On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech at the nation’s capital.
Friday marked the 63rd anniversary of The March on Washington, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.
With NBA players within the Disney bubble and outside of it working to draw more attention to the social injustice in the United States, the Brooklyn Nets shared some remarks from four players on the matter.
Caris LeVert touched on social injustice:
There are injustices happening that aren’t right … We still need more change to come.
Joe Harris spoke about the movement against social injustice:
It’s extremely important to continue talking, supporting what’s going on in society now.
Garrett Temple highlighted how more have joined the cause he and his teammates support:
We have so many different people on board now. Ten, 15 30 years ago, that wasn’t the case.
Kyrie Irving hammered home the importance of unity:
They can’t stop us when we are together and truly understand our power as a collective.
The refs in Game 2 missed two calls that would’ve helped the Brooklyn Nets as they tried to mount a comeback against the Toronto Raptors.
Garrett Temple appeared to be a little frustrated with the referees at the end of the Brooklyn Nets Game 2 loss. By now, Nets fans know Temple isn’t one to give refs too much heat or, in general, complain.
So, the veteran guard voicing his frustration carried some weight.
Turns out Temple was on to something.
On Thursday, the NBA released its Last Two-Minute Report for Wednesday’s slate of 2020 NBA Playoffs games. According to the report, there were two missed calls in the final two minutes of the Brooklyn-Toronto battle.
Lowry should have been called for a foul when Brooklyn had the ball and trailed 102-99 with little time left on the clock:
Lowry makes contact with Harris’ arm, causing him to lose control of the ball on the perimeter.
The other missed call came after Norman Powell scored off the Lowry-forced turnover. Fred VanVleet made contact with Temple along the perimeter before he got his shot off and should have been called for a foul:
VanVleet makes contact with Temple’s lower body that affects his ability to maintain his balance near the sideline. The contact occurs as he receives the pass and prior to his upward shooting motion.
Even after they lost control in the fourth quarter, the Brooklyn Nets had a chance to force overtime in Game 2.
The Brooklyn Nets had a chance to walk out of Wednesday with their first-round series against the reigning NBA champs tied at 1-1. Even after they let the Toronto Raptors take control in the fourth quarter, the Nets had the ball in their hands during what should’ve been the final possession of regulation.
But things got away and Brooklyn wound up losing 104-99.
After the loss, Brooklyn Nets interim head coach Jacque Vaughn broke down the final possession with reporters over Zoom:
We got the ball in the hands of our shoot. Good defense by Kyle Lowry. The ball was intended for Joe. it got to Joe.
The “good defense” by Lowry that Vaughn mentioned forced Harris and Garrett to lose control of the ball as the former tried to hand it off to the latter, leading to the turnover.
Garrett Temple on what could’ve been done differently on the key turnover: “The thing that was done differently is we complete the handoff. That’s all there is to it. I take blame. I’m sure Joe would say the same. It takes two.” #Nets#Raptors
Temple was frustrated with the way things broke down after Lowry scored. Given how the Brooklyn wing typically approaches things, Vaughn thinks there may have been something to the complaint, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
Garrett is a respectable young man. If he feels he got fouled, we’ll have to take a look at it.
The Brooklyn Nets held the lead for much of Wednesday’s Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors but couldn’t finish the job.
The Nets bounced back well on Wednesday from their Game 1 blowout loss, but Brooklyn still had a disappointing result, losing Game 2 to the Toronto Raptors 104-99.
The Nets won the first quarter, held the lead at the half and won the third quarter to maintain their advantage. Then Brooklyn went ice cold in the fourth quarter, only scoring 19 points to Toronto’s 30.
Even still, the Nets had a chance to force overtime with the ball in their hands for what should have been the final possession of regulation as the Raptors held a 102-99 lead.
Instead, the play got away from Brooklyn, Kyle Lowry (21 points, nine rebounds and two steals) got an easy bucket to expand Toronto’s lead and put the final nail in the coffin.
Jacque Vaughn said the Nets final play was intended for Joe Harris and got to Joe Harris but Kyle Lowry's defense blew the play up.
Garrett Temple was Brooklyn’s leading scorer with 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting, 5-11 from deep — with several of his misses coming throughout the Nets’ final possessions of the game.
Caris LeVert (16 points and 11 assists), Jarrett Allen (14 points and 15 rebounds) and Joe Harris (14 points and 15 rebounds) each had a double-double.
The Brooklyn Nets have secured the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference standings with two games left before the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
It’s time for the Brooklyn Nets to start prepping for the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
Up until Friday, the Nets were trying to secure a playoff berth. Once they accomplished that with a win over the Sacramento Kings, all that was left was to do was lock up the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference — which Brooklyn did with a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
That means Brooklyn’s last two games before the 2020 NBA Playoffs can only serve as tune-up games. Otherwise, they have no impact on Brooklyn’s future — unless a player suffers an injury.
So, the nets are taking precautions; at least for their game against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday.
Caris LeVert (left thigh contusion), Joe Harris (left groin contusion) and Jarrett Allen (left ankle sprain) have all been ruled out for “injury management.’
Garrett Temple will not play either so he can rest up.
Jamal Crawford remains out with a left hamstring strain. Jacque Vaughn told reporters on a Zoom call Monday that Crawford may not play in either of Brooklyn’s remaining seeding games, per Alex Schiffer of The Athletic.
Jacque Vaughn said he's not sure Jamal Crawford will play in the final two seeding games.
“They [the Rockets] gave us a few tips, and we took that to heart,” veteran guard Garrett Temple said after Brooklyn’s shocking win.
On Tuesday afternoon at the NBA “bubble,” the Brooklyn Nets (32-35) pulled off one of the biggest betting upsets in league history with a 119-116 victory (box score) over the Milwaukee Bucks (54-14).
Besides the large discrepancy in records, Brooklyn’s roster for the NBA restart has been ravaged by injuries and player defections. The Nets traveled to Florida without Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, and Wilson Chandler, and they were without Caris LeVert, Joe Harris, and Jarrett Allen on Tuesday due to injuries or rest. In short, they were missing their top eight scorers.
Making matters worse, one of their top roster replacements — Jamal Crawford — left Tuesday’s game early due to a hamstring strain.
So, how did the Nets still win, as an underdog of nearly 20 points?
Veteran guard Garrett Temple, who scored 19 points and hit five 3-pointers, credited the Houston Rockets — who defeated the Bucks on Sunday — with a bonus assist. Temple’s postgame comments:
Honestly, we stay in the same hotel as the Houston Rockets, and we talked to them by the pool yesterday. We told them we were playing Milwaukee, and asked them things that they did. We saw that they beat [the Bucks], and obviously they’re very undersized, that’s how they play. So they gave us a few tips, and we took that to heart.
Like the Rockets, Brooklyn made 21 shots from 3-point range versus the larger Bucks, giving them a clear math advantage. Temple also credited his team’s fast pace for their success, which Houston used Sunday.
Brooklyn guard Garrett Temple explains how a meetup between the Nets and #Rockets by the Grand Floridian pool produced some helpful tips for their historic upset against the Bucks: pic.twitter.com/4nLfCSdDiG
Furthermore, the smaller Nets had only seven turnovers and forced 18, similar to Houston’s nine turnovers and Milwaukee’s 22 on Sunday. That allowed both teams to overcome a double-digit rebounding deficit.
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According to The Action Network, Tuesday’s result was the biggest NBA upset by point spread in at least 25 years. (It could be more, but 1995 is the earliest year that Action has reliable NBA betting data for.)
It is worth noting that with the benefit of hindsight, the upset wasn’t quite as big as the point spread might make it seem. What oddsmakers didn’t know going in was that the Bucks, who are essentially locked in as the East’s No. 1 seed, wouldn’t take the game all that seriously.
• Closed at +1600 on the moneyline • Spread closed at +18.5 • Biggest NBA upset since 1995
Unlike Sunday’s game, which head coach Mike Budenholzer clearly wanted to win, Tuesday’s contest featured a different approach. Starting center Brook Lopez, who had 23 points and 12 rebounds versus Houston, didn’t play at all for the Bucks. All-Star forwards Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo only played 15 minutes each. No starter went more than 20 minutes, and most rested for the entire second half.
Then again, the Nets led by eight points at halftime, even with nearly all the regulars (other than Lopez) playing for the Bucks in the first half.
There’s long been an apparent rivalry between Antetokounmpo and Rockets star James Harden, and perhaps Sunday’s intense game added to it. If there’s a bubble rematch between the sides, it would have to come in the 2020 NBA Finals — and it wouldn’t be short on storylines.
Timothe Luwawu Cabarrot and Garrett Temple took the reigns for the Nets on Tuesday, leading them past the Milwaukee Bucks.
No Caris LeVert, no Joe Harris, no Jarrett Allen — never mind no Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince or Wilson Chandler.
Still, no problem for the Brooklyn Nets; even against the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks.
Heading into Tuesday’s matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo and company, Brooklyn’s go-to scoring options were Tyler Johnson and Jamal Crawford. Then the Nets lost Crawford after he gave them a quick boost in his five minutes of work.
Again, not a problem for the Nets. They managed to survive the Bucks, winning 119-116.
Brooklyn’s top scorer was, once again, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. The forward logged his second 20-point performance inside the bubble, finishing with 26 against the Bucks.
Garrett Temple finished second in scoring with 19 points, while Chris Chiozza logged the first double-double of his NBA career (10 points and 10 assists).
During the National Anthem on Friday, the Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic (aside from Jonathan Isaac) took a knee together.
Prior to the start of Friday’s game between the Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic, the two teams worked as one.
Aside from Orlando’s Jonathan Isaac, every player and coach on both teams went down to one knee together during the playing of the National Anthem to protest brutality and support the Black Lives Matter movement.
Additionally, each member of Brooklyn’s roster has a social justice message on the backs of their uniforms, with the hope of maintaining the momentum that the ongoing movement in the United States has as the NBA resumes the 2019-20 season at Disney World.
Among those who’ve spoken about the matter with other players is Nets wing Garrett Temple. After Brooklyn’s 128-118 loss on Friday, he told reporters on a Zoom call that the moment pregame was a very emotional one for him, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post:
It almost brought me to tears. It meant a great deal for me with the background I’ve had, where I come from, what I believe in, what I think the platform allows us to do. It’s very powerful.
Conversely, Isaac expressed why he didn’t kneel after the game to reporters:
I asked Jonathan Isaac two questions:
You didn’t kneel during the anthem but you also didn’t wear a black lives matter shirt. Do you believe black lives matter?
Can you explain what religion has to do with kneeling for the anthem to protest against racism and police brutality? pic.twitter.com/me61FleWPY
The Brooklyn Nets bounced back from their rough showing against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday with a win over the San Antonio Spurs.
After a blowout loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets bounced back in a big way against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, winning 124-119.
Having Joe Harris back in the lineup helped the Nets get back on track. Brooklyn’s sharpshooter scored 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting (2-for-5 from 3-point territory). He also finished with a pair of blocks in his 22 minutes of action.
But the driving for behind Brooklyn’s first scrimmage victory in the Disney bubble was Caris LeVert. The guard scored 27 points on 8-for-17 shooting (3-for-9 from deep) in 23 minutes. He also earned nine free throws, of which he knocked down eight, and had three steals.
Both Rodions Kurucs and Tyler Johnson scored 17 points off the bench and nailed three 3-pointers apiece (Kurucs on three attempts and Johnson on five). In his Nets debut, Johnson shot 63.6% (7-for-11) from the floor.
The Brooklyn Nets got blown out by the New Orleans Pelicans in their first scrimmage in the Disney bubble on Wednesday.
On top of the seven players they lost ahead of the NBA’s restart, the Brooklyn Nets were without Joe Harris in their first Disney bubble scrimmage. Jamal Crawford, Tyler Johnson and Justin Anderson were all unavailable as well, making life a little tougher for the Nets — helping lead to their 99-68 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
But the Nets have some time to figure things out. They have two scrimmages left before seeding games begin (Saturday vs. the San Antonio Spurs and Monday vs. the Utah Jazz) — and Garrett Temple told reporters Brooklyn absolutely needs the extra work.
Clearly, there was some rust after the long hiatus.
