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It was about as ugly as it could get for the Brooklyn Nets on October 29. They lost to the Indian Pacers, 125-116, and it wasn’t a strong showing at all for the Nets, and they came away with the fourth straight loss on Saturday. However, the game was only the start of it. Following the game, the team had a players-only meeting to try to get back on the same page, but it got worse with the postgame comments from Kyrie Irving.
Irving has been in hot water since sharing the link to the 2018 film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which is filled with anti-Semitic tropes, according to an article written by Rolling Stone. The move was condemned by the Nets and team governor Joe Tsai. The NBA also released a statement denouncing hate speech, and Kyrie? He called the claim that it was antisemitic ‘not justified.’ On Saturday night after the game, he doubled down on his posts. Kevin Durant called the night a ‘sh*tty one,’ and the new drama around Irving has to be part of it.
Kevin Durant on Nets’ S*****’ Night
In his comments at the postgame press conference, Kevin Durant spoke about the night and slow start to the Nets’ season but shared that he is confident that their fortune will change and the team will start playing good basketball.
“It was a s***** night,” Nets star forward Kevin Durant said. “Excuse my language, it was a bad night. … We’re pissed. We enjoy basketball. We like to win, though, so of course when we lose the games it’s going to be a somber mood in the locker room. But it will change once we start playing some good basketball. We got a lot of basketball to be played ahead of us.”
The Nets had a players-only meeting after the loss in hopes of turning around their 1-5 season so far. Ben Simmons spoke about the meeting in his time with the media.
“It was honest,” Nets swingman Ben Simmons said of the meeting. “We had a conversation. Obviously, I’m not going to talk about, but it was honest. That’s what winning teams do. Hold each other accountable, be able to be open and talk to your teammates, and respect that and be men.”
Durant on Players-Only Meeting
When Kevin Durant was asked about the Nets’ players-only meeting, he downplayed it a bit, insisting that the team is in constant communication talking about ways they can adjust aside from Saturday’s meeting and that it wasn’t anything special.
“We’re in constant communication all the time,” Durant said. “If it’s a scheduled meeting or not, I think we all talk about what we need to do as a team every day. So regardless of if it was after a loss, or a meeting, we always have that. We’re always in constant dialogue about what we need to do as a group, so I wouldn’t say it was anything special.”
Regardless of the consistency of these meetings, the Nets hope that they can find their flow and bounce back. Nets head coach Steve Nash called their performance against the Pacers a ‘disaster’ and shared what needs to happen for the team to improve.
Nash on How Nets Can Change
“We have to look deep,” Nash said. “Deep inside ourselves and what we want to do. What do we want to accomplish? Do we want to give up on this because it’s been difficult early or do we want to stay the course and start to build something?
“We’ve had a lot of really good days here early in the season and we’ve lost a couple games and it’s shook our mentality, shook our mentality hard. And we’re not seeing the same competitive spirit, same purpose, and if we don’t clean that up it’s not going to get better. It’s the only way to get out of difficult positions is to have character and competitive spirit.”
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