We've seen the 3 Good Stats from the New Jersey Nets' 91-90 loss to the Orlando Magic on Saturday night in Newark. Avery Johnson saw his team put together one of its best efforts of the season but there were still negatives beyond the final score.
1. 38-14 Bench Scoring
This is one problem that the Nets have had from opening night and will need to find someone to help fix it or they will have no hope of playing consistently well. As much as the offense starts with Brook Lopez and Devin Harris, the second unit needs to do their part.
Terrence Williams' injury has left the cupboard bare this week with Jordan Farmar unable to pick up the slack the way he did in the preseason.
2. 13-2 Offensive Rebounds
New Jersey lost the battle for the glass by 12, but as you can see all but one of those boards were on the offensive glass. Lopez had a better game shooting the ball, but he cannot go an entire game without one single offensive rebound.
The Nets are not nearly good enough yet to be able to afford settling for just one-and-done possessions.
3. 26-15 Free Throws
Two Nets players made it to the free throw line against the Magic. That's right, two.
In 48 minutes of basketball, only Lopez and Harris went to the basket aggressively enough to earn a trip to the charity stripe. To put this in perspective, the Magic had seven players shoot free throws, including four from the bench.