Normally, I don’t cover NBA stories that don’t deal with the Mavericks, but the New Jersey Nets’ dismal start to the 2009-2010 season intrigues me. Currently, the Nets are 0-13. The Nets are so bad, they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on opening night and neither team has won since.
Looking at the Nets upcoming schedule, it’s hard to identify where their first win will come. Over the course of the next week, the Nets play at Denver, at Portland, at Sacramento and at the Lakers. They stand no chance against the Nuggets, Portland or LA. The Kings finished with the worst record in the NBA last season, but are much improved this season. I don’t think the Nets will win in Sacramento.
That puts the Nets at 0-17, tying the NBA record for start of season futility, accomplished by the 1988-1989 Miami Heat and the 1999-2000 Los Angeles Clippers.
On December 2, 2009, the Mavericks visit New Jersey and could make history, handing the Nets their 18 straight loss.
After that, the Nets get a little bit of relief with consecutive games against the Bobcats and Knicks, although the Nets have lost to both teams already this season.
If the Nets fail to win either of those games, they could potentially enter their December 23 game at home against the T’Wolves with 0-28 record. On the other side of equation are the T’Wolves who, as mentioned earlier, have not won since the first game of the season, against the Nets. They could be 1-28 entering that game. If so, I say put the thing on national television so we can all feel better about failed sports teams of the past, because it can’t get any worse than that.