The Hump finishing on one of his Hump Dunks. Despite a career night, the Nets needed more if they wanted to pick up the W.
The shorthanded Nets fell to the Milwaukee Bucks at home tonight 105-99 despite a career night from Kris Humphries. The Nets looked great early on in this game in the first half, but were unable to hold off the Bucks, who were actually playing in an important game. The Bucks came in to the night just a game behind the Knicks for the 8th spot in the eastern conference, so playing a bad team like the Nets is a must win. Additionally, the Knicks are in Chicago tonight, and that will probably be a loss, and the Bucks have the tiebreaker with the Knicks because they beat them twice this year (I was at one of those game, read the recap here). In fact, that game was very similar to this one in many ways. Brandon Jennings had 36 points and 6 3’s in that game, while he had 34 and 6 3’s tonight. Another impressive Buck was KHH all-star Drew Gooden, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds. He had an even better game tonight with 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists (seriously, Nets?!?) The Bucks won that game and I was very happy, but I am not quite as happy tonight. However, I am not upset either because even though Nets fans would like to think it, the Nets have a 0% chance of making the playoffs, even if they magically can acquire Dwight Howard at the trade deadline (not likely) and I want the Bucks to catch the Knicks. If the Knicks were to miss the playoffs, they will be by far the most talented team to not make the playoffs and I will be very happy. I guess the Bucks just play well in KHH games and I wish them the best of luck throughout the rest of the season. On to the individual player notes from the game.
Brandon Jennings was very impressive yet again tonight.
For the Nets, the obvious star tonight was The Hump, mainly the first half Hump (though he was not bad in the second half). First, let me say that his career high was 25 points (we were there). He had 21 points and 10 rebounds at halftime. In the game, he had 31 points, 18 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 Hump Blocks. Clearly a career night, but it’s just too bad it came in a loss. This game was clearly a tale of two halves, with the first half being fun and exciting for the Nets and the second half being what we have become used to as “Nets Basketball”. In the first quarter especially, the offense was as good as it has been all year despite not having D-Will. The Hump was attacking the basket, Morrow was hitting all his shots, and Gerald Green was getting to the rim. My two favorite plays were, off of a steal, Humphries ran the fast break and finished with a Hump Dunk. No Buck was going to get in his way, and he finished with a Gadzuric amount of authority. Another great play was an alley-oop from Farmar to Green who finished strong, knocking the ball way out of bounds after the finish. It was not nearly as good as his alley-oop on Saturday against Houston, but it was still a great play. In the second half, however, the Nets’ offense died and so did their team. Humphries did not have a bad half-10 points, 8 rebounds, but nobody else did anything and the Nets fell apart. With a nine point lead and about 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter, all the momentum switched to the Bucks. They went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter, capped by a buzzer-beating 3 by Beno Udrih (ewww) to tie the game. The Bucks never looked back and led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter. Brandon Jennings made some impossible 3’s, and although Jordan Farmar tried his hardest, he simply could not answer. Other than Farmar, nobody did anything in the fourth quarter, and Farmar honestly did not even do that much. Another disappointing Net was Marshon Brooks, who was coming off arguably his most balanced game in the NBA to date. He only had 10 points and he turned the ball over 5 times. He often looked lost on offense without Deron feeding him the ball and made some really, really bad decisions. Also, Sundiata is just not a backup point guard. He’s not good enough. He’s a good third string, but not a good backup, which is what Avery asked of him tonight. He had 4 turnovers in only 12 minutes, which is not what you want from a point guard. Morrow had a nice game with 17 points on 8-11 shooting, but this did not have a major effect on the game.
Gerald Green finishing an alley-oop. He had a great first half, but, as most Nets were, was invisible in the second half.
As I said in the beginning, this loss is much less bitter because the Bucks are looking to catch the Knicks for the 8 seed in the east, and as a Nets fan, I am happy to give up this victory for the greater cause. And nobody actually expected the Nets to beat the Bucks missing Deron and Lopez. The Nets’ next game will be on Wednesday as The Rock will host the Toronto Raptors. The last time the Nets played the Raptors, they lost by 21 at home in probably their worst effort of the season. I expect a somewhat better effort on Wednesday, and Raphi better hope so because he will be going. I will be getting back late Wednesday night and I hope to attend many games while I am home, starting with a KHH reunion game on Saturday when the Nets face the New Orleans Hornets. Bob’s Cats and Hornets alert: Bob beat the Hornets on the road tonight in probably the most disgusting game I have ever heard of (luckily, I did not see it) 73-71. EWWW. The leading scorers were Gerald Henderson and Jarrett Jack who both had 15 points. That’s right, nobody scored more than 15 points. It was a defensive battle (offensive struggle). Bob managed to get his 6th win of the season despite shooting 0-12 from 3. Our congratulations go out to all of Bob’s Cats!
Chris Kaman attempting to guard Bismack Biyombo. Have you ever seen a more disgusting picture? Because I sure haven't. Maybe it would be more disgusting if Johan Petro was somehow in it. Who knows how to use photoshop?
Kim Had Humps 