GT: Hornets @ Nets Sun Feb 21 6PM EST

[bws94]

I thought Lin played well but just didn't score well in the 2nd half. He had deflections, a huge steal, rebounds, held his ground defensively, get a big tap back, and as usual draws fouls on players and tonight it was Lopez. I wouldn't say he wasn't a factor. The Nets announcers noticed his play but partially because Lin has an NYC connection.

I thought Kemba still could get team mates involved more. Yes, he is one great scorer but when he tries to playmake he turns the ball over or gets out of synch. He didn't promote team offensive flow past the first few minutes of the game enough. For Kemba to take the next step he not only needs to score great, but like Wall and Westfield, needs to develop beyond scoring. Without Batum, Kemba's so-so playmaking is exposed.

Marv I liked, Frank not so much, Lamb not so much, Batum much except for the TOs, Al on offense and not on defense which is expected, Cliff Lee looked promising.

Overall I think Kemba plays too much. Sometimes the ball just flows better when Kemba doesn't have it going offensively and the whole team is more involved and active that way. Kemba's very durable but he doesn't need to play 39 minutes tonight.

No choice with kemba's minutes in tonights game, he was the only player consistently scoring. That 4th at one point was pretty touch and go when he was off the court resting.

Al was doing ok and Lin himself could have scored more. Batum was doing OK too. I think Kemba played too long into the 3Q and early 4Q. He didn't need to go straight that long. I understand though that Cliff likes 2 of Batum, Lin and Kemba on the court at all times.

[phillycheese]

Frank is regressing before our very eyes. Could it be the rookie wall? Lee looks like a weaker defender than Lin, in my opinion. Joe Johnson looked like he could bully our guards, but I think he is really a SF. Nets, as a team look like crap. Lucky for us our jumpshots were falling else we would have lost this game. There was some nice ball movement but there was also a lot of settling - just because you're open doesn't mean that you can chuck up a three. Nice to have Al bail us out a few times. That should be his role on O - not the first option, but a guy we can dump the ball into with 5 sec on the clock and let him get to work. Lamb should not handle the ball as much as he did. We never looked in trouble, but the bench certainly dominated their bench in this game.

[ChokeFasncists]

Al is very important for this team, giving it variety. It was quite predictable when he was out.

JJ was a GF, now certainly SF.

So, is Nic kinda gonna become JJ like? Or he already is like him?

[ChokeFasncists]

Let's just say Frank has hit the rookie wall.

The schedule, the physicality, the speed, the many different opponents.

Worst is that he's shooting below 30% from three recently.

[jtsmith]

I felt clifford deliberately setup some playmaking for lamb this game.
maybe grooming lamb to be a playmaker? that would be a good thing

[PG13]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JSFLLCz4OM[/youtube]

[13th Man]

Some observations:

- I don't think Nic or Kemba's minutes will go down now that we're heading into the home stretch.

- Nic and Kemba work well together, Nic is the playmaker and Kemba the scorer. Nic has high rebound, assists but also TOs, when Nic is on his game he's often flirting with a triple-double. Batum to a streaking Cody is a thing of beauty.

- Early impressions of Courtney Lee is that he's a selective shooter with good defense. He's not going to be making big plays but may be a good fit with Kemba and Nic, not as good as MKG obviously but a good quiet contributer.

- Lin's D has improved a lot because of his effort, he tries to contest every shot, also has good court awareness. If he can only get his shooting together...

- Good to see Big Al effective again, its a shame we never got to see a fully healthy team with Al and MKG in the mix.

- Frank's ceiling is not that high due to his physical attributes, but hopefully he can use his court IQ to get into the paint like he can.

[ChokeFasncists]

- Early impressions of Courtney Lee is that he's a selective shooter with good defense. He's not going to be making big plays but may be a good fit with Kemba and Nic, not as good as MKG obviously but a good quiet contributer.

Looks like "standing in the corner" on O is a suitable role for Lee.

[Liver_Pooty]

Lin being called an elite defender gave me a chuckle. Solid is more appropriate.

[bws94]

Lin being called an elite defender gave me a chuckle. Solid is more appropriate.

Agree. Lin gives great effort and tenacity and has some fundamentals down but he's not in the elite category.

[bws94]

I think this team should play as a team. when the ball moves, players get touches, it purrs along. When we get overly reliant on Kemba putting up points, or Kemba goes into that style, then the danger is overly reliant on Kemba. Guys can score on this team. Marvin, Al of course, Frank when he doesn't try to do too much, Lamb the same, Lin when he's finishing at the rim or going to the line and occasionally when his jumper falls. Batum loves Cody, so at least Cody stays engaged and involved. Batum also finds other guys. And Batum scores.

I guess Lee is 3 and D, but he's more complete than that. As a few games go under his belt I hope he's integrated more because he's a good, complete, mature player.

[Braggins]

A few observations about this game... I actually didn't mind Kemba's minutes. We needed him to close that one out because we couldn't quite put the game out of reach and with the way we were playing as a team Kemba wasn't actually expending much energy. It looked like he was barely trying most of the night.

It kind of bothered me that our broadcast team kept saying that Lee is a better offensive player than MKG. Lee's offensive game is extremely shallow and spot up 3 point shooting is the only area I really see that he is better than MKG. Lee has averaged fewer points per 36 the last two years by a solid margin.

[ChokeFasncists]

I guess Lee's the more proven one. MKG's still young.