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Mutombo's Wrist Injury Adds to Nets' ConcernsLiz Robbins of the New York Times reports that The Nets are in a bit of a tail spin. They have lost the first two games of their four-game west coast trip and now Dikembe Mutombo has injured the wrist of his shooting hand. The injury was suffered in the third quarter of the Nets' 126-118 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. X-rays were negative, but he has been listed as questionable for Saturday’s game against the Trail Blazers. On Friday Nets' president, Rod Thorn, said: "It's real sore today. As to whether he can play tomorrow, we'll just have to see." Mutombo injured the wrist with six minutes to play in the third quarter when, driving to the basket, the Clippers' Eric Piatkowski slapped him and the ball. On the following defensive sequence, Mutombo motioned for Scott to take him out. He went to the locker room and had the wrist taped. Even though Mutombo played 11 minutes in the fourth quarter and all of the overtime period with the injury, he was in obvious pain afterward. With the loss, the Nets dropped to 10-6 and are losing any positive momentum they have built up this early in the season. "It's the same situation we had last year with games on the West Coast and we lost four in a row," Coach Byron Scott said. "We're headed that way now." New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets No Kidding, Miller comes up bigIn an almost-perfect game Thursday night Clippers guard Andre Miller felt his game-tying three pointer with 4.9 seconds left against the New Jersey Nets was off. Fortunately for him and his teammates he was wrong. Miller finished the game with 37 points and 16 assists, totals which equalled his career high and set his season high respectively, as the Clippers were able to pip the Nets 126-118 in overtime. His strong game overcame another All-NBA statline from the dangerous Jason Kidd, who finished with 35 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. "When it left my hand, I thought it was going to go past the rim,'' Miller said of his big 3-pointer. "Man, he was amazing, hitting shot after shot,'' added teammate Elton Brand. "We played well, we finished off the game the way we needed to,'' added Miller. "Tonight was a night we were able to get to the basket and make plays. I was able to get guys involved in key situations and they were able to knock down shots." Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Mutombo Wants More TimeLiz Robbins of the New York Times reports that Dikembe Mutombo doesn’t like his stat line this season. He sees that his minutes and his production are way down from his career averages and he’s worried. "I realized I'm not where I should be," he said. He’s averaging 24.9 minutes with the Nets this season compared to a career average of 36.3 minutes. "I don't know if I'm happy with it," he said. "Or if I'm just trying to accept it. It's becoming a situation where I'm trying to see my way through — can I keep dealing with it or should I see it changing?" Mutombo asked coach Byron Scott for more minutes on Monday. Scott told him the same thing he’s been saying all season. He wants to limit Mutombo’s minutes during the season and keep him fresh for the playoffs. The reason why his minutes are so low is because he still doesn’t know the offense. "I told him exactly what I told him months ago, that it's going to be between 25 and 30," Scott said. "I told him that as the season goes along and he gets a little more familiarized with what he's doing on the offensive end, then his minutes go up. "But he has to know what we're doing out there every single time. I can't have some of the breakdowns that we have sometimes on the offensive end. So once he gets it, the minutes will go up to 29, 30, 31 minutes. I've got to do what's best for the team." Questioning Mutombo’s offense is one thing, but Scott also questions his rebounding ability. "I still think he could get more rebounds," Scott said. "Although he'll probably say it's because he hasn't played enough." The Nets' president, Rod Thorn, supports Scott's allocation of minutes and credits Mutombo's aggressive tone-setting defense in the past three games. (He had three blocks in the last game, a victory, against Minnesota.) "If he plays like that, he'll probably get more playing time," Thorn said. New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Nets Nov 2002 Archive
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