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Felton Finishes Strong as Bobcats Beat Nets Dec. 26, 2008 by Ben Couch - NJNETS.COM |
East Rutherford, N.J. — They were selected No. 5 in the NBA Draft one year apart, Devin Harris by the Dallas Mavericks in 2004 and Raymond Felton by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2005.
Each is playing for his third coach, and Felton can only hope Larry Brown works out as well for him as New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank has for Harris. The early returns are looking up.
Harris, whose speed and unseen-on-this-level scoring ability (24.0 PPG entering tonight) have been unleashed by Franks' "open" dribble-drive sets, was stifled by Felton as the Bobcats (11-19) beat the Nets (14-15), 95-87, on Friday at the IZOD Center. Felton led all scorers with 22 points (6-of-11 FGs) and 16 in the second half while Harris tallied 14 points, six in the fourth, on 4-of-15 shooting.
"I figured it out in the fourth quarter and got a couple of easy layups, but I missed some chippies early," Harris said. "I've got to make better decisions, get to the line, slow down a little bit. I think I was going too fast tonight."
Said Felton: "It's not no competition thing. It's not me trying to get the best of Devin. If he were to score 40 points, and I were to score two, I wouldn't care about that. As long as we got the win, that doesn't matter."
Harris got off to an abnormally slow start, taking only four shots before halftime and heading to the locker room with six points and one assist. Harris often blows by defenders with regularity, but Felton and his protégé, 2008 No. 9 pick D.J. Augustin, are each fast enough to keep Harris in front of them more often than he's been accustomed to throughout this breakout season.
Twice during the first quarter, Harris broke away from the pack with one man to beat, a situation that normally ends with a made layup and potentially a free throw. But both times Felton stayed with Harris the entire way, even holding his ground against a quick spin move that Harris has made a staple of his repetoire. However, the Nets recovered to finish that play with a Vince Carter three after Trenton Hassell one-touched Harris' dumpoff to Carter at the top of the key.
Harris caused similar defensive problems for Felton and Augustin (five points, two assists, 2-7 FGs), limiting their penetration and forcing the duo to settle for efficient, though unspectacular, floor leadership in the first half. Though Charlotte's PGs combined for only 11 points and three assists, they set up several buckets with hockey assists (the pass before the assist). Each regularly utilized their newest teammates, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, when initiating the offense and the former Suns each racked up four assists pre-intermission. The Bobcats led 50-41 at the break.
"We have a very hard time guarding the dribble, so a lot of their middle penetrations led to open shots," Frank said. "The first half, they established themselves. We didn't really have any sort of offensive rhythm until the two- or three-minute mark of the third quarter. You put yourself in a little bit of a deficit going there and your margin of error is less and less with every possession."
Toward the end of the third -- as he does regularly -- Frank subbed Harris out for Keyon Dooling. Dooling ignited a Nets run (13 points), but Felton took advantage of facing a different defender, scoring five points and assisting a Nazr Mohammed jumper. Felton dropped a double-cross to freeze Dooling and a help defender (1-of-2 FTs), caught a pass from Mohammed on the move for a layup (two points) and exploded past Dooling to draw contact from Brook Lopez (2-of-2 FTs). The one-man surge kept the margin at 10 before Josh Boone's tip-in at the third-quarter buzzer closed it to eight.
Dooling started the fourth and Felton kept the offensive pressure on overdrive, making a steal 20 seconds in and racing downcourt for a trip to the free-throw line. Playing off the ball next to Augustin, one possession later Felton found himself being guarded by Bobby Simmons, who he crossed over three times before pulling up to swish a jumper.
But the Nets ripped off an 8-0 run, capped by a Dooling dunk, to close within three at 78-75 and about seven minutes remaining. Harris, who re-entered the game halfway through the spurt, started to regain his confidence, hitting a pair of layups and two free throws during a late one-minute stretch, leaving the Nets only two points down with three minutes and change on the clock.
On the next possession, Harris again drove in, but missed. Brook Lopez grabbed the rebound, and Bobby Simmons missed a trey. Harris chased down the loose ball, leapt out of bounds and threw it off one of the inbounds Bobcats before landing to retain control. Then Lopez missed a hook, but forced a jump ball. He won the tip, and Bobby Simmons drove, missed a jumper, got his own rebound and missed another jumper.
The Bobcats finally rebounded the ball, and Felton raced down the floor, sinking a pullup J in transition. The six-point lead proved too much to overcome, and Charlotte sealed the game at the free-throw line.
"We had a hard time with Devin Harris late in the game," said Bobcats coach Larry Brown, after praising his team's overall defense. "He did a tremendous job getting into the paint. I really like their team. They have a bunch of young kids that are going to get a lot better. It's just a matter of time."
NOTES: Vince Carter led the Nets with 19 points (8-21 FGs) and four assists, while Brook Lopez added 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks ... Bobby Simmons (six points, five rebounds) returned after spending several days in Chicago for the birth of his second child, a girl ... "I'm happy to be back," Simmons said pregame. "Everyone's healthy." ... Devin Harris (267,504 votes) jumped from 10th to fifth among Eastern Conference guards in the latest round of All-Star voting results ... "The Nets organization did a great job," Harris said. "I’m going to say the video worked." ... New Jersey travels to Charlotte to play the Bobcats in the second half of a back-to-back at 7 p.m. ET.
