Basketball Betting - Nets.
April 8 2006
The New Jersey Nets is a team whose winning streak is causing a stir in opinion.
A little over a month ago when the Nets went into Chicago and lost 95-87. New Jersey had lost four out of five games and they were looking very average at 32-28.
Since then, New Jersey has now managed off fourteen straight wins. The streak is the longest in the NBA this season, and ties the franchise mark set in 2003-2004. The Nets can beat their record this afternoon with a home win against Cleveland. The Nets are currently favored by 6.5 points.
This winning streak also has allowed them to clinch the Atlantic Division and they look to be either the 3rd or 4th seed in the East. That means that they will get home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
While this recent run by New Jersey is very impressive, the million dollar question remains as to whether this is a championship level team. To try to answer that question, let’s look at how the Nets have fared this year against Miami and Detroit.
About a week ago today, New Jersey beat Miami in the Meadowlands, 90-78 - giving the Nets a 3-1 edge for the year, and the one loss was by just a point at Miami. Remember last year, Miami was 7-0 against New Jersey including sweeping them in the playoffs. Clearly this Nets team is more comfortable going against Shaquille O’Neal and company.
On paper you would assume that the Nets would be a mis-match against Miami because they do not have someone who can match up defensively against O’Neal. However, O’Neal has averaged only 17.7 points per game against them, two points below his average. Conversely, Vince Carter is putting in 38 a game versus Miami, 14 points above his average.
Against Detroit this year, the team has split their series at 2-2. That might not sound very impressive, but you have to take into account that Detroit has only lost 15 games all year. When New Jersey beat Detroit, 79-74 on March 26th, it was Detroit’s third loss at home this year and the only one that didn’t come in overtime.
While I would never predict any team to beat Detroit in a playoff series the way they are playing, the Nets will be competitive against anyone they play.
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