In the jaunty optimism of the visiting locker room Friday night at Miami, there was a lone figure with his head down in his locker stall. The Nets had won, but Mikki Moore was not pleased.

He’s a starter these days, but as that game broke in the third period, he was like a traffic cop with his hands tied behind his back — the world moving past him at its own pace, with its own design, as though he were a spectator listening to interesting stories told by other people. 

He was pulled five minutes into that quarter for Boki Nachbar, and the Nets kept going. And as the lead increased, Moore’s confidence sank. “He was very disappointed in his performance,” coach Lawrence Frank recalled. “And when a guy is committed to the team, he wants to make amends.”

So here’s how a journeyman atones for a one-point, three-re bound dud: He attacks the game with his old vigor, throws up nine shots from inside and out, hits all nine, abuses Mark Blount for five offensive boards, makes two steals, helps hold Kevin Garnett to five measly field goals, acknowledges the crowd when it chants his name and helps carry the Nets back into first place in the Atlantic with a routine 100-92 triumph over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Continental Airlines Arena.

Yes, Mikki Moore.

“I’ll tell you what,” said Richard Jefferson, reduced to second-star status after playing 43 brilliant minutes, “Since I’ve been here, we’ve had a lot of success, and I can only remember three or four times when the crowd was chanting somebody’s name. That’s huge. Even the way things have gone this season, it shows the impact Mikki’s having on this team.”

He finished with a career-high 20 points and eight rebounds in 39 sterling minutes — a career night by any measure — and suddenly the Nets, while not having any unrealistic expectations, feel a lot bet ter about their starting lineup.

But Moore’s contribution wasn’t the only reason. Jefferson, despite the chronic pain in his right ankle, showed his old bounce and put up his old numbers (23 points, six rebounds, five assists), and together they showed that the Nets can control a game from start to finish and not always have to rely on the Jason Kidd/Vince Carter tandem to carry them every night.

Even the bench had its standouts — there were seven assists for Marcus Williams, nine quick points in the second quarter for Eddie House (chaining Carter to the bench for the last 10:36 of the first half) and a game-busting 3 for Boki Nachbar.

But only one guy heard his name chanted. And only one guy received an ovation in the postgame locker room from his teammates.

http://www.nj.com/nets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1167544352308920.xml&coll=1

The Nets’ only salvation this season will be their defense, and their approach to defense might have just changed.

Wait, wait, don’t say it: The zone is boring. Granted, everyone knows that already. It’s a contrivance of bored coaches for bad players, and if you want to take it to its logical extreme, the zone is an act of desperation for teams that consider defense an inconvenience rather than a necessity.

Norm Sloan, the legendary college coach, once said, “I hate it. It looks like a stickup at the 7-Eleven — five guys standing there with their hands in the air.”

Charles Barkley loved it, because he thought the legalization of the zone four years ago represented equal opportunity for all. “This is great!” the defense-challenged legend said. “They just made the world safe for crappy defensive players.”

Which brings us to the Nets. For the better part of two months, you had to peel Lawrence Frank off the ceiling over the infuriating, consternating defense his team has played. But he might have stumbled upon something in Friday night’s victory at Miami.

“Sixteen possessions, 12 stops,” the Nets coach said of the zone’s success rate against the Heat. “Pretty good.”

Good enough to explore it further? Probably. Undoubtedly, all teams nowadays must use a mix of man-to-man and zone, but using a zone is usually the result of one thing: You do it to cover up for weaknesses. And all season long, the Nets have been fairly lousy at guarding the dribble.

“Well, there’s that, but if you do it because you can’t guard, you probably won’t guard in a zone, either,” said Frank, whose team played host to Minnesota last night. “We have to have the mentality that we’ll guard; that’s always the most important thing. But we’ll throw in the zone just to give teams a different look, and take them out of rhythm or disrupt them a bit. But I’ll agree that if teams go all zone, it’s not exactly a sign of strength. And we don’t want to be a team like that.”

Typically, the Nets have set up in a 2-3 matchup (most often after free-throw conversions). Among those who study such things, it’s primarily what Roy Williams uses: The North Carolina point zone, it is called in those parts. Occasionally — such as the case against Detroit — Frank will throw in a few wrinkles (”Just call it hybrid,” he says) to counteract cutting action.

But the goal is always the same: to get stops. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s an adventure. For example, against Houston on Wednesday night, Frank put his fist in the air only seven times — that’s the zone call — and the Nets got only two stops out of it.

Of course, that’s not much of a sample, and Frank was reluctant to use it because Houston (at least without Yao Ming) is a perimeter-oriented team. You’re more likely to use the zone against post-oriented teams.

“Or if you’re being hurt by pick-and-rolls, or if you’re getting beat in a certain matchup,” the coach added. “Like if they’re using the same pick-and-roll to force a switch, the zone can help you take them out of that play easier. Then teams have to find different ways to get their shots.

“We’re not a great steal or block team. So this is a way to change the rhythm of the game.”

It should also be noted that despite the Nets’ success Friday night, they were going up against a Miami team without Dwyane Wade, James Posey and Shaquille O’Neal.

“You’re talking about three individuals that can really break down zones,” Richard Jefferson agreed. “Wade can find seams, Posey always killed us on 3s, and Shaq is Shaq. So they were undermanned.

“But that doesn’t mean you don’t use it. And it’s more than just covering up mistakes — there are teams that really struggle with it, because you don’t get to practice against it much, and you don’t have a wide variety of plays to deal with it. If you break it down, we have 100 man plays and five zone plays. Everybody’s pretty much the same way.”

http://www.nj.com/nets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1167544419308920.xml&coll=1

Two games do not a season make.But if the last two games by Richard Jefferson are indicative of what lies ahead, then the Nets just might turn what so far has been a mess into a success.

Friday in Miami, the Nets’ Big Three - Jefferson, Jason Kidd and Vince Carter - were big, especially in a game-turning 21-0 third quarter run. Jefferson was in the thick of that run.

Saturday, in a 100-92 disposal of Minnesota, Mikki Moore was the obvious darling, shooting 9-of-9 and scoring 20 points.

But Jefferson scored 23. And looked darn good doing it. He ran, jumped, cut, dunked. He was Richard Jefferson again as the Nets aligned themselves to try for their first three-game winning streak this season. That chance will come at home Friday against Chicago after five days of rest for Jefferson and his chronically painful right ankle.

“The last two games, I haven’t played amazing or done anything out of the ordinary,” said Jefferson, who totaled 81 minutes and shot 17-of-30 (.567) while averaging 22.5 points (the first time all season he scored 20 points in consecutive games) and 5.5 rebounds in the two victories. “No, I played the way people are used to seeing me play, the way I’ve played the last four, five seasons.”

Precisely. And that could impact the season far more than any reasonable trade the Nets can muster. It would change the entire outlook.

“Oh, yeah; 100 percent,” Jefferson agreed. “And that was the frustration for me early on. And for a lot of the team. We know we have the talent, but we had to deal with the injury to [Nenad] Krstic, losing Cliff Robinson [he’s back Friday] . . . You knew that even with those losses, if I came out and played the way I normally played - nothing great - then I think we’d be a different team.”

No question. The Nets are 13-18, and as of yesterday laughably were still tied for the Atlantic Division lead. A healthy Jefferson changes the landscape. And note, that’s simply healthy; not outstanding. That’s why with Jefferson running and cutting better, the Nets have a two-game winning streak.

Coach Lawrence Frank threw up a caution sign. He wants to see how Jefferson responds.

“Obviously, he is playing through a great deal of pain. It feels like there’s gravel in his ankle,” Frank said. “I saw some really positive things; he had good lift and good action.”

Like Jefferson showed folks the last few years.

“Hopefully with a couple of days’ break, to rest and relax, it will maintain,” said Jefferson who showed none of the tentativeness that plagued him earlier - remember the Houston game?

“That’s the thing, exploding up on your jumper, driving the lane and being able to finish,” Jefferson said. “It’s confidence. . . . Say the last 5-6 games, you look at the way my body has been, it’s been a little inconsistent. But for the most part I’m getting better the last few weeks.”

Keep it up, and the Nets will be undeniably better the next few months.

Link

LeBron James scored 19 points and added a season-high 13 rebounds as Cleveland finished off its most successful week in nearly 14 years with a 96-91 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night.

By beating San Antonio, Boston, Milwaukee and New Jersey since Tuesday, the Cavaliers have won four games in five nights for the first time since Feb. 2-6, 1993. It’s just the streak they were looking for before departing on a seven-game, two-week road trip.

“Just look at the box score,'’ said James, who added four assists, three steals and three blocks in 44 minutes. “Everybody contributed.'’

Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden scored 21 points apiece, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 and Eric Snow had seven assists - his biggest on an extra-effort play down the stretch - as the Cavs improved to 15-3 at home this season and 26-3 since March 5.

Cleveland’s first week of 2007 included a pair of road wins (Boston and Milwaukee), raising the club’s record to just 6-9 in away games, a mark the Cavs hope to improve on their longest road trip this season.

On a similar out-of-town excursion last year, the Cavs dropped six in a row before finally winning.

“We don’t want to do that again,'’ James said.

Vince Carter and Mikki Moore each had 18 points and Richard Jefferson 17 for the Nets, who after trailing most of the night, pulled within 93-91 on Jefferson’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds left.

Gooden gave the Nets a chance to tie it by missing one of two free throws with 9.3 seconds to go. However, Carter misfired on a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining and Gooden sealed Cleveland’s seventh win in eight games by hitting a pair of free throws in the final second.

“It was a good look,'’ Carter said. “A little bit short.'’

Carter’s jumper with 4:30 to play tied it 83-all, but on Cleveland’s next trip, James drove and whipped a pass underneath to Ilgauskas for a dunk.

Snow then made the game’s biggest play, diving to tip a loose ball ahead to James, who went in for a reverse slam to make it 87-83 with 3:26 left.

“I call him the pit bull,'’ Cavs coach Mike Brown said of Snow. “He sticks his nose in there, his fingers in there. He’s going to bite you, fight you, scratch you, claw you and he’s going to come up with the big play.'’

Held to eight points - his lowest output since Dec. 29, 2004 - in Friday’s win at Milwaukee, James only had nine in the first 35 minutes before scoring twice in the final 43 seconds of the third quarter as the Cavaliers took a 71-65 lead into the fourth.

James’ flurry came shortly after tempers flared when Hughes and New Jersey’s Bostjan Nachbar got tangled as they headed up court. The pair went tumbling to the floor in a heap, and players from both sides rushed to separate them before things got nastier.

The Nets didn’t have their usual size as big men Jason Collins (strained lower back) and rookie Josh Boone (migraine) were inactive.

Cleveland outscored New Jersey 13-3 to open the second quarter and the Cavaliers built a 16-point lead before Jefferson and Kidd hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Nets close within 46-38 at halftime.

The Nets put themselves in a big hole on Friday, falling behind 18-0 at the start before rallying to beat Chicago. They scored on their first possession against Cleveland, but after being tied 12-all, the Cavaliers went on a 12-2 run and led 27-21 entering the second.

“It was kind of like last night,'’ Kidd said. “We were down 18-0 and then we started to play. Once we figure out that we don’t have to be down so much to come back, we’ll be better off.'’

Notes: James, a devoted Ohio State fan, predicts the Buckeyes will beat Florida 31-27 in Monday’s BCS national championship. … Cleveland, which begins its trip Tuesday in Sacramento, won’t play at home again until Jan. 22. … Frank is hoping Collins, who didn’t make the trip, will be able to play Tuesday against Toronto. … Boone has had a history of severe headaches and has been bothered by them two other times in the last three months, Frank said. … Gooden’s 31-point, 16-board performance on Friday made him just the fifth player this season to get more than 30 points and 15 rebounds. Yao Ming, Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Dirk Nowitzki are the others.

http://www.nba.com/games/20070106/NJNCLE/recap.html

LeBron James scored 19 points and added a season-high 13 rebounds as Cleveland finished off its most successful week in nearly 14 years with a 96-91 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night.

By beating San Antonio, Boston, Milwaukee and New Jersey since Tuesday, the Cavaliers have won four games in five nights for the first time since Feb. 2-6, 1993. It’s just the streak they were looking for before departing on a seven-game, two-week road trip.

“Just look at the box score,'’ said James, who added four assists, three steals and three blocks in 44 minutes. “Everybody contributed.'’

Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden scored 21 points apiece, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 and Eric Snow had seven assists - his biggest on an extra-effort play down the stretch - as the Cavs improved to 15-3 at home this season and 26-3 since March 5.

Cleveland’s first week of 2007 included a pair of road wins (Boston and Milwaukee), raising the club’s record to just 6-9 in away games, a mark the Cavs hope to improve on their longest road trip this season.

On a similar out-of-town excursion last year, the Cavs dropped six in a row before finally winning.

“We don’t want to do that again,'’ James said.

Vince Carter and Mikki Moore each had 18 points and Richard Jefferson 17 for the Nets, who after trailing most of the night, pulled within 93-91 on Jefferson’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds left.

Gooden gave the Nets a chance to tie it by missing one of two free throws with 9.3 seconds to go. However, Carter misfired on a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining and Gooden sealed Cleveland’s seventh win in eight games by hitting a pair of free throws in the final second.

“It was a good look,'’ Carter said. “A little bit short.'’

Carter’s jumper with 4:30 to play tied it 83-all, but on Cleveland’s next trip, James drove and whipped a pass underneath to Ilgauskas for a dunk.

Snow then made the game’s biggest play, diving to tip a loose ball ahead to James, who went in for a reverse slam to make it 87-83 with 3:26 left.

“I call him the pit bull,'’ Cavs coach Mike Brown said of Snow. “He sticks his nose in there, his fingers in there. He’s going to bite you, fight you, scratch you, claw you and he’s going to come up with the big play.'’

Held to eight points - his lowest output since Dec. 29, 2004 - in Friday’s win at Milwaukee, James only had nine in the first 35 minutes before scoring twice in the final 43 seconds of the third quarter as the Cavaliers took a 71-65 lead into the fourth.

James’ flurry came shortly after tempers flared when Hughes and New Jersey’s Bostjan Nachbar got tangled as they headed up court. The pair went tumbling to the floor in a heap, and players from both sides rushed to separate them before things got nastier.

The Nets didn’t have their usual size as big men Jason Collins (strained lower back) and rookie Josh Boone (migraine) were inactive.

Cleveland outscored New Jersey 13-3 to open the second quarter and the Cavaliers built a 16-point lead before Jefferson and Kidd hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Nets close within 46-38 at halftime.

The Nets put themselves in a big hole on Friday, falling behind 18-0 at the start before rallying to beat Chicago. They scored on their first possession against Cleveland, but after being tied 12-all, the Cavaliers went on a 12-2 run and led 27-21 entering the second.

“It was kind of like last night,'’ Kidd said. “We were down 18-0 and then we started to play. Once we figure out that we don’t have to be down so much to come back, we’ll be better off.'’

Notes: James, a devoted Ohio State fan, predicts the Buckeyes will beat Florida 31-27 in Monday’s BCS national championship. … Cleveland, which begins its trip Tuesday in Sacramento, won’t play at home again until Jan. 22. … Frank is hoping Collins, who didn’t make the trip, will be able to play Tuesday against Toronto. … Boone has had a history of severe headaches and has been bothered by them two other times in the last three months, Frank said. … Gooden’s 31-point, 16-board performance on Friday made him just the fifth player this season to get more than 30 points and 15 rebounds. Yao Ming, Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Dirk Nowitzki are the others.

http://www.nba.com/games/20070106/NJNCLE/recap.html

LeBron James scored 19 points and added a season-high 13 rebounds as Cleveland finished off its most successful week in nearly 14 years with a 96-91 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night.

By beating San Antonio, Boston, Milwaukee and New Jersey since Tuesday, the Cavaliers have won four games in five nights for the first time since Feb. 2-6, 1993. It’s just the streak they were looking for before departing on a seven-game, two-week road trip.

“Just look at the box score,'’ said James, who added four assists, three steals and three blocks in 44 minutes. “Everybody contributed.'’

Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden scored 21 points apiece, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16 and Eric Snow had seven assists - his biggest on an extra-effort play down the stretch - as the Cavs improved to 15-3 at home this season and 26-3 since March 5.

Cleveland’s first week of 2007 included a pair of road wins (Boston and Milwaukee), raising the club’s record to just 6-9 in away games, a mark the Cavs hope to improve on their longest road trip this season.

On a similar out-of-town excursion last year, the Cavs dropped six in a row before finally winning.

“We don’t want to do that again,'’ James said.

Vince Carter and Mikki Moore each had 18 points and Richard Jefferson 17 for the Nets, who after trailing most of the night, pulled within 93-91 on Jefferson’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds left.

Gooden gave the Nets a chance to tie it by missing one of two free throws with 9.3 seconds to go. However, Carter misfired on a 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining and Gooden sealed Cleveland’s seventh win in eight games by hitting a pair of free throws in the final second.

“It was a good look,'’ Carter said. “A little bit short.'’

Carter’s jumper with 4:30 to play tied it 83-all, but on Cleveland’s next trip, James drove and whipped a pass underneath to Ilgauskas for a dunk.

Snow then made the game’s biggest play, diving to tip a loose ball ahead to James, who went in for a reverse slam to make it 87-83 with 3:26 left.

“I call him the pit bull,'’ Cavs coach Mike Brown said of Snow. “He sticks his nose in there, his fingers in there. He’s going to bite you, fight you, scratch you, claw you and he’s going to come up with the big play.'’

Held to eight points - his lowest output since Dec. 29, 2004 - in Friday’s win at Milwaukee, James only had nine in the first 35 minutes before scoring twice in the final 43 seconds of the third quarter as the Cavaliers took a 71-65 lead into the fourth.

James’ flurry came shortly after tempers flared when Hughes and New Jersey’s Bostjan Nachbar got tangled as they headed up court. The pair went tumbling to the floor in a heap, and players from both sides rushed to separate them before things got nastier.

The Nets didn’t have their usual size as big men Jason Collins (strained lower back) and rookie Josh Boone (migraine) were inactive.

Cleveland outscored New Jersey 13-3 to open the second quarter and the Cavaliers built a 16-point lead before Jefferson and Kidd hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Nets close within 46-38 at halftime.

The Nets put themselves in a big hole on Friday, falling behind 18-0 at the start before rallying to beat Chicago. They scored on their first possession against Cleveland, but after being tied 12-all, the Cavaliers went on a 12-2 run and led 27-21 entering the second.

“It was kind of like last night,'’ Kidd said. “We were down 18-0 and then we started to play. Once we figure out that we don’t have to be down so much to come back, we’ll be better off.'’

Notes: James, a devoted Ohio State fan, predicts the Buckeyes will beat Florida 31-27 in Monday’s BCS national championship. … Cleveland, which begins its trip Tuesday in Sacramento, won’t play at home again until Jan. 22. … Frank is hoping Collins, who didn’t make the trip, will be able to play Tuesday against Toronto. … Boone has had a history of severe headaches and has been bothered by them two other times in the last three months, Frank said. … Gooden’s 31-point, 16-board performance on Friday made him just the fifth player this season to get more than 30 points and 15 rebounds. Yao Ming, Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Dirk Nowitzki are the others.

http://www.nba.com/games/20070106/NJNCLE/recap.html

A season-ending knee injury to Nenad Krstic will have some serous long-range impact on the New Jersey Nets’ season. Without the 23-year old Krstic the Nets, who are already struggling along with an 11-15 record, now have no dependable big man with the ability to pull opposing centers out to the elbow as well as use his post moves as weapons. Krstic, averaging 16.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg, was the third-leading scorer among centers behind Houston’s Yao Ming and San Antonio’s Tim Duncan:

The 7-footer was hurt during the third quarter of Friday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The team announced Saturday he had a tear of his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.Krstic caught a pass from Richard Jefferson in the lane and started to back Lakers center Kwame Brown toward the basket. But he fell to the court, clutching his knee.

Krstic is averaging 16.4 points and 6.8 rebounds this season. In his three years in the NBA with New Jersey, he has averaged 12.4 points and six rebounds.

The team did not announce when Krstic would undergo surgery.

“It is very unfortunate for Nenad as well as the team to lose a player of his magnitude,” said Nets general manager Ed Stefanski. “Nenad is a wonderful young man and a tireless worker. This will be another challenge for him and I know that he will be up to the task.”

Ironically, Krstic had taken last summer off from playing internationally for Serbia and Montenegro for the first time in several years in order to rest his body for the NBA season.

After the game, Krstic and Nets’ head coach Lawrence Frank had to say about the injury:

“I went to spin, my knee twisted and I heard a pop, Krstic said.”

“You feel horrible for the kid,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “You don’t want to see anyone get hurt in this game. He’s such a good kid, you forget the fact he’s a really good player. Your heart goes out to him.”

-Smush