It was time for another trip to see the Wizard for the Nets.
Coach Byron Scott, admitting that maybe he was being a little politically incorrect with a crack that his team played like women Friday, nevertheless did not apologize for or back down from his main contention, that his team played soft and he says what he thinks. And he has done it on numerous occasions. Should he have made the remark?
“Maybe not but I did and I said it. It probably wasn’t the right thing to say. No offense to the WNBA but I said it and I’m done with it,” Scott explained before his gang beat the Bulls, 123-103, at the Meadowlands last night. “I don’t worry about [offending players] to be honest. My point with some guys is getting across and with some guys it’s not. Some guys you’ve got to hit over the head with a brick for them to get it. Some guys you just say a couple words and they do get it . . . When you step on the court, it’s confrontational. You’ve got to battle.”
Friday after the Nets lost to the Allen Iverson-less Sixers, Scott, who previously had questioned his team’s heart, brains courage and virtually every other intangible you could think of, made the ill-advised remark that “I’m not trying to be negative about women, but it’s almost like women’s basketball against the men. Guys hit them and they squirm and everything and kind of shy away. And that’s what our guys were doing.”
For a veteran like Johnny Newman, “That it has come to that, that he has to say that, makes it mind-boggling.”
Sherman Douglas admitted the “soft” insinuation is a slap in the face. “That’s tough. You don’t want to be labeled in this league as soft or as women or whatever it may be because once you get labeled in this league it’s tough to shake it off.
“In order for us to get better, we’re going to have to knock some asses around,” said Douglas. “You can play hard, you can get tougher, you can bang but expect to get hit back. You can’t expect to go out there and start hitting people and not get hit back.”
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Kenyon Martin, who has enjoyed a bit of a resurgence since Keith Van Horn returned, spent the pre-game sprawled on the floor in the Net locker room before moving to a couch in a sitting area. The rookie did not dress because of the flu and thus missed his first game of the season. In his eight games since Van Horn’s return, Martin had made 38-of-84 shots (.452, way up from .407) while averaging 10.6 points (down slightly from 10.9) and 7.9 rebounds (up slightly from 7.1).
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Kendall Gill is still expecting a Tuesday return from his latest rest of his sore right knee. “For the first time, I practiced two days in a row without pain,” Gill said . . . Nets play five teams out West in cities where they have a combined 32-77 (.294) career record.
