed to beat the Celtics in Boston.  Are things slowly but surely turning around for New Jersey?  We can only hope.

The most impressive performance on either team in last nights game came from  Devin Harris with his 31 points.  Harris is starting to look more and more like himself last season when he made it to the all-star game.  For the Nets to succeed it is imperative that Harris performs.  There is simply not enough talent to pick up the slack if the Nets don’t get solid contributions from their top performers (Harris, Lopez, and Lee).  The other 2 players in the Nets triumvirate also brought their A-Game to the table.  Brook Lopez finished the night with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Courtney Lee contributed 25 points.  This is what the stats have to look like for the Nets to be successful.  I think Lee has officially stepped up into position as the third best player on the Nets displacing Yi Jianlian.  The Nets also could use some bench production (which they got lats night) from CDR, Humphries and Williams.

The dark cloud that lingers over this victory is the injury sustained by Yi.  This will take a player out of the Nets already-weak starting line up.  He will probably be replaced by Humphries (arguably an improvement), but any injury to the Nets has the potential to be devastating.  When a team is this bad they need all the help that they can get.  Hopefully, Yi is able to return to the lineup so the Nets can achieve their goal of avoiding to be the worst team in the history of the NBA.

Team/Player Photos: New Jersey Nets v Milwaukee Bucks on Apr 07, 2010

The Nets had a terrible first quarter last night.  It looked absolutely hopeless for them to even contend in this game.  I was shocked when I saw them fighting their way back, eventually to take a commanding lead over New York.  The Nets three point shooting is what gave them the edge over the Knicks last night.  The Nets were 14 – 24 behind the arc, shooting almost at 60%.  It is difficult to beat any team who is shooting the three point shot with that kind of effectiveness.  This made it exceedingly difficult for the Knicks to amass a come back and climb back into the game.  While the Nets were spectacular from three point range, the Knicks proved to be abysmal.  They were 0-18 in three point shooting.  With that big of a discrepancy in three point shooting stats it should not come as a shock that the Nets were able to pull out a victory in this one.  That was clearly what tipped the scale in NJ’s favor because of the similarity in field goal shooting inside the arc and free throws made.

Both of these teams are in major need of help next season.  The rosters that they have are clearly not working out.  New York and New Jersey basketball are both in rebuilding stages and in dire need of a premier free agent in the off season.  The Knicks are clearly hoping to get LeBron James and I don’t think the Nets have given up on him either.  However, watching this game makes me think of why LeBron would come to either of these teams.  Right now, he is on a great team in Cleveland with a very real shot at a championship.  If LeBron was watching the game last night he could not have liked his prospects with either team.  Which is why he will not player for neither the Knicks or the Nets next year.  Perhaps LeBron’s efforts to have his number changed is due to the fact that if he is to sign with a certain mid-western team where he will not be able to wear the number 23 . . . Regardless of where LeBron is, New York especially is going to have to find a new basket to put their eggs in because King James is far from a sure thing.