OK, the Lakers offensively are Kobe Bryant and pretty much a bunch of stiffs. The Nuggets, showing the maturity and mental toughness of crayons, had their leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony, on the floor for all of 90 seconds.
So why are the Nets so excited about back-to-back victories over the Lakers and Nuggets, which still equate to a 2-3 road trip?
Because of .376.
“When you look at the last three games of the trip, two of them wins, defensively look at field goal percentage allowed,” said coach Lawrence Frank after the Nets completed their annual Thanksgiving week trip with a 101-92 victory in Denver – only the Nuggets’ second loss in 27 home games under George Karl (he lost last season to Phoenix and Denver’s only other home loss of 05-06 came with him suspended). “It’s a pretty good barometer for us.”
That barometer is .376. A loss at Phoenix still had the Nets holding the high-octane Suns to .422 shooting (35-of-83). The stirring Jason Kidd-led overtime victory in L.A. saw the Lakers at a near legally dead .337 (32-of-95, with everyone not named Kobe going 18-of-59, .305). The Nets completed their trip Monday by clamping the Anthony-less Nuggets to .377 (29-of-77). The three games combine to .376, dropping the Nets’ season FG yield to .422, third best in the league.
Of course, it all gets a severe test tonight when Detroit, with the NBA’s best record at 10-2, invades the Meadowlands. This could be a true gauge for the Nets (7-7), who came home from their trip with a share of the Atlantic Division lead.
But the Nets also came home a different team than the group that looked so lost starting the trip. After defeats at Golden State and Sacramento, the team began defending in Phoenix. The bench started contributing. Confidence rose. Phoenix was a defeat, but it may have been the turning point.
“Coming out of Phoenix, we felt that we had to somehow find a way to get a ‘W’. We did that in L.A.,” said Kidd. “Coming off that emotional win in L.A., we just kept it going and it carried over. We left two games under .500 and now we’re back at .500. We’ll see what happens.”
But what changed?
“We play a little bit more defense. We understand the importance of our defense,” Kidd said.
There were bruised egos after Phoenix as Frank’s rotation was as popular as Aunt Mabel’s fruitcake. Jeff McInnis, for one, was benched in the second half. He admitted he was shocked. So Frank met with him – as he did with Marc Jackson, who was less than skippy about not playing at all.
“I had to refocus,” said McInnis, who had mighty big moments along with Cliff Robinson and Jacque Vaughn as the bench was huge in the wins. “I was just out there zoning and didn’t know when to shoot the ball, not playing the best I could. So Coach brought me to the side, brought me to his room and I watched tape with him. I’m re-focused and am going to play how I play.
“I don’t need no personal attention – I got a girlfriend. But it was cool he showed me what I was doing wrong, trying to help me instead of benching me and not playing me,” McInnis added. “I respect he did that. It shows what type of coach he is. And (team president) Rod Thorn pulled me to the side and talked to me. It was big that they showed me what I needed to do.”
And it was as if the message got through to the whole team. Aggression returned. So did defense. And for two games, so did winning.
fred.kerber@nypost.com
