All About Vince

Vince Carter said he didn’t know and didn’t care to know what Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley said about him on TNT on Thursday night.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he said. “But it doesn’t even matter. I don’t care.”

The beat writers tried to tell him, he stepped away. We tried again and told him they said his knees were shot.

“My knee what?”

They’re shot.

“Nah,” he said. “I’m favoring this [ankle], trying not to put a lot of pressure on it or whatever. My knee feels fine. That’s not the problem.”

Nets president Rod Thorn and coach Lawrence Frank also came to the defense of their shooting guard after the two Hall of Famers talked about his knees and that his career is on the decline.

“Those of us who see him every single day and see him play [know] Vince is still a very, very high level All-Star caliber player who has been bogged down with an ankle injury,” Frank said. “Those who are around him know that he is still one of the elite [shooting] guards in the league.

“He has no knee problems. Zero knee problems. I just think his teammates know, the organization knows he has a lot of great basketball in front of him.”

Thorn added, “I don't think there's anything wrong with his knees. HHow many buckets did he make last night [against Golden State], 10 maybe? I'll say eight of them were layups off drives. If you were to ask him he'll tell you he's had no problem with his knees at all.”

***
Having said that, Carter didn’t do anything to disprove the two all-time greats on Friday.

He started slowly, missing his first six shots before converting a Kidd alley-oop.
Carter scored 11 of his 13 points in the third, helping the Nets cut a 22-point deficit to six heading into the fourth.

“I was trying,” Carter said. “Every time I was driving they were sending more people. I just had to make the extra pass, just be patient, and wait for my chance to help the team. It happens.”

***
This was somewhat of a typical game for the Nets, but also atypical.

They actually shot better than the Nuggets (38.4 to 36.0), yet they lose going away for the eighth straight time. The reasons as we see it are:

1. Denver took 24 more foul shots and hit 23 more
2. The Nets committed twice as many turnovers (20 to 10) and scored 11 fewer points on the cough ups.
3. The Nuggets outran the Nets, scoring 24 fastbreak points to 11 for New Jersey.
4. The Nuggets went after it harder and wanted it more.

Comments

[ml]

Maybe it is his ankle, not his knees, but there's something definitely wrong. This is not the same VC we saw the 1st 2 and a half years with NJ. Are they running the offense more thru RJ because of the injury or is this LFrank's new scheme? RJ is a good complimentary player but not the one to run the offense thru. It's a shame, with all of VC's skills and talent, to see him underperform like this.

[The Mook]

It's the same VC that was in Toronto! It's not the hops he's missing...it's heart!

[kaki]

frank is not putting the ball on VC hands..and the defense always collapse on him everytime he got the ball.. and when he pass the ball..who's gonna shoot? RJ?Kidd with no J?boki?they lack some shooters!

i think VC still got it..

[mjs]

Blame injury or age, VC has clearly lost a step. I think mentally he knows that explosive jumping ability he relied on for years is not there day in and day out, leading to his inconsistent aggressiveness. Case in point, last night, on second half of back to backs, not aggressive. WIthout specific stats, VC does not dunk nearly as much as he used to. Yes, typical as players age, but I think it also shows he does not have that explosiveness anymore. The real problem his perimeter game does not compensate for his diminished driving ability.

VC aside, the problem continues to be defense. Start by getting back on defense to prevent transition, then get out on shooters, finally try to stop the dribble. Until then opponents will continue to chalk up 100 point games.

mjs
www.njnetscast.com

[Steven]

"It's the same VC that was in Toronto! It's not the hops he's missing...it's heart!"

100% right, when he first came to the Nets, he looked like a Top 5 player, he played unbelievable. And all Nets fans were wondering how we got him for basically nothing. But, he's at the same point where he was in his last few years in Toronto. We trade him, than he'll go average 30 on his new team.

[marco]

the team is running to rj to score instead of vince now and you can really tell when you watch them play. but of course vince is too nice of a guy in this league to complain, he isnt selfish enough to say give me the ball. although he should.

[Mr. Dollar Bills]

With the way Carter has been passing up shots or not taking the initiative to keep his team afloat its more of a heart problem than anything