By FRED KERBER
Marcus Williams was sweaty and happy and encouraged. A little sore but mainly encouraged after scrimmaging for a half hour this morning.
“He looked fine. It’s good to have him back on the court,” said Lawrence Frank.
“I felt a lot better than I thought I would,” Williams said. “I thought I would be done in the first 10 minutes. But I went through the first part of practice, and we started to play. And it felt fine. There was little discomfort on closeouts and quick change-of-direction things, but as everything else – running was fine…Just quick direction things, mainly closeouts. But everything else felt fine.”
But don’t go looking for Williams tomorrow night. His timing is way off and he needs to get in shape. Give it “maybe another week – week and a half,” Williams said.
Frank doesn’t see any scenario were he would play Williams soon – but he may suit him up for the bench tomorrow. PG Eddie Gill was whacked Wednesday. Frank, more thinking out loud than being definitive, looked to Dec. 22 against the Warriors.
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While you shouldn’t look for Williams, look for a different Cavs team, one with LeBron James, tomorrow at the Meadowlands. The Nets thumped the Cavs in Cleveland minus LeBron who’s back from a sprained finger absence.
“Totally different,” Frank said. “And Larry Hughes, they moved him back to the two and he had 36 points. They beat us in the second round…Our guys have an appreciation that LeBron, (re-signed) Varejao and Hughes didn’t play (last time). Not to take away from those other guys, it’s similar to when we didn’t play with one of our players. The tough thing now is that Lebron’s legs are fresher.”
Yeah, but the Nets have that homecourt advantage thing.
Maybe they could rent out the Garden.
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Here is the take out in Cleveland from LeBron James who was asked today by Cavs writers about playing again with Jason Kidd. The two, of course, had the summer run with the Olympic qualifying team:
“Could LeBron James play with Jason Kidd? Of course, I could. If there’s one guy in the world who says he can’t play with Jason Kidd, he’s drunk. He’s been drinking all day and all night.
“If you can land a player like Jason Kidd for our team, it would be great…You don’t want to harp on it. I played with him all summer. He makes the game so much easier for you. All you have to do is run the floor with a guy like Jason Kidd and you’re going to get a layup. It would be great, but at the same time, you don’t want to get into it because you don’t know if it will happen.”
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Nets had their holiday charity party today. They had a big Santa’s chair all ready. Frank was asked if he wanted to do his interview while sitting in the chair.
“What is it, an electric chair?”
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Okay, pick a problem, any problem for the Nets. What is the one overriding issue that has plagued them through this spiffy 9-13 start (magic number for elimination with Cavs is 70, by the way). Here’s one take:
“Endurance. To be able to play 48 minutes,” said Boki Nachbar. “We really haven’t done that. Maybe in some games. Maybe two or three but I think it has to be that we have to outrun out-rebound, out-jump, out-hustle the other team. That’s what we need to do. We have enough talent.”
Of course, it could be two things.
“Defense more than anything. Our resistance. We’re making it too easy for teams,” said Vince Carter of what Nets saw in film sessions. “Offensively, we just missed some shots. Some of us missed point-blank layups that we usually make, jump shots, things like that.”
So other than bad defense and bad offense and consistency, things seem nifty.
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Nets and US Marine Corps staging annual Toys for Tots for needy kids. Fans are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy to tomorrow’s game against Cavs at IZOD Center. Fans bringing a toy will be entered in a special raffle for autographed Nets’ merchandise.
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Just because on a bad day:
Movie Quote of the Day: James Earl Jones (Terence Mann) – “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been Baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But Baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, it’s a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good and could be again.” – “Field of Dreams”