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--G Keyon Dooling and coach Lawrence Frank both are downplaying the veteran guard's sore right hip, which has been diagnosed having a touch of arthritis. Dooling, who missed two games in late December with the hip, sat out Sunday's loss to the Hornets and admitted he has been troubled for the past two weeks. Still, he is hopeful of playing Tuesday at Milwaukee. "I'm feeling a little sore still but I feel better than I was feeling," Dooling said. "The last two weeks it's been bothering me a little bit but I've been able to play through it... It's just pretty much arthritis in the hip area."
--G Vince Carter said this week that he was not overly worried about a shooting slump that saw him go .349 (22-of-63) over four games.
"I'm not concerned. I come in here, get my shots up and shoot my way back into it," Carter said of his shooting, noting as long as he gets other stats, like assists and rebounds, "I'm okay with that. Everybody thinks, 'Score, score, score' but if you're not having a good night you can put your stamp on the game doing something else. So I go out and try to get us extra possessions by rebounding, making plays if I'm not hitting shots I think teams still have to respect my ability to possibly hit a shot at some point in time. If not, I'm just going to move the ball."
Carter bounced back with his shot, going 9-of-17 against the Hornets.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We let one slip away from us." -- G Vince Carter, on the Nets' 99-96 loss to the Hornets Sunday which came after they turned a 13-point third quarter deficit into a four-point lead with 2:00 left but couldn't hang on.
