Nets are still much more likely to turn it around than the Knicks

The Brooklyn Nets were dealt another harsh blow to their already trying season yesterday. Former Celtic and future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce will miss 2-4 weeks for the team with a broken bone in his right hand.

No team in the NBA has been ravaged as much by injuries as the Nets this season as was discussed in Ohm Youngmisuk's column yesterday:

The Nets have been rocked by injuries all season. Pierce's loss is the biggest hit to a team that already was without Deron Williams (ankle), Andrei Kirilenko (back) and Jason Terry (knee).

Williams has already been ruled out for Tuesday's game against Denver and is considered doubtful for Thursday's game against the Knicks.

Kirilenko and Terry remain out for the week. Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez, who returned Friday from an ankle injury, also did not practice with the team Monday as both big men were given a rest day.

This season, the Nets (5-12) have lost a total of 37 games due to injury to six players. Kidd has had to use seven different starting lineups as Joe Johnson has been the only starter to start every game this season.

On the bright side the Nets not playing at full strength is a big reason why they are still much more likely to turn around their season than their Atlantic Division rival the New York Knicks. This is a sentiment shared by ESPN's Tim Legler who last night on ESPN echoed his statements from a week ago.

The Knicks seem to be really missing Jeremy Lin in particular who is having an excellent offensive season with the Houston Rockets but will miss the next two weeks with a knee sprain.

Another problem is Amar'e Stoudemire continues to prove that his was one of the worst max contract deals in the history of the league, much worse even than the undeserved money given to the Bulls Carlos Boozer.

Stoudemire is averaging less than five points a game in just twelve active games this season.

Really, the lone bright spot for the Knicks has been Tim Hardaway Jr., who is shooting over 53 percent from the floor for his last 10 games and 40 percent from deep in limited minutes.

Hardaway was taken number 24 in last year's draft in what seems to be the first good decision by New York's front offfice in as long as I can remember.

Coincidentally, the Knicks try to avoid a ten game losing streak by going up against the Nets in Brooklyn on Thursday.

Follow Clint on Twitter @coolhandc