Jason Collins has been playing downright pathetic lately!  In his last 8 games, Collins is averaging 20.6 minutes, 0.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  He also has only hit 1 of his last 16 shots (6.3%) from the floor.  The Nets really need Collins to play better because they don’t really have any better options on the bench.

Not in their wildest dreams did the Nets think Mikki Moore could play as well as he has been since replacing Nenad Krstic in the starting lineup.  In his last 8 games, Moore is averaging 12.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  Moore is also hitting an amazing 70.7% of his FGs!  Moore is playing the best basketball of his career as it looks like all he needed was a chance to play and now he’s getting it.

The Nets were in control of this game until the last quarter when they were outscored 24-11.  Mikki Moore led the way for the Nets with 22 points and 4 rebounds.  Jason Kidd had another triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.  Eddie House added 12 points off the bench.

The Nets fell to 20-21 on the season with this tough loss.  http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2007012223

Richard Jefferson will have ankle surgery soon and this will be a huge blow to the Nets.  They had been playing their best basketball of the season and this will definately hurt their offense.  Jefferson was averaging 16.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game this season.  The Nets may have to look to make a trade because the bench doesn’t have alot of potential to replace Jefferson’s offense.

The most likely replacement is Bostjan Nachbar.  Nachbar is averaging 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  He’s the best three-point shooter of the bench bunch but he’s only hitting 38.4% from the floor overall.  He also will be a defensive liability.  Antoine Wright is probably next in line for playing time and he’s only averaging 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists.  He’s also not shooting well as he’s only hitting 39.2% from the floor this season.

Another way the Nets could go would be starting Eddie House at shooting guard and moving Vince Carter to small forward.  House is averaging 6.2 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.  He’s only hitting 38.9% from the floor this season but he has a reputation as instant offense off the bench, so this might be the best way for the Nets to go.

This was a huge blow to the Nets as they’ve been playing very well as of late.  It will be interesting to see if they can somehow keep that up.

The Nets had a huge second half and outscored the Magic 63-46 on their way to a victory last night.  Vince Carter led the way with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.  Richard Jefferson also had a busy night with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists.  Eddie House had a solid game off the bench with 17 points.

The Nets brought their record up to even on the season at 20-20 with this victory last night.  http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270120017