Al Iannazzone over at Nets Insider looks at the misfortune of Yi Jianlian.

Recapping the past 24 hours of Twittergate, Dave D'Alessandro adds in his story this morning that TWill's benching last night was strictly a coincidence, according to Rod Thorn.

On Twitter last night, Terrence Williams compliments his teammates and nothing else.

Bleacher Report says that last night's win in Chicago proves why the Nets are a better fit for LeBron James than the Knicks.

Some Bulls fans are very upset that Bulls lost to the Nets (hey, they can't lose every game can they?).

Now that the Nets are winning some games, one fan writes how they still may be able to entertain us.

Forest City Ratner is predicting a groundbreaking in Brooklyn in the "fourth quarter."

Mark Ginocchio

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A off-balance floater by Devin Harris with 14.9 seconds left, followed by two free throw by Rafer Alston helped the Nets (2-19) knock off the Bulls 103-101 (7-12) in Chicago tonight, as New Jersey earned its first road win of the season.

• Welcome back Devin Harris, who scored 17 points, dished 6 assists and collected 4 steals, but most importantly looked like "the man" in the fourth quarter hitting a big three and a layup down the stretch as the Bulls were looking like they were on the verge of putting the Nets down.
• Another game, another big night for Brook Lopez who finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. Stuff that stat sheet Brook.
• Rafer Alston was huge off the bench, scoring 15 points on 5-8 shooting, while hitting the difference-making free throws at the end of the game.
• Solid scoring night for Chris Douglas-Roberts, who finished with 20 points. He even channeled his inner-Mutombo and collected 3 blocks.
• Overall, the Nets finished with 14 steals.
• Derrick Rose and Luol Deng led the Bulls with 27 points each. Rose also netted 10 dimes. Rookie Taj Gibson had a career night with 20 points and 3 blocks.
• Active night on the boards for Josh Boone who had 10 boards (5 offensive) to go with his 6 points and two blocks. Overall, the Nets finished with 11 offensive boards, while giving up 16 to the Bulls.
• "DNP - Coache's Decision" for Terrence Williams, who may face disciplinary action from the team for his Twitter antics, according to Dave D'Alessandro.
• The Nets looked fantastic in the third quarter, outscoring the Bulls 26-16, but the Bulls gave them everything they had in the fourth, outscoring the Nets 31-23. Still

Mark Ginocchio

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The Bulls have been pretty bad as of late.  Real bad, not only are they 7-11, but they have lost 7 of their last 8.  Besides their win, they have had only two games end in single digits.  Their man problem, their defense.  They can't seem to stop anyone, allowing over 100 points in 6 of their last 8.

This could be the cure that the Nets need offensively, but if they start playing well against Chicago's man-to-man defense, expect to see some zone.  Match-up time!

Devin Harris vs. Derrick Rose:

I am calling this one a push.  If Devin was clicking on all cylinders, he'd be getting the slight edge here.  Still this is going to be a real fun one to watch.  Harris is in the top 30 of Free-Throw Rate, and that is the only reason fans aren't calling for his head.  Harris has had some poor shooting games, but in those games, he gets to the line a ton and still gets his points.

Advantage: Push

Courtney Lee vs. John Salmons

John Salmons is a tough guy to stop offensively when he gets it going.  He can hit the deep shot, and he can get into the lane.  As for Courtney Lee, he needs to be much more aggressive.  After his career high night, he only took 5 shots, that can't happen.

Advantage: John Salmons

Chris Douglas-Roberts vs. Luol Deng

Like CDR, Luol Deng is a long player.  He doesn't shoot the three-ball well, but when he is right, he can knock down almost anything a step in from the foul line.  CDR seemed to get it going again against the Knicks, but he is going to have to recognize the zone better.  As I pointed out earlier, he thought they were still in man that first time out.  Other than that little point, he has been great.

Advantage:  Chris Douglas-Roberts

Josh Boone vs. Taj Gibson

Remember when James Johnson was high on the Nets' list?  Well, we can be glad that the Nets didn't take him.  With Tyrus Thomas out, Taj Gibson is the rookie replacing him, not James Johnson, that tells you something about him.

Advantage: Taj Gibson

Brook Lopez vs. Joakim Noah

Brook didn't get a ton of touches inside last game, and that was depressing.  You know that Kiki and Del are going to try to get him going early tonight.  Noah is a great player having a great season, I just think that Lopez's size will give Noah problems.

Advantage: Brook Lopez

Sebastian Pruiti

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The Nets four reliable beat reporters were at the United Center this morning and were immediately struck by the site of Terrence Williams running the stairs in the arena with assistant coach Doug Overton.

Was this punishment for TWill's controversial tweets the past 24 hours, where he essentially questioned if he would have been better off being drafted by another organization? Apparently not. Still, there were some interesting things said at practice today about Terrence Williams, by the rookie himself, and others.

First, TWill himself about whether he regrets being drafted by the Nets, from Julian Garcia and the Daily News:

"How would it be a regret?" he asked back. "I don't make the decision where I go. It's not a regret at all. You guys talk about that but my next tweet says I love my situation, I love my teammates and you guys (have) got to know that we're all human and we hate losing. So it's not a regret at all. It's the best decision for me to come to New Jersey. I love it. I wouldn't want to play at Charlotte or the other pick. I'm happy I'm here."

Here's coach Kiki, courtesy of The Record's Al Iannazzone:

"For all our players, young players especially - and Terrence is our rookie obviously - this is a learning and teaching time,” Vandeweghe said. “So you take every opportunity you can to reinforce good habits and what we want from Terrence is to make sure he plays good defense first. We build a foundation that way."

Dave D'Alessandro actually laid the smackdown on Williams from behind the computer:

But that’s the central point here: No matter what his frustration, he has no business tweeting that rubbish about how he’d rather be playing somewhere else – because that twit left zero room for interpretation.

Dave D. also got these interesting morsels from Rafer Alston:

"He’s not seeking advice from veterans. You know, he’s getting advice from guys in their first and second year, who don’t know,” said Rafer Alston. “And the problem now is, when you’re twittering and talking, when you’re young you don’t know what to say or the right things to say. Those are the things he has to learn."

Sebastian pretty much summed it all up in his post earlier this morning, though I'd like to add that I hope the Nets here come down hard on Williams. You want to see the good in a young player, and I still believe TWill has a lot of talent that could help the Nets, but I think he needs to step back a bit, and watch his team play, and hopefully win, without him. Because he's such good buddies with Nate Robinson, maybe he can ask Nate what being an immature prima donna has done for his standing with the Knicks.

Mark Ginocchio

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Get used to the zone defense Nets' fans, because we may be seeing a lot of it in the next few games.  Even before looking at any video, you can tell that the Nets really struggled against the zone on Sunday.  They went from scoring 61 points in the first half, to scoring just 36 in the second.

The Nets struggle against the zone because they don't have the personnel to shoot their way out of it.  Usually when a team runs a zone, they do it just to switch things up, and when the opposing team hits a shot or two, they get out of it switching back to man.  The Nets never hit "a shot or two" against the Knicks.  So if the Nets struggled so much against the zone, why haven't we seen it more?  Well, to be honest teams were beating the Nets so handily, that there was no reason to employ it.  The Nets might see it a lot more now because the Nets are going to be going up against teams that have been struggling and teams the Nets might be able to get a lead on late in the second half.  If that happens expect to see zone. I am going to share some clips with you guys and explain what the Nets are doing wrong against the zone, and what they can do to beat the zone, and force teams to go to man.

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Sebastian Pruiti

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When I asked Terrence Williams about his involvement with social media just after the Nets drafted him with the 11th pick overall, he told me:

Some of the fans actually believe that basketball players are too cocky or arrogant, and some believe that we’re not real, that we’re not human as funny as it may sound.  So I believe that if a kid can get on Twitter and ask me a question and I answer it, I don’t know if I put a smile on the kid’s face, but if somebody was my hero when I was little and I could get on Twitter and write them a question and they answer, it would make my day.  If you could get on XBox live and play against somebody you look up to in video games, it would make that person’s day.

Compare that with what he has said over Twitter about his team, his fans, and his playing time recently you get a different feel (In case the links don't work, view the tweets in question here):

@MMEIZINGER send me the story where I said I play like lebron,btw you look like nothing - 20 hours ago

Up early to the gym before practice to practice before practice, because NOW practice is my games. Welp that's life - 10 hours ago

How would it be if Mr. Stern called my name 10 min earlier #9 or 5 min later #12 hmmmmmmmmm to bad I can't live off what ifs - 10 hours ago

Don't get me WRONG I thank GOD everyday for where I'am and I love it, hardest working when others aint watching an imma get MY game back - 10 hours ago

@jphoyt you're beyond terrible so what's the difference - 7 hours ago

Its funny u fake fans an fake coaches take what I say the wrong way, I love my team an team mates we are human an hate losing point blank - 7 hours ago

This isn't Larry Johnson territory, but to call his fans "beyond terrible" and telling them they "look like nothing"  (what does that even mean?) is a troubling sign.  CDR's dealing with the losing streak was much talked about, but I am willing to claim that Terrence Williams has been taking the losing as hard if not harder.  Combine that with "his benching" on Sunday, and now you have Williams tweeting angrily.

I have a personally experienced this change as well.  When I interviewed just after the draft, he was very open with me and willing to talk, answering all of the questions I had asked of them (A few were about his versatility and ability to play multiple positions).  Fast forward to Nets' practice on November 16th (the Nets were 0-10 then), there I was once again given the chance to interview him.  I was hoping to ask him some questions for the position piece I wrote on him.  When it was my turn to talk to him I asked him if he enjoyed playing multiple positions or if he would rather focus on just one.  He paused for a second, looked at me, and said "Is that a real question?"  I said yes, he gave me the one quote I used, and that was it, interview over.  I assumed it was just because he didn't want to be bothered by a blogger (and frankly I don't blame him - I am not telling this story because I am mad about it), but looking back on it now after the tweets, it just seems to be him not handling the losing and the negative press about him too well.  I don't know how Terrence Williams handles himself to the beat-writers, so I can't speak on that, but it does seem to me that he is shutting down.  Another example of Terrence shutting down is he hasn't had a post over at his site RookieChronicles.com since after opening night.  Combine all of that with him openly talking about wanting to be on other teams, and you have yourself a potential problem.

To me being upset is understandable, I mean he has lost just about as many games in one year as he has in his entire college career.  Being upset isn't the problem though, the problem is him openly imagining what it would be like on other teams (Gerald Henderson, the player who was selected 12th overall has only played 10.0 MPG because his coach refuses to play rookies.  I don't think he would like it there very much either).  That really isn't going to make Nets' fans very happy.  You know, the ones he called "fake."

And also, about his "benching" (I am going to keep putting it quotes right now, because one game isn't enough to determine a benching), Kiki being the GM next year has a lot to do with the success of Terrence Williams.  Kiki is going to give Williams plenty of opportunities to succeed, because it he does in fact succeed, Kiki will look like a very smart man.  So if Terrence Williams isn't playing, it is because of one of two reasons.  Either he is injured, or he is playing so poorly that Kiki can't justify putting him out on the court.  The latter is true right now because Terrence Williams has very poor shot selection (73% of his shots are jump shots according to 82games.com).  Trying to justify the poor shooting earlier in the year, I said that he is taking shots because he is forced to with all the injuries.  Well, almost everyone is back and Terrence is still chucking.  It is no coincidence that Terrence only played 5 minutes against the Knicks after going 2-12 (including 7 jump shots) in the Nets win on Friday.  Terrence Williams is much more effective driving the lane than settling for jumpers (remember that drive and dunk against the Lakers?), and I think Kiki is going to keep Williams out until he shows that he is willing to drive to the basket.  Maybe only playing 5 minutes on Sunday will open his eyes up to that, and he will start attacking the basket more often.  I think that is what Kiki is trying to do here.

All of this being said, I hope Terrence Williams keeps his twitter account going.  Aside from the tweets I showed here, his tweets are funny and fun to read, and hopefully the Nets win some games so this can become a non-issue.

Sebastian Pruiti

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Kiki Vandeweghe wants Terrence Williams to take it to the basket more.

Dime is the next publication to say the Nets have a better future than the Knicks. The Orlando Sentinel also looks at the Nets' long-term prospects.

Dime also calls Chris Douglas-Roberts the Atlantic Division's most improved player in this young season.

AY Report with some news about a homeless shelter being forced to shut down to make room for the Nets new Brooklyn arena.

Is Devin Harris getting his groove back?

Don't expect as many free tickets to Nets games once they move to Brooklyn.

The Bulls are not sleeping on the Nets tonight.

Mark Ginocchio

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Since Kiki Vandeweghe and Del Harris took the reins of the coaching staff last week, there’s been a lot of buzz about how these personnel moves could positively impact the team’s younger players –especially Yi Jianlian.

As Nets Daily reminded us recently, Harris may be most responsible for unleashing Yi onto the basketball world. During the 2004 Olypmics, Harris, then coach of Team China, inserted a 16-year-old Yi into the starting lineup. When Harris and Kiki were hired by the Nets last week, Yi, who has been injured since early November with a sprained knee, and is expected to miss at least another week after getting 50 stitches in his lip at practice Saturday, reportedly was pleased with move.

Now it appears that Kiki is making more exceptions in order to cater to Yi.  In today’s practice report, the Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro wrote that Jarin Akana has been invited to multiple practices by Kiki Vandeweghe. Who’s Jarin Akana? In the past, he’s functioned as a trainer, a coach on Jeff Bzdelik’s Denver Nuggets staf and, a part of Harris’ Team China staff. Currently, he works for NBA agent (and Yi’s agent) Dan Fegan. Most notably, he’s responsible for working with Yi, according Dave D.

What makes this move even more significant is the fact that Lawrence Frank had asked Akana to leave practice last year when he was brought in for the same reasons. Akana’s recent reappearance points to two things: yet another example of the rift between Kiki and Frank, and Kiki’s desire to make Yi as comfortable and happy as possible.

It makes sense. While most NBA observers think Yi still has plenty of potential, Kiki took a very calculated risk bringing him over from Milwaukee in the Richard Jefferson trade last season. Yi was starting to put together a solid season last year before injuring his hand, and he seemed to fall out of favor with Frank towards the end of the year. He got another chance this season, but got hurt before he was able to prove if he deserved it.

But with this new information, I think it’s safe to say Yi Jianlian is going to be a major part of the Nets future – at least as long as Kiki Vandeweghe is involved with the organization. As D’Alessandro noted, there’s nothing wrong with Kiki bringing in Akana – but considering his history with the organization and the team’s prior coach, this looks to be the first shot of many that Vandeweghe is going to take a very hands on approach with Yi.

Mark Ginocchio

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Before the season began, ESPN's John Hollinger was asked in a chat if he thought Brook Lopez had the potential to be a 20 and 10 guy (points and rebounds) this season. Hollinger, a big Lopez advocate last season, even suggesting Lopez was as much of a candidate for Rookie of the Year as eventual winner Derek Rose, told the questioner that he liked Lopez a lot, but it was a "major stretch" to expect him to reach that elite 20-10 level.

But Lopez is proving Hollinger, and some of his other critics who say he's not athletic enough to become a dominant NBA center, wrong. After 20 games, Lopez is averaging 18.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, and is probably playing the best basketball of his career right now.In his last six games, Lopez is averaging 24.7 points and 10.5 rebounds a game and looks to be reestablishing the chemistry he had with Devin Harris last season. Against the Knicks yesterday, Harris and Lopez were working well with the pick and roll early until New York went zone and started clogging the lane.

As recorded by Basketball-Reference and pointed out by Nets Daily, two of Brook's recent performances have placed him in an elite group as one of the youngest centers in the NBA since 1986-87 to have scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds multiple times. Lopez actually first accomplished this feat last season against Oklahoma City, making him the fourth youngest center in history to accomplish this. But with his two recent games against Portland (32-14) and Charlotte (31-14), Lopez is the first player under 22 to have at least 30 points and 10 rebounds multiple times since Dwight Howard in 2007. Other under 22 centers who have done it multiple times since 1986-87 are Shaquille O'Neal (one of the best ever) and Brad Daugherty (one of the elite centers in the late 80s an early 90s).

That's obviously great company to be in. Looking at Lopez's advanced statistics, he's improved from last season in nearly every way. His Player Efficiency Rating is at around 19.7 right now, up from 17.94 last season. He's scoring more points per 40 minutes this season, though his rebound rate is down slightly (14.3, down from 15.8 last year). The one area where Lopez has really disappointed this season, is his field goal percentage, which is around 48 percent - down from 53 percent last year. That has a lot to do with Brook's shot selection this season. According to 82games, about 48 percent of all of Lopez's field goal attempts have been jumpers, up from 39 percent last season.

As Sebastian pointed out last week and in his pregame report yesterday, Lopez might see his usage rate increase while moving away from the jump shots under Kiki Vandeweghe and Del Harris. On Friday, only one of Lopez's 22 field goal attempts was outside of 15 feet. Yesterday, three of his nine attempts was outside of 15 feet. If Kiki and Harris really stress working Lopez in the post more, that 20 and 10 once thought to be a pipe dream by Hollinger, could become a reality.

Mark Ginocchio

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We are going to quickly get into the breakdowns today, and these are all going to be positive ones.  Over the past two games the Nets have done a lot of things right offensively (Forget about the struggles against the zone.  That will be getting it's own post tomorrow).  With a more aggressive Courtney Lee and a healthy Keyon Dooling and Devin Harris, the Nets have been clicking on offense for the most part (Yes the Nets struggled in the second half yesterday, but they put over 60 up in the first half).  If they can keep this up, the Nets are going to pick up a few more wins very soon since this upcoming stretch has some very winnable games.

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Sebastian Pruiti

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After the game yesterday, the Nets seemed to understand how they struggled against the zone, and were looking forward to working on it in practice this week.

Mitch Lawrence continues his daily assault of the Nets.

Mark Ginocchio

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Knickerblogger.net, Posting and Toasting, The Knicks Blog, View from the Couch, Kiki Vandeweghe Interview, Brook Lopez Interview

For the first 24 minutes of today's Nets-Knicks game, it looked as if the Nets were still brimming with confidence from their first victory Friday against the Charlotte Bobcats. They played an uptempo first half, scoring 61points, off a number of drives by Devin Harris (19 points, 6 assists, 3 steals), and some steady outside shooting from Chris Douglas-Roberts and Keyon Dooling.

But things changed dramatically in the second half. The Nets were stymied by the Knicks zone defense. They were unable to get the ball inside to Brook Lopez (19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks) as the Knicks clogged the post and Devin Harris lost his ability to drive the lane. The Nets also stopped hitting their open jumpers. One game after his offensive explosion, Courtney Lee (4 points) struggled all day from the outside. Returning from injury for the first time since Wednesday night, Rafer Alston continued his horrid shooting, finishing 3-11 for 8 points, including 1-5 for three point land.

What was most curious about the second half were some of the player rotations used Kiki Vandeweghe. The usual starting five of Devin-Courtney Lee-CDR-Josh Boone and Brook Lopez kicked off the game and played most of the first quarter together, but from the second quarter on, Kiki went with a small line-up to try and match-up better with the Knicks. In some instances, this led to Trenton Hassell and Terrence Williams playing the four and guarding Al Harrington.

While this might have seemed like a good idea on paper, the plan failed in the second half bigtime. The Knicks were able to score at will in the third quarter, and at the end of the game, outrebounded the Nets 48-32, including 15 offensive boards. No one was able to get a big body on Al Harrington, who continued his dominance of the Nets with 26 points and 14 rebounds.

I'm not normally an advocate of Bobby Simmons playing the four, but he never even got into the game today. If you're trying to go small, why not put him in there in the third quarter as the Knicks went on their run and the Nets were back on their heels? Because of the zone, non-jump shooters like Hassell and TWill were left to take shots with the shot clock expiring. Bobby Simmons, while wildly inconsistent, is at least, technically a shooter, so he might have been able to help the Nets bust the zone from the outside.

It would have also been nice to see either Boone, Tony Battie, or Sean Williams playing alongside Lopez down the stretch, to help out with rebounding. Because the Knicks are a tough team to match up with, Sean Williams, who has more athleticism than Boone or Battie, might have been worth a look. Can't kill Boone too much however, as despite getting beat by Harrington on a few possessions earlier in the game, played a solid 21 minutes, grabbing 7 rebounds and blocking two shots, including a one on Chris Duhon when Boone was matched up with Duhon off a defensive switch. Boone did a great job sticking with the faster point guard in the one-on-one situation and blocked his layup attempt at the rim.

Despite the letdown today after Friday night's breakthrough victory, there were some positive signs for the Nets. Devin Harris seemed to be getting some of his mojo back until the Knicks clogged the lane in the second half. Brook Lopez had a good game, despite only taking 9 field goal attempts. It was also great to see Keyon Dooling hitting some shots today, and I can only hope as he gets his conditioning back, he can play well enough to move Rafer Alston further down the bench. If Dooling and Harris can stay healthy long enough, I think it's a matter of time before the Nets either trade him or buy him out, because Rafer just does not fit on this team.

Read some final thoughts after the jump:
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Mark Ginocchio

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