Open thread: Regular season game 20

by Jake Whitacre on Dec 9, 2007 2:46 AM EST in Game Threads

The essentials:
Nets (9-11) at Wizards (9-10)
7 p.m.
Verizon Center
CSN

Last year:
November 12: Nets 105, Wizards 93 (OT)
February 27: Nets 113, Wizards 103
April 7: Nets 120, Wizards 114 (OT)
April 10: Nets 96, Wizards 92

This Year:
November 8: Nets 87, Wizards 85

Notable Nets numbers this season (pound the salt):
22nd in expected winning percentage (.302).
24th in pace factor (89.1 possessions per game).
27th in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (100.8)
26th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (107).
Notable Nets numbers last season
T14 in expected winning percentage (.506).
16th in pace factor (89.9 possessions per game).
15th in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (108.0).
14th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (107.8).

Key links (drop any others in the comments)
Nets Daily.
Hooplah...Nation
Hooplah...Nation blog preview.
Competition discussion: New Jersey.
Eddie Jordan wants more rebounds.
Mister Irrelevant wants to decide on a nickname for Nick Young. I'm still partial to Nick Skywalker, but they're all good.

Starting lineups:
Nets
PG: Jason Kidd.
SG: Vince Carter.
SF: Richard Jefferson.
PF: Nenad Kristic.
C: Jason Collins.

Wizards
PG: Antonio Daniels
SG: DeShawn Stevenson
SF: Caron Butler
PF: Antawn Jamison
C: Brendan Haywood

Tonight's lines:
Nets at Wizards: Wizards by 2.5.
Over/Under on Big 2 scoring: 43.9 points.

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how this game is going to turn out. On one hand, the Nets and Wizards have very similar records, but New Jersey is a lot worse than their record would indicate. As you can see up top, despite the fact they're only 2 games under .500, the Nets have an expected winning percentage of .302. Even Richard Jefferson is baffled by the Nets record:

"It's a joke, the fact that we even have nine wins right now is amazing to me the way we've been playing. It seems we've been down double digits so many games. I don't know what to say."

Then again, as you can also see the Nets have won the last 5 against the Wizards because Jason Kidd always creates match-up problems and shoots well against us. If the Wizards can't contain him then we're going to see a lot of what we saw on Friday, just at a much, much slower pace.

This is an open thread, so if you ~~are on strike~~ have a migraine that's going to keep you out of action tonight, let us know here.

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Comments

Picks

Wizards
Under
Nick Young posterizes Sean Williams.

Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by Jake Whitacre on Dec 9, 2007 3:19 AM EST reply actions

Picks

Wizards

Under

"Now, obviously individual production does not unilaterally equal better team production, but there's a high level of causation."

by Vanilla Gorilla on Dec 9, 2007 3:39 AM EST reply actions

Nets, Over

Time for Nick Young to bring the behind-the-back 360 out during a gametime situation.

Wiz are either gonna bury the Nets or get beat. I'm hoping for the best, but can't shake the sense that this team has our number.

by sierradave on Dec 9, 2007 3:59 AM EST reply actions

No DColeman picture?

Wiz/Over
I agree with Sierra Dave but I see a big game for Butler.

What? They don't have TV in the D-League? Don't watch me, watch TV.

by Mac G on Dec 9, 2007 11:05 AM EST reply actions

Would've been too easy

Right now, Josh Boone is the leading scorer for the Nets, I'll take that.

Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by Jake Whitacre on Dec 9, 2007 7:39 PM EST up reply actions

* I meant to say Bostjan Nochbar

Of course, now he's tied with VC which isn't as good.

Bullets Forever: Your place for the very latest in Wizards news and PhD-level analysis.

by Jake Whitacre on Dec 9, 2007 8:12 PM EST up reply actions

Picks

I keep going back and forth, so I'll follow my heart:

Wizards
Over

by Aldo on Dec 9, 2007 11:45 AM EST reply actions

Picks

Wizards, Over.

I'm thinking Butler bounces back in this game, gets aggressive and gives us 30 points.

The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.

by mamemimo on Dec 9, 2007 12:08 PM EST reply actions

picks

wiz/over

Big game from Blatche

by finkad01 on Dec 9, 2007 2:29 PM EST reply actions

Wiz, under

Nets are in disarray right now.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Dec 9, 2007 2:50 PM EST reply actions

Free throw shooting

FTs were definitely a key to tonight's win. As a team, we went 34-36 from the charity stripe. In the 3rd q, we went 17-18 and the Nets went 3-5. On a night when the bench struggled for much of the game (aside - I really hope Songaila is ok) and the team as a whole didn't shoot well from the floor (especially in q 2), our FT makes helped keep us in it and eventually pull ahead. Then, in q 4, our shots started falling and the Nets folded like a flimsy lawn chair.

p.s. If Rod Thorn doesn't blow up this Nets team by the all-star break, I'd be very surprised.

by jvflail on Dec 9, 2007 10:18 PM EST reply actions

game

the game wasn't on tv tonight for some reason, but it looks like a good wizards win. Looking at the box score, the centers for both teams played lesser minutes with a bunch of 3-4's getting minutes (except for blatche for some reason). Weird game.

by Wooz on Dec 9, 2007 11:12 PM EST reply actions