One-and-18 is not how you want to start any kind of a season, but leave it to the New Jersey Nets to just have the mother of all falls out of the gate.  What a fall from the 2001-02 and ‘02-’03 Eastern Champions huh?  Of course, Jason Kidd was on the team back then, practically carrying them on his shoulders, and then comes back to the Izod Center the other night to add to his former team’s woes.  Not to mention the departure of Richard Jefferson in 2008 and then Vince Carter this past summer.  Having shed all that veteran talent, the team is mostly comprised of inexperienced kids who are simply outmatched in the NBA.

 

Naturally, all that losing has an effect on the number of fans coming out to support them, and I suspect that up until the losing streak ended, it was a game on the ticket resale websites of being there for the Nets’ first win of the season.

 

I know the worst all-time record is held by the 76ers who went 9-73 in 1972-73 -and the Nets are on pace to eclipse that - but this just adds a whole new dimension to how bad basketball really is in the Tri-State area.  I mean, two years ago, at least we had the Giants and their playoff run to get us through most of the winter until Spring Training began, but with virtually nothing in the realms of hockey, it’s just one long day after another until that first March thaw.

 

I finally found the time to create a basketball court pattern, and I think it looks absolutely terrific here.  I did find that I had to dial up the opacity of the shadows here, as they simply didn’t show up that well on the hardwood, and next to the dark colors of the arena.