Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Jason Kidd, Avery Johnson, WIllis Reed and others played in the NBA and went on to coach the Nets.
The Nets are on their 25th head coach, Kenny Atkinson. To no surprise, 11 of those coaches were former players of different levels. Here is who they are and what they did as players and coaches.
Max Zaslofsky was the NBA scoring champ in 1948 and an All-Star in 1952. Zaslofsky was named to the All-NBA first team in 1947–48, 1948–49 and 1949–50. He coached for two seasons in the ABA with the New Jersey Americans/New York Nets and went 53-103 before resigning in March 1969.
Huh?
Kyrie Irving hasn’t played a game for the Brooklyn Nets since Nov. 14, a stretch that spans six games and will include a seventh — a tilt at TD Garden on Wednesday against the Boston Celtics, which just happens to be Irving’s former team.
It’s due to a shoulder injury, but that’s not what some people want to believe.
Remember: Irving’s tenure with the Celts didn’t exactly go so well, and now that he’s been replaced by Kemba Walker, Boston is back to contending.
Which brings us to some confusing signs posted outside of TD Garden on Wednesday, accusing Irving of being a “coward”:
These fliers are posted on poles across the street from TD Garden. Kyrie Irving will not play tonight in Boston. pic.twitter.com/csk2mC3cuI
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) November 27, 2019
Currently out the front of TD Garden: pic.twitter.com/dVKuCOu0rT
— Hayley Byrnes (@HayleyByrnes) November 27, 2019
I’m not sure I get it. Either you’re accusing him of being a “coward” for leaving town (which turned out to be a good thing for the Celtics), or you’re accusing him — like ex-Celtic Kendrick Perkins did — of missing a stretch of games on purpose in order to avoid playing in Boston:
Kyrie looked at the schedule before the season started and planned this whole injury thing because he didn’t want to go back to Boston this upcoming week!!! He didn’t want that smoke in the Bean Town. Smh
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) November 23, 2019
C’mon. He’s injured. End of story.
For what it’s worth, the Nets will face the Celtics in Boston again in March.
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Marcus Smart says the Celtics didn’t know what Kyrie Irving was going through last season.
Kyrie Irving’s Brooklyn Nets will visit the TD Garden in Boston for the first time this season on Wednesday night, but the former Celtics star will not be in the lineup, as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.
The Celtics lost both Irving and Al Horford to free agency in the offseason and added All-Star Kemba Walker, but the new-look Celtics are off to a fantastic start with a 12-4 record. According to Celtics players, there’s a completely different vibe in the locker room this season, and with reports about Irving’s “mood swings” in Brooklyn circulating early in the year, it’s been easy for some Celtics fans to blame Irving for the team’s lost season a year ago.
Marcus Smart broke down what went wrong with the 2018-19 Celtics in an interview with The Athletic, and said the team learned valuable lessons from the disappointing year. Smart says he and his teammates openly talk about their issues with one another, something that didn’t always happen last season. Smart also defended Irving, who Smart says shouldered all of the pressure heaped on the team by the media, all while dealing with the loss of his grandfather early in the season. Smart says the Celtics didn’t know how Irving would react to any given situation, but reasoned that his moodiness was a natural “defense mechanism.”
Via The Athletic:
[Irving’s] mood grew dark enough at times behind the scenes to impact several layers of the organization. He would go through stretches, sources said, where he just shut off. One assistant coach said he once rode about 30 or 40 flights on an elevator with Irving — and the guard did not say a single word. By February, the organization had realized how much Irving’s mindset could impact the rest of the team.
“It’s not that we didn’t know how to act (around him),” Smart said. “It’s that we didn’t know how he was going to act. We didn’t know what his moods were and we didn’t know what Kyrie was going through. And that made it tough on us because if somebody’s going through something in their life and you don’t really know what it is, it’s kind of hard to see what’s wrong with him, it’s kind of hard to (provide) some help. It’s not against Kyrie, it’s just a defense mechanism as a human being you have. And he wasn’t here long enough to really be able to open up the way he probably wanted to, and it probably got to him a little bit.”
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Previewing Wednesday’s Brooklyn Nets at Boston Celtics sports betting odds and lines, with NBA betting picks, tips and best bets.
The Brooklyn Nets (9-8) face the Boston Celtics (12-4) Wednesday night with tip-off coming just after 7 pm ET at TD Garden. We analyze the Nets-Celtics odds and lines, with NBA betting advice and tips around the matchup.
Place a legal sports bet on this NBA action or other games at BetMGM.
Nets
Celtics
NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 11 a.m. ET.
Celtics 119, Nets 110
The Nets have woken up from what feels like a season-long slumber to win four straight games. Boston has struggled a bit but now has PG Kemba Walker back in the lineup. Walker drives the offense and allows players to assume their normal roles. That should be enough as Irving is still out with a shoulder issue for the Nets.
Our pick is with the CELTICS (-333), albeit at a chalky price.
New to sports betting? A $10 wager on Boston returns a profit of only $3 with an outright win.
Boston is 9-5-2 against the spread overall and 3-2-1 at home while covering by an average of 2.2 points per game. Those numbers do not sound great but Brooklyn is just 4-5 ATS on the road. Also, they fall below the cover line by 1.7 points per game.
Back BOSTON (-8.5, +105). The Nets could keep this close for most of the way but the Celtics will be able to pull away late. This bet returns a $10.50 profit on a $10 wager.
The projected total is set at 217.5. The Nets are still the key here. They have improved defensively (particularly during this winning streak) but still allow over 113 points per game. Boston average 110.2 PPG along with Brooklyn’s 112.7 PPG. The projection seems too low and the OVER (+105) is the play.
Want some action on this game? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips and advice, visit SportsbookWire.com.
Follow @ChrisWasselDFS and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
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The fact Brooklyn’s two best players throughout this stretch without Kyrie Irving have been Nets for years doesn’t surprise Keny Atkinson.
Jarrett Allen and Spencer Dinwiddie have been two of Brooklyn’s best players throughout 2019-20, and they’ve both taken major steps forward in the time Kyrie Irving has been sidelined due to a right shoulder impingement.
That’s not to say Irving’s presence on the floor doesn’t allow them to flourish — they both had their share of strong showings alongside Irving. Their play is a sign of their maturation as players, especially the more mild-mannered Allen.
With those two being the ones leading the charge over the last five games, the rest of the roster has had an easier time rallying around the pair because they’re part of the core that’s called Brooklyn home for some time. Kenny Atkinson stressed the same point to reporters following the 108-106 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.
It’s just how connected these guys are and it does help that it’s guys that have been here for a long time. I think that continuity helps. [Garrett Temple] is kinda the new guy in that group. [Taurean Prince], too. But we got guys that have been here that understand what we’re doing, that helps a lot.
Atkinson stressed Brooklyn’s connectedness a second time in his postgame press conference. He explained it’s why he felt confident about the Nets’ chances going into halftime.
You feel like they were locked into this game. They were ready to go. I thought, physically, in the first half, we did not look good, but I felt like we got stronger as the game went on. But I think it’s their mental approach. They’re a connected group right now. They’re feeling good about themselves. It carried over [and] got us a win tonight.
Kenny Atkinson's @brooklynnets have won four in a row, and two in the last 28 hours or so. #NETSonYES #WeGoHard pic.twitter.com/DotBteUkJM
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) November 26, 2019
With their improved connectedness comes improved defense, which plays in Brooklyn’s favor with their two best scorers (Irving and Caris LeVert) out. Now the Nets just need to find a way to maintain the chemistry they’re developing when their injured teammates return.
LeBron James got a kick out of Richard Jefferson’s jokes that irked the New York Knicks from Sunday night.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are sitting atop the NBA standings with a 14-2 record but no matter where he is in the league, LeBron is always paying attention to the league at large and the stories that come with it as an admitted hoops junkie. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s taken to the latest bizarre story involving the New York Knicks and his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Richard Jefferson.
For those who are unaware about the story, let’s give you a quick recap. Jefferson, who is now an analyst for Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network, joked that things had gotten so bad for the New York Knicks that he’d turned them down when they offered him a contract in his final year.
"Knicks? No, I'll retire. That's why I retired, they were the one team that offered me a job."
Richard Jefferson said he knew his time in the league was up when the Knicks were the only team that wanted him. pic.twitter.com/OnH2sYTOUE
— ESPN (@espn) November 25, 2019
The Knicks then oddly made the social media highlight an even bigger story by issuing a clarification via the team’s official public relations twitter account.
For clarification purposes, it is not true that the New York Knicks offered Richard Jefferson a contract in either the summer of 2018 or 2019.
— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) November 25, 2019
Jefferson then of course leaned into the joke, being the expert troll that he can be, which got the attention of his former teammate LeBron.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣!!! Man I love you @Rjeff24
— LeBron James (@KingJames) November 25, 2019
Previewing Monday’s Brooklyn Nets at Cleveland Cavaliers sports betting odds and lines, with NBA betting picks, tips and best bets.
The Brooklyn Nets (8-8) and Cleveland Cavaliers (5-11) lock horns at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Monday at 7 p.m. ET. We analyze the Nets-Cavaliers odds and lines, with NBA betting advice and tips around the matchup.
Place a legal sports bet on this NBA action or other games at BetMGM.
Nets: PG Kyrie Irving (shoulder) will be sidelined until early December, and SG Caris LeVert (thumb) is out at least through the holidays.
Cavaliers: PF Kevin Love (back) is a question mark for Monday’s battle.
NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 7:35 a.m. ET.
Cavaliers 106, Nets 101
The CAVALIERS (-115) aren’t a huge risk as long as Love is on the floor. He has been in and out of the lineup due to a back ailment. The good news for the Cavs is the Nets (-106) won’t have the services of their old friend Irving.
New to sports betting? Every $1 wagered on a Cleveland win profits $0.87 if the Cavs prevail. (Ex: Bet $10 to win $8.70, $20 to win $17.40, $5.35 to win $10).
Take the CAVALIERS (-1.5, –106) on their home floor. Even without Love, they have a more than decent chance of winning, although his inclusion gives them much better odds to win.
The Nets (+1.5, -115) are just too shorthanded right now, and they’re a very subpar basketball team with their two big offseason signings each in street clothes.
The UNDER 217.5 (-110) is a great play, as the trends point to the Under for both sides. In fact, this is the best wager for this entire game. The Under has cashed in four in a row for Brooklyn, and seven of the past 10 in the second end of a back-to-back situation.
The Under is 5-2 in the past seven against the Eastern Conference for Cleveland, while going 4-0 in their past four after a cover and 7-1 in their past eight following a straight-up win.
Want some action on this game? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips and advice, visit SportsbookWire.com.
Follow @JoeWilliamsVI and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
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Previewing Sunday’s Brooklyn Nets at New York Knicks sports betting odds, with NHL betting picks, tips and best bets.
The Brooklyn Nets (7-8) visit the New York Knicks (4-12) Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET. We analyze the Nets-Knicks odds and lines, with NBA betting advice and tips around the matchup.
Place a legal sports bet on this NBA action or other games at BetMGM.
Nets
Knicks
NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Nets 107, Knicks 96
The NETS (-139) have enough firepower to easily get past the rival Knicks, even without Irving. The Knicks won’t have much of a home-court advantage and they enter Sunday off of a 111-104 loss to the San Antonio Spurs Saturday at MSG. The Nets haven’t played since winning 116-97 over the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
Brooklyn is 2-5 on the road while New York is 3-5 at home. The Nets won 113-109 in the first meeting between the two this season in Brooklyn. Irving led the way with 26 points and five assists, but four other players scored in double figures for the Nets.
New to sports betting? A $10 bet on Brooklyn to win outright fetches a profit of $7.20.
Get slightly better value with the NETS (-1.5, -121) on the spread. They’ll need to win by just two or more points, as they did in late October and in all seven of their victories on the season.
Brooklyn is 7-8 overall ATS and 3-4 ATS on the road. New York is 8-8 overall but just 3-5 at MSG. Only one of the Knicks’ losses this season was by a single point.
Take the UNDER 213.5 (-106) as this game is missing the best player for either side in Irving. The Knicks are second-to-last in the league with an Over percentage of just 31.2. They’ve gone 5-11 against the projected totals and fall an average of 3.4 points shy of the number.
The Nets are 7-8 against the O/U but top the projection by 2.4 points on average. Brooklyn will pull away in the fourth quarter against the tired Knicks, but the separation will hinder the point total.
Want some action in this one? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.
Esten’s NBA betting record: 40-41
Follow @EstenMcLaren and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
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Sports Pulse: Analyzing how the NBA teams have surprised us, and which ones have let us down so far this season.
Sports Pulse: Analyzing how the NBA teams have surprised us, and which ones have let us down so far this season.
Kyrie Irving will miss his fourth straight consecutive game Friday night due to a right shoulder impingement.
The Brooklyn Nets will be without All-Star guard Kyrie Irving on Friday night against the Sacramento Kings, per the New York Post’s Brian Lewis.
Irving is out with a right shoulder impingement injury that has sidelined him the previous three games.
When Irving doesn’t play this season, the Nets are 2-1. With Irving being new to the team, there will be an adjustment period when it comes to creating new chemistry.
Irving is a different guard compared to former Nets guard D’Angelo Russell. Irving feeds on isolations; Russell thrives in making plays in the pick-and-roll.
Still, Irving has been the Nets’ leading scorer this season, averaging 28.5 points per game on 44.4% shooting from the field.
And while Irving is averaging a career-high 7.2 assists, he remains one of the top isolation scorers in the game. According to NBA.com, Irving is averaging 3.5 points in isolation on 3.5 field goal attempts. Spencer Dinwiddie is the Nets’ best scorer after Irving, but he’s not shooting a quality percentage from the field at 41.4%.
Jarrett Allen (right ankle sprain) is probable for the #Nets tomorrow, while Kyrie Irving (right shoulder impingement) has been out vs the #kings
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) November 21, 2019
At 6-8 through 14 games, the Nets have had a slow start to the season. They’re ranked 18th in field goal percentage (44.7) and 22nd in 3-point field goal percentage (34.0).
Overall, it’s going to take time for the Nets and Irving to jell, as the offense is slightly different compared to when Russell was at the helm.
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