Brooklyn Boro

Hollins sits in China as Nets edge Kings

Westphal Fills in During Brooklyn’s 97-95 Victory in Shanghai

October 14, 2014 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez look to corral a rebound during the Nets’ exhibition win in Shanghai Sunday.
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No one was more excited about the Nets’ participation in the NBA Global Games exhibition series in China than Lionel Hollins, who viewed the trip as an opportunity for his team to bond in unfamiliar environs. 

“If we were playing exhibition games here [in the United States], we’d be in the same boat [as the other teams],” Hollins noted before the team took off on the 14-hour flight from Newark to the Far East. 

“We just got a longer flight to make. The NBA is a league of distractions, and you’ve just got to be mentally tough enough to deal with it.’’

Unfortunately, Brooklyn’s new head coach was unable to man the sidelines during Sunday’s opener in Shanghai as he fell ill Saturday and couldn’t quite muster up the energy to watch in person as the Nets pulled out a 97-95 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Hollins, who did run the Nets’ practices leading up to the first of two preseason contests in the Far East, should be back on the bench Wednesday, when Brooklyn meets the Kings again in Beijing.

Paul Westphal, Hollins’ top assistant on Brooklyn’s revamped coaching staff, filled in just fine as the Nets continued to build moment for the upcoming season.

Brook Lopez had his second straight strong performance with a team-high 18 points and six rebounds and Deron Williams added 12 points and six assists as Brooklyn improved to 2-0 in the preseason.

The duo combined for 37 points in last week’s exhibition opener, a 114-94 rout of Maccabi Tel Aviv at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

”I think Brook is getting himself in shape,” said Westphal of the former All-Star center, who is working his way back from a second major foot surgery in three seasons. 

“’He’s far ahead of where we were afraid of where he was going to be. He’s getting his timing,” Westphal added. “I think his foot is holding up really well.”

Williams, also on the mend from a pair of offseason ankle procedures, appears poised for his first full campaign in Brooklyn without any serious health issues.

That tandem, along with All-Star shooting guard Joe Johnson, will be responsible for filling most of the void left by departed players such as Paul Pierce, Shaun Livingston and Andray Blatche from last year’s squad.

The biggest shot of the Nets’ narrow triumph in China came off the hand of Mirza Teletovic, who hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with under a minute to play as Brooklyn took the lead for good.

Teletovic and newly acquired backup point guard Jarrett Jack scored 10 points apiece, and Sergey Karasev blocked the Kings’ final attempt to pull out the game as he and the Nets celebrated before a crowd of approximately 18,000 at the Mercedes Benz Arena.


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Nothing But Net: When the Nets return from China later this week, they will take part in an experimental preseason contest at Barclays Center on Sunday. Brooklyn and Boston will play a 44-minute contest, four minutes shy of the standard regulation time, via four 11-minute quarters. There will also be a limitation on the amounts of timeouts coaches can use as the league is seriously taking a look at shortening games in the future. “We have looked at everything that we do and are taking a fresh look at all the different things we do,” NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn said. “One of the things that keeps coming up is our schedule and the length of our games. … Our coaches talked about it, and a lot of them seemed to be in favor of at least taking a look at it. We talked with our competition committee, and they were in favor of taking a look at it.” … F Alan Anderson, one of several Nets vying for Pierce’s spot in the starting lineup, sat out Sunday’s game with a strained abdominal muscle. He is hoping to make his preseason debut Wednesday as he also missed the Nets’ exhibition opener in Brooklyn with the same injury. … The Nets will be hosting their annual Open Practice at Barclays Center on Sunday, Oct. 26 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in advance of the team’s Nov. 3 home opener against Oklahoma City. Tickets are currently available for just $5.00, with all proceeds going to the Nets Foundation.

 

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