March 29, 2024

VIDEO: Brooklyn Nets introduce Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry

Andrew Rosario, Chief Correspondent, What's The 411 SPORTS' takes us inside a press conference held at the Barclays Center introducing the newest members of the Brooklyn Nets team.

Gary Sussman, Vice President, Public Relations, opened the press conference with the introduction of Nets General Manager Billy King who introduced Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry. It is the expectation that these new members of the Brooklyn Nets will make the team a formidable force in the NBA's Eastern Conference and a championship contender.

Prokhorov Wants A Ring

Brooklyn Nets Principal Owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, flew in from Moscow especially for this occasion. Prokhorov didn't mince any words, he expects the Brooklyn Nets to be a championship contender. He noted that Garnett, Pierce, and Terry each have at least one ring, while at the present moment, he has none.

Celtics’ Crowder's Big Night Dooms Nets; Shane Larkin Stumbles in Starting Role in Jarrett Jack’s Absence

As the temperature drops in Brooklyn so has the climate surrounding the Brooklyn Nets. On Saturday in a win against the Boston Celtics, 100-97, the Nets lost their starting point guard Jarrett Jack for the remainder of the season, to a torn ACL which he suffered late in the third quarter. On a freezing Monday night in Brooklyn, the Boston Celtics took advantage of Jack’s absence and just added to what has become a miserable season for the Barclays Center’s only professional basketball club.

The Celtics' Jae Crowder and all of his dreads scored a team-high 25 points and six rebounds, leading the C’s to a 103-94 victory over the Nets, winning the other half of the home-and-home series. Crowder started his big night as early as the first quarter, scoring 14 points which helped facilitate the Celtics (19-15) in creating distance, ending the first 12 mins of the game with a 37-22 lead. Despite his strong start, the play’s Crowder made towards the end of the game hurt the Nets (10-24) the most and proved to be the deciding factor in the games result.

When the Nets made their attempts to threaten the Celtics dominance in this game, as well as their chance at winning, Crowder answered the bell. Joe Johnson, who did a little bit of everything scoring 21 points with six rebounds and four assists, drained a big eight-foot jump shot with three mins left in the 4th which cut the Celtics lead to five, 90-85. In response, Crowder sinks a long-range bomb, increasing the C’s lead to eight, 93-85 with a little under three mins left in the final quarter.

“He’s hit big shots for us all year,” Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens said reflecting on Crowder. “He’s not afraid of the moment and he stepped up.”

A minute later, the Nets would find themselves needing a stop, trailing by six, 95-89 and there was Crowder again, making the Nets pay-converting a driving layup and an and-1 to put the C’s up for good 98-89. And for the exclamation point, the Celtics next two points highlighted Marcus Smart, who drove to the rim with a minute left in the 4th and added a beautiful-acrobatic-reverse layup, avoiding Brook Lopez, which put the C’s up by nine, 100-91.

Late game execution continues to be a problem for the Nets but there is no doubt that Lionel Hollins and co. did not get off to the start that they would have hoped to. In the 1st quarter alone, the Nets committed eight turnovers which led to 10 Celtics points.

“We turned the ball over a lot, and that got them out on the open court kind of playing the game at their pace and so, obviously, it’s tough to put yourself in that position and come back from it,” Brook Lopez said post-game, scoring 19 points to the Nets cause.

Fortunately for the Celtics, their strong start was enough to propel them to the win, as their first quarter alone was more points than the Nets could ever rival throughout their entire game. To their credit, the Nets did outscore the C’s in every quarter following the 1st, but the damage was done.

“We just couldn’t make enough plays to get all the way back,” a disappointed Hollins said post-game. Hollins also does not want to associate the Nets lack of ball-control to the loss of Jack, stating that “there is always a rationalization for anything bad that happens” and simply, “we have to keep working and get better.”

In Jack’s place, Shane Larkin assumed the starting role and didn’t have the most dazzling performance like his counterpart, Isaiah Thomas, who added 19 points and seven assists, the second leading scorer on the C’s.

Larkin struggled to create for himself and for his teammates, ending his night with four points, two assists while criticizing his lack of aggressiveness to his low production.

“I’ve just got to go out there and play my game and stop thinking so much and just play,” Larkin said post-game. “I’ve shown I can do it. I’ve had great games this year, I’ve had not so good games this year. I’ve just got to stay being aggressive and just be consistent for my team and it’ll be better for sure.”

Larkin’s comments could be the theme of the Nets profile as a team this year. One of the few bright spots on the Nets continues to be the play of Thaddeus Young who chipped in a double-double, 23 and 15 rebounds to lead all Nets scorers. Jack's injury will force the Nets to take turns being the playmaker, especially in the backcourt, which could result in Johnson handling the ball a little more and tonight was a perfect example of that.

The Nets will host the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.

VIDEO: Brooklyn Nets rookie, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, a defensive force against the Celtics; Purchased a home for his mother

 

Nets win erases embarrassing loss to Celtics in Beantown on Friday

On Sunday, the Brooklyn Nets redeemed themselves with a 111-101 victory over the Boston Celtics for a split of a home-and-home series.

''I think we took what happened the other night personal,'' Nets guard Jarrett Jack said. ''Not necessarily per se toward that particular team, I think we took our performance personal.''

The Nets were coming off a 111-116 road loss to the Charlotte Hornets and an embarrassing 120-95 drubbing at the hands of the Boston Celtics in Boston.

Brook Lopez scored early and often ending with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Jack scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. Joe Johnson added 17 points for the Nets.

''We got embarrassed in Boston, no doubt about that,'' Johnson said, ''and we wanted to come home and protect our house.''

Other double digit scorers for the Nets were reserve Andrea Bargnani with 12 points and Thaddeus Young with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

For the Celtics, guards Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 27 points. Bradley was 7-for-14 from 3-point range and had 4 rebounds (3 of the 4 were defensive rebounds), one assist and two steals.

It wasn’t a walk in the park for the Nets, as the Celtics outscored the Nets 36-27 in the third quarter. Although the Celtics battled to take over, they never led. A pivotal point in the game came when late in the fourth, with Boston trailing by eight and breathing down the necks of the Nets, Jae Crowder raised up for a 3-pointer in the corner, drained the shot, but came into contact with Nets forward Thaddeus Young. Unfortunately for the Celtics, the official called an offensive foul on Crowder for kicking his legs out at Young. From that point on, the pendulum was on the side of the Nets, allowing Brooklyn to pull away and hoist up a W.

''I kind of felt like last game was an aberration and they proved me right tonight,'' Nets coach Lionel Hollins said.

The Nets have now won two consecutive home games. Next up, the Nets are on the road to play Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.

Good Luck!

The next Brooklyn Nets home game is Sunday, November 29.

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