Vaughn’s First Win As Nets Head Coach

Vaughn Victorious In Nets Head Coach Debut

Photo: Special to the NY Beacon 

When the Brooklyn Nets (4-7) hosted the New York Knicks (5-5) last night, one team was coming off a loss as the Kyrie Irving controversy continued while the other team was looking for their second straight win. Brooklyn was coming off a tough loss in Dallas Monday night as their late game rally fell short in the 96-94 loss to the Mavericks. Meanwhile, the Knicks were in Minnesota the same night and rained threes on the Timberwolves coming away with the 120-107 victory. The Nets were still without guard Kyrie Irving who was sitting out the 4^th of his 5^th game suspension for failing to apologize after posting comments attributed to a film spouting anti-Semitic rhetoric. Earlier in the day, the Nets announced that interim coach Jacque Vaughn was hired as the head coach for the rest of this year as well as the 2023 season.

 

Behind Edmond Sumner’s 6 points Brooklyn took as early 12-5 lead forcing the Knicks to call an early time out with 8:10 left in the first quarter. The Knicks responded with a Julius Randle 3-pointer cutting the lead to 12-8. The Nets scored the next 12 straight points extending the lead to 24-8 with just under 5 minutes left in the period with New York missing 5 of their first 6 3-point attempts. The shooting woes continued for the Knicks for the rest the quarter and their defense wasn’t any better. New York only shot 35% while allowing the Nets to shoot 60% as Brooklyn took a 16 point lead (38-22) into the second quarter.

 

New York came out and scored the first 5-points cutting the lead to 38-27 to start the second forcing Vaughn to call a quick time out. When play resumed, Nets guard Seth Curry made an immediate impact. After scoring only 2-points in the opening quarter, Curry scored 12 points in the second quarter with the Nets going up by as many as 20 50-30. With the help of teammates Kevin Durant (15 points) and Sumner (15 points) Brooklyn took a whopping 69-44 halftime lead. Randle led the Knicks with 19 points as no other Knick scored in double figures. New York shot 36% for the half missing 13 of 20 3-point attempts. Brooklyn hot 54% making 9 of 17 threes.

 

The second half was simply a formality even though New York outscored Brooklyn 27-23 for the quarter, they did not have a basket in the last 3:03. “They played harder than us,” said Knicks guard Jalen Brunson who finished the night with 14 points in the 112-85 loss. Durant finished with a triple double 29 points, 12 assists, 12 rebounds and took a shot at the Knicks faithful. “If l see a Knicks fan, I’m always gonna give them a thumbs down,” he said. The win was the Nets eighth in a row against the Knicks.

 

Brooklyn now goes on a 4-game west coast swing playing the Clippers, Lakers, Sacramento and Portland. The Knicks host Detroit Friday night and Oklahoma City Sunday Afternoon.