Nets are NBA’s worst of all-time thanks to Vince Carter
The New Jersey Nets set the record for futility when they lost to the Dallas Mavericks last night 117-101, for their 18th consecutive game to start a season.
New Jersey surpassed the NBA record of 17 losses to start a season held by the 1988-89 Miami Heat and 1999 Los Angeles Clippers.
The Net’s next opportunity to end the streak comes Friday at home against the 7-10 Charlotte Bobcats.
(When will the Nets notch their first win? Vote in our Poll)
During a nearly flawless second quarter, the Mavericks made 17 of 19 shots, scoring 49 points in the period, and opened a 27-point lead going into halftime.
Dallas shot 81%% in the first half, the Mavs were the the first NBA team to make 80 percent of its shots in a half since the Denver Nuggets hit 82%against the Clippers on April 4, 2006.
Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 24 points, hitting 9 of 15 shots, and grabbed 7 rebounds. Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 24 points for New Jersey.
Infamous 0-18 Began in the Summer
The Nets’ infamous start to the season began in the summer when they traded away veteran Vince Carter and up-and-coming Ryan Anderson for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee.
The move was part of a salary dump to open up cap space for the coveted 2010 free-agent market.
Vince Carter isn’t a winner, but with his talent and scoring, even the oft-unmotivated Carter would have stopped the bleeding by now.
(Discuss the New Jersey Nets’ season)
Don’t get me wrong, Alston, Lee, and Battie are serviceable players, but none of them have the ability to just take over a game and lead a team to a victory. The three are sum-of-their-parts kind of guys, and that’s not a knock on them at all.
The Carter trade wasn’t the only factor of course, injuries have also contributed to the Nets’ futility; star guard Devin Harris has missed 10 of the 18 games this season, Jarvis Hayes has missed 17, and starting forward Yi Jianlian 14.
The NBA’s all-time worst season record was recorded by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers who won only nine games and lost seventy-three (9-73).
Yeah, lets blame Carter, rather than focus on the inept players that we have right now….if anything, it shows how good Carter is, cos he dragged this same silly bunch to a respectable record and a shot at a playoff spot…it’s madness to me, that rather than thank Carter, one would resort to blaming him. Didn’t everyone say Devin was the one that made the Nets go, last season. Lets see how he does without VC.
December 4th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Read the article.
December 5th, 2009 at 11:15 am