Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. New Jersey Nets

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Rebuilding and relocating, the Nets have certainly fallen from the team Richard Jefferson once donned a uniform for. Last season the Nets managed to keep within sight of a playoff seed for a good portion of a season thanks to the emergence of Devin Harris, a deserved Rookie of the Year performance from Brook Lopez and the steady hand of Vince Carter.

In a way the trio was like a watered down version of the Spurs model, with Lopez’s style drawing comparisons to Duncan and Harris performing as a just as speedy if not as clever version of Tony Parker. But just as Ginobili is vital to Parker’s style of play, the Nets relied on Vince Carter’s playmaking to make their system work. With his departure the Nets are threatening some of the worst teams in NBA history.

If the Nets have any hope it’s that they have an interesting young core, a new owner with deep pockets who is willing to relocate the team to Brooklyn and are a dark horse candidate for LeBron James. Unfortunately, none of that will help them tonight. Especially if reports from NetsareScorching.com hold true:

Point guard Devin Harris had an MRI taken on his achy right wrist, and for now, the Nets are calling it tendinitis, but it’s enough to make him a game-time decision tonight against San Antonio.

The Spurs should win this one easily, though it will be interesting to see how minutes are managed given that our star players logged heavy action in the Friday night’s loss to the Mavericks.

Reasons to Watch:

Brook Lopez vs. Tim Duncan: Lopez will never be Duncan-especially at the defensive end-but at times he can perform a reasonable impression and should be a solid 20-10 guy for most of his career and it will be interesting to get a good look at how he’s progressed since last year.

DeJuan Blair: If it still remains to be seen whether or not Blair can co

ntribute in the playoffs against the likes of the Lakers or Mavericks, having someone who can eat up large chunks of minutes during games like tonight is still a valuable commodity. If Lopez and Duncan are matched up, Blair should have a field day on the boards against Yi.

Richard Jefferson: But not simply because he’s returning to the place he made his name. After the loss to the Mavericks I expressed my disappointment the Spurs did not take advantage of Jefferson’s matchup against Dirk Nowitzki. Tonight should offer favorable matchups for our small ball lineups and Yi once again should offer defensive fodder for Jefferson should the Spurs choose to take advantage.

  • zainn

    The only reason poppovich is playing ian mahinmi is to use him as trade bait near the deadline…

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Jesse Blanchard

    Or, you know, to use a young, end of the bench guy to eat up some minutes against an inferior team during a long, long regular season with a big game coming up in a few days.

  • SpursfanSteve

    Or, maybe, to give him a shot to earn minutes over Ratliff, at least in the regular season.

  • http://www.buymoore.mychoices.biz SAinSLC

    Mahinmi looked great in the various highlight packages I’ve watched and the box score seems to confirm that. Does he have the potential to be a regular 12/8 guy w/some blocks? Does anyone have a take on whether this is just a way to get the regulars some rest vs actually opening the door for Ian to start breaking into the rotation?

  • Ivander

    I am really wondering about it too, I hope Pop wanted to give Ian some minutes before letting him play against the Lakers. I really sincerely hope he did it therefore because Mahinmi played absolutely great, maybe looked a little rusty on defense on some possessions and got some quick fouls but hey, DeJuan does that every game. Ian shot 6/6 from the floor, blocked a shot , grabbed 9 rebounds in 20 minutes. We can definitely use his agility and athletism against LA and I so hope Pop saw that this guy deserves more playing time.