FanHouse Nets

ORLANDO -- Magic center Dwight Howard arrived at Amway Arena for Friday night's game against the New Jersey Nets to find a handwritten note in his locker.

It was signed by the same guy who had been prodding him the past couple days, criticizing him for his lack of energy, his rebounding drop off and his sudden inability to block shots.

Howard read the note twice, then left it where he could see it again at halftime. He also saw it after the game, and he smiled.

"There is no one better or smarter in the NBA. All you need to do is play with great energy and enthusiasm,'' the note said. It was signed "Stan,'' as in Coach Van Gundy.

ORLANDO -- It doesn't matter how much you poke, prod, lead, bait or beg New Jersey guard Rafer Alston during a conversation, he just sticks to the high road.

Alston has every reason to be upset -- or at least frustrated -- by the way he was treated a few months ago, yet he just shrugs and smiles, still thankful to be living his dream in the NBA.

Alston rescued the Orlando Magic when he came from Houston at midseason, giving them a starting veteran point guard who guided them all the way to the NBA Finals. After Jameer Nelson was lost for the season with a shoulder injury in late January, the Magic were desperate, sinking without a ball handler, and Alston delivered big time.

Then, two weeks after the Finals, they threw him overboard. Or even worse, they sent him packing to New Jersey, the worst team in the league.

It's rare that we have back-to-back Stinkface. As a matter of fact, yesterday's Stinkface and today's are the first time we've gone back-to-back.

That's fine by us. NBA teams go back-to-back an average of 20 times a season. Far be it from us to complain about it.

Also, we have an excellent reason for our quick turnaround: Detroit's Will Bynum.

Video after the (two-footed) jump.

Rookies. What do they know?

Not much except that, with the per diem paid over the table in NBA instead of under it in college, they need to get the donuts before practice, carry their teammates' bags and stay out of the way of the veterans.

Oh, about that last part? The Nets' Terrence Williams, rookie out of Louisville, may need to work on it a bit.

Video after the jump.

Monday, the Nets faced practice without Devin Harris (groin), Courtney Lee (groin), Chris Douglas-Roberts (swine flu), Jarvis Hayes (hamstring), Tony Battie (knee), and Yi Jianlian (knee).

That's six guys, three of whom are considered vital components of the young and struggling team, leaving the squad eight players available for practice. And practice they did. Fortunately, one of Yi Jianlian's old nemeses was available to fill in and help out.

That's right. The Chairman was replaced by The Chair.

H1N1 has hit the NBA. The Nets announced Saturday afternoon that starting two-guard Chris Douglas-Roberts has come down with the dangerous virus, putting the player out of action and the rest of the team at risk.

Though the Nets have stunk, Douglas-Roberts has had a solid start to the season, a follow-up on a disappointing rookie campaign in which the University of Memphis product got little opportunity for New Jersey. CD-R missed Friday's game at Philadelphia with flu-like symptoms ... a rather prophetic diagnosis.

The Nets are limited to eight or nine players due to injury (Courtney Lee tweaked his groin Friday), so the team can't exactly afford to lose any others to illness. There have been no reports of the virus spreading in Nets locker room, and Nets PR says every precaution has been taken.

Later in the evening, Douglas-Roberts tweeted that he was in good spirits as the Nets hosted the Celtics: Let's go Netttsss!!! Cheering from the bed. I'm the flyest person who will ever have Swine Flu.

PHILADELPHIA -- They just made a stop in Philadelphia, so why not be the first to throw it out. Can the New Jersey Nets make a run at the 1972-73 76ers' all-time futility mark of 9-73?

The Nets are the NBA's only winless team at 0-6 after Friday night's 97-94 loss to the 76ers and every day another player seems to get hurt. Call them the New Jersey Gnats the way they're dropping like flies.

OK, so it's way too early to think these Nets are going to make history for basketball badness. And, besides, Nets guard Rafer Alston gets upset when somebody calls his team the NBA's worse.

"That does (hurt) because you know you have a lot of pride,'' Alston said. "It hurts to be considered the worst ... when you know you have a lot of basketball and life in your game and there's a lot of pride in each man.''

In his NBA.com video recap of last Friday's Magic-Nets game, NBA TV analyst Rick Kamla made the unfortunate mistake of referring to New Jersey forward Yi Jianlian as a "Chinaman." After FanHouse contacted Turner Sports about the remark, the video was pulled from NBA.com. It ran on NBA TV Friday and has been available on NBA.com since Friday night.

Turner Sports spokesman Jeff Pomeroy relayed to FanHouse an apology to anyone offended by the remark from Kamla and the network, which manages NBA TV and NBA.com. Pomeroy said Kamla was not aware of the connotations of the word, and meant nothing malicious or offensive by it.

Vince Carter was about to deliver one of those "don't-you-wish-I-was-still-here" games Friday night in New Jersey, when he fell to the floor clutching his left ankle midway in the second quarter.

Carter, traded by the Nets to the Orlando Magic this summer, had 16 points in his first 15 minutes before he left with a sprained ankle. X-rays were negative and he told reporters that "hopefully,'' he could play Sunday in Toronto.

His mother, who was there, described it to the Orlando Sentinel as a "mild sprain.'' It happened on a drive to the basket when he stepped awkwardly on the foot of New Jersey guard Devin Harris.