EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Nobody can start the Nets on a winning streak quite
like coach Lawrence Frank.
In the last 30 years, New Jersey has been on a 10-game winning streak or
better all of five times. The last three all came under Frank, and two of those
were this season ¡ª something only the Nets have done.
Now New Jersey is on a 12-game roll, two victories away from the franchise
record set, perhaps not coincidentally, when Frank took over for the fired Byron
Scott two season ago. And to think Frank was the subject of job-security
whispers as the Nets struggled early in the season.
"In this league," Frank said Monday, "things can go from good to bad, or bad
to good, very quickly."
Flash back to December, a day after New Jersey fell to 9-12 with a
particularly galling home loss to Charlotte, and Frank was the picture of calm
as he explained the peaks and valleys that populate every NBA season.
Since then, there have been mainly peaks for the Nets, who won 10 games in a
row after that loss, and are 35-16 since mid-December.
"When things are going well, the focus is that much greater because you don't
want to lose," Frank said Monday, a day after New Jersey beat Miami 90-78.
"You're able to develop confidence and trust in each other, and your attention
to detail is greater. Then things have an opportunity to snowball."
NBA coaches can sometimes overshadow the teams they direct, but just as often
they can be shortchanged when the kudos are handed out, particularly if they
possess the type of talent Frank has in Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard
Jefferson.
In just his second full season, Frank has shown a talent for deploying his
bench wisely, particularly in recognizing the value of 39-year-old Clifford
Robinson, who has been the team's most dependable reserve along with guard
Jacque Vaughn. Frank also has been patient with second-year center Nenad Krstic,
and the 7-footer has had a breakout season.
That said, if there has been a single key to the Nets' recent surge it has
been the play of Carter, who has averaged 26 points in the 12 games. He came to
New Jersey two months into last season and carried the Nets when Jefferson went
down with a wrist injury, yet still has critics who blame him for being too soft
or too selfish.