Watching last night’s game, a few things became painfully obvious. This team needs to play better defense and limit the wide open shots. Richard Hamilton had a field day yesterday because the Nets kept giving him wide open looks to the basket. That, however, is only one part of the problem. More importantly, the Nets need to start rebounding more.

Now, this hasn’t changed all that much since last week, but looking at the numbers, you wouldn’t think the Nets were that that bad on the boards. However, after watching last night’s game and seeing how many second chance buckets the Pistons were getting, I think it’s time they start doing something different on defense.

However, with the personnel they have, can they really do anything different on defense? I really don’t think so. There’s your answer ladies and gentlemen. It’s a conundrum to say the very least. At this point, I believe the Nets need a real center or need to give Sean Williams needs to consistently get 30 minutes a game. Only a few times this season have we seen what Williams is capable of, but when he gets those long arms out there, he can be a force both blocking shots and getting rebounds. To me, that’s exactly what the Nets need more of right now.

The team is slowly starting to get more scoring from some other players on the bench, but I think players like Malik Allen and Josh Boone can contribute more on the boards and help this team get into a groove on offense. Sure Richard Jefferson is averaging 25 points a game and Jason Kidd is hustling on the court, but the team needs more than that. Vince Carter has been picking his shots much more effectively as late too, but this team needs more than just three solid players on the court at a time in order to be successful.

What I think could help the Nets ease the burden on the boards is if Jason Collins woke up from his current funk. Some may think that this funk has lasted the past two and a half seasons, considering how much his stats have dropped since then [look at his RPG AND PPG], but this year, he’s taken it to an all-time low. Averaging 2.2 boards a game and less than two points a game, Collins isn’t doing his part on the court. Playing nearly 20 minutes a game, he needs to start picking up his play.

Guys like Kidd and Jefferson can’t keep this kind of play up all season.