--The Nets were without two key components of their bench Sunday in Minnesota against the Timberwolves. Jarvis Hayes left the team to be with his wife who gave birth to the couple's first child Sunday morning and Bobby Simmons sat out with an upper back contusion.
Hayes had accompanied the team to Minneapolis Saturday but received a call when the Nets arrived, summoning him to Georgia where wife Illia gave birth to Jarvis James Hayes II, 6 lb, 12 oz. Simmons tightened up during the Lakers game Friday.
"During the game, he couldn't even sit down. And it's a muscular thing. He has a knot in the middle of his back," explained coach Lawrence Frank. "All I know he has a hard time walking."
--The Nets are pushing Devin Harris for the 2008-09 Most Improved Player Award. And their cause has merit.
Entering Sunday's game at Minnesota, Harris, who made his first All-Star Game this season, was averaging career highs in points (22.4), rebounds (3.3), assists (7.1), steals (1.7) and minutes (36.6). His 22.4 scoring average made him the NBA's highest scoring point guard. Additionally, the 22.4 points, up from 14.8 last season, gave him the highest points per game increase, 7.6, this season of any player with a minimum of 50 games.
The second highest points increase is 6.2 by John Salmons of Chicago.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's very disappointing, obviously, knowing what's at stake, that we couldn't put forth a better defensive effort than we did." -- Coach Lawrence Frank, after his team, battling for the eighth playoff spot in the East, lost to the lowly T-Wolves Sunday.
