EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Point guard Jason Kidd hopes his comments have a positive effect on his teammates Wednesday night as the New Jersey Nets host the Utah Jazz.
The Nets are coming off Saturday's ugly 110-63 loss at Memphis. They suffered their third-worst loss in the NBA, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter, committing 30 turnovers and shooting just 34 percent (25-of-73).
After the game, coach Byron Scott kept the locker room closed for 35 minutes and Kidd was overheard yelling profanities at his teammates during the meeting.
"I thought this was a good time to address the team," Kidd said. "Sure I was disappointed, but my speech was short and sweet."
"I like when J (Kidd) speaks up like that," Scott added. "He's one of the best players in the league. He's been around a long time. He's seen pretty much everything in this league, so when he speaks out you have to listen."
The loss came at a time when New Jersey was starting awake from its slow start. The Nets had won four in a row to get to .500 but bottomed out Saturday without several key players.
New Jersey played without starting center Jason Collins, who suffered a sprained left ankle in Friday's win over Orlando. Richard Jefferson also battled through a back injury and Lucious Harris left the game with a sprained right ankle.
Utah has split the first two games of a season-high six-game road trip. The Jazz opened the trip with a win at Philadelphia but fell short in a 91-87 loss at Washington at Tuesday.
Andrei Kirilenko opened the trip by scoring a season-high 30 points and paced the Jazz with 17 on Tuesday. Kirilenko has led the Jazz in scoring eight times this season.
One of those games was Utah's 91-84 home win over the Nets on December 1. Kirilenko scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds as Utah held a 51-25 edge on the glass.
Utah has won four in a row over the the Nets, 16 of the last 17 and eight straight trips to New Jersey.
