Looking at the Nets’ Playoff Chances

The fight for the East’s 7 and 8 seeds is heating up. The Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets all are competing for two playoff spots.

The Development of Mirza Teletović

Mirza Teletović has grown from being an good adition from the bench to the true sixth man, coming in and changing the course of the game. This is probably his last year coming of the bench as next year he will start in front of probably Mason Plumlee, since Kevin Garnett will retire as it now stands.

Three years ago Teletović was brought to USA as the best scorer in the Euroleague with Caja Laboral, a spot-up shooter and a good clutch player, but his first season was a disappointment, for him, the Nets and all Bosnia-Herzegovina fans staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning just to watch their hero play.

But, with Jason Kidd situation having changed, Teletović got more minutes on the court. The stretch forward started shooting better, playing better defense and generally contributing more for the team, both in regular season and in the playoffs. He might not have yet earned the starting spot but he was a valuable asset in the Nets team rising from the injury to their “best” player Brook Lopez.

Coming into this season, I believed that the Nets had a lot of quesion marks over their heads primarily because of the Deron Williams ankle situation, Lopez foot situation, Bojan Bogdanović skill set translating to the NBA, and Garnett providing fans with insecurity over his future, but Teletović was never in question as we could always expect good things from the sharpshooter.

This year, however, he surpassed expectations, and added one major thing to his game, the drive. The way most defenders act against Teletović is putting their hands up and come close so he cannot shoot, but with the drive to the basket he consistently loses his defender on the first move, and brings a center or a guard out so he has many possibilites to score or pass out for a three.

You know that there will be Williams, Joe Johnson or Bogdanvić waiting potentially for the ball behind the three point line. Also, his defensive play and rebounding improved massively in the offseason and he seems like a new player out there, but he should not start. Teletović is still not consistent enough, he can enter stints and streaks of bad shooting, or just playing very bad but all that is something a shooter must go through in each season, but over time he is making a balanced game not so much centered around his shot, and in a couple of seasons he will be a pretty decent starting power forward who can be used as a stretch forward if the style needs that role.

This rise came at the right time as the team is struggling and although Teletović is one of those who are stuggling he will soon break out of the bad stint, and soon, he will be back to the play which made us love him. All in all, Teletović needs this season to grow a little bit more and next year will be his starting year.

The Borough Title Goes to Brooklyn With 110-99 Win

The New York derby went pretty one-sided from the start and a blowout was eminent. In the first quarter Nets did have problems with fouls of Kevin Garnett and holding the ball but soon with a three pointer of Mirza Teletović, Nets went up by 10 in the end of the first. The story was continued through the second, Nets controlled the game with good defense on Carmelo Anthony forcing some shots from him that he missed, hitting a good percentage from the floor but struggling with defensive boxouts and free throws.

After the half Brooklyn was up 13, 55-42 which was later extended to 18 after the third. Nets played this just how they are supposed to, as it was theirs from the get-go until the end and the amount of depth they have as oppossed to the Knicks was shown through Teletović points from the bench (18). I already saw on Twitter the #startMirza campaign but in all truth, with the lack of defense in the starting center, Garnett needs to be there as insurance with his prolific defensive experience.

Now, there was a weird moment where Lionel Hollins put Karasev in for Joe Johnson and it was weird because it was usually Alan Anderson for JJ and then Kirilenko for Bogdanović, but AK-47 bagged just two minutes on the court last night, not scoring at all. What is going on with AK cannot be known and this could be connected with his back injury which was something that kept him off the court last year. As for the scorers, the Nets were led by Deron Williams who has been playing amazingly from the start of this season and his performances on the court are showing the success of his ankle surgery this past preseason.

Brook Lopez bagged 20, Joe Johnson and Mirza Teletović both had 18l. As for the Knicks, Anthony had “only“ 19, Hardaway 16, Stoudemire and the rookie Early 14 and 12 respectively off the bench. In the end, it can be said that there is only one true king of all of New York and for now, it is the Brooklyn Nets.

Brooklyn MVP and Overall MVP: Deron Williams 29 pts, 6 ast, 1 reb, 1 stl

Wolves Beat the Nets , 98-91

Minnesota Timberwolves can just thank Brook Lopez for handing them the victory in this game with that stupid offensive foul in the clutch moments of the game. Minnesota does not have a better roster but they were more concentrated in the longer streches of the game. Now, our expectations of Brooklyn have to fall down a little bit, especially after not capitalizing on a four minute drought of the ‘Wolves in the start of the fourth quarter.

Also, Brook Lopez. We, as huge Nets fans, anticipated his return and how does he play of? He goes 1-8 in the first quarter, gets bullied by Peković and ultimately, gifts the victory to the Wolves with the foul in the last minute of the game. After this much time of waiting for this return, we have not seen that much from the from the former All-Star As for other players, Joe Johnson had a good game, and Deron Williams is finally playing like his Utah days. Led by Jarrett Jack with 14 and Mirza Teletović with 9 points and 6 rebounds the bench had a solid game.

As for Minnesota, they were led by Kevin Martin with 26, Wiggins with 17 and Rubio with 14 points and 12 assists. The Wolves had a 9 rebound advantage (51-42) and a 5 assist advantage (22-17) with Rubio assisting almost as much as the whole Brooklyn team. In the end, it can be said that this was Brooklyn’s game to be lost and that this game was a prime example how experience can affect someone. Garnett or Alan Anderson would never commit a foul like that and basically lose the game for the team, while Lopez, who has minimum experience in the prime-time NBA did commit the foul. Things need to be a lot better and Lopez must pass the ball better. The same thing can be said about Joe Jesus, but…he makes his shots.

Brooklyn MVP: Deron Williams 19 pts, 6 ast, 8-16 FG, 3-6 for three

Overall MVP: Nikola Peković: 16 pts, 3 ast, 11 reb, 5-12 FG, 6-7 FT

Celtics blow out Nets, 121-105

In the season opener in the TD Garden, Boston Celtics blew out the Brooklyn Nets in what was a Boston game from the start. Already in the first quarter a significant difference was made and it just grew so at half time it was 26 already and the game was lost there. Now when you look at the score you can definately see who is missing-Brook Lopez. The 7-foot center is a 20 ppg type of player and it was exactly his points and his rim protection that the Nets lacked in this game.

As for the numbers, the Celtics shot at 56% overall and at 38% from downtown, as opposed to the 47% overall and 36% that the Nets shot. Best scorer from the Nets was Mirza Teletović with 20 points in 23 minutes of action, with JJ and D-Will being close with 19 each. As for the Celtics eight players had 10+ points and one was pretty close (ex-Net Marcus Thornton) and they were led by the sophmore center Kelly Olynyk with 17.

Where the Nets really lost this game is not offence, which is working pretty good at the moment, but in defence, where they cannot protect the basket good enough, and exactly there is where the loss was made. Another important thing is: start either Kirilenko or Teletović before the rookie Bogdanović because his defence was atrocious. He did score 7 points along with 2 assists but when you look at the bench where Teletović scored 20 with 6 rebounds and 2 blocks and there is Kirilenko who’s stats do not show how he really plays, you really have to ask Lionel Hollins one question: what is Bojan doing there? An adaption process is needed for him to become what Mirza is now, or even better but for a rookie, especially coming from Europe where the pace is slower and the defending is much easier, he must not start. With all due respect to coach Hollins, you’re supposed to slowly adapt him to the game, not just throw him directly in the flames.

Anyway, a blowout for the Nets but a valuable lesson learned hopefully- play defense. When they started playing proper defense, they got back to around 15-10 point difference, but the total and unexplainable lack of paint defense got around to bite the Nets later in the game.

Overall game MVP : Rajon Rondo ( 29 min, 13 pts, 12 ast, 7 reb, 1 stl)

Best Nets player: Mirza Teletović ( 23 min, 20 pts, 1 ast, 6 reb, 2 blk)