Spurs rout Nets 106-79 to match best season start

Brooklyn Nets forward Thomas Robinson (41) defends San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in NY. They kept up that trend with a road win over the struggling Brooklyn Nets. That’s something he never got to do in Portland, but it’s expected in San Antonio.

– The Brooklyn Nets promoted Monday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs as “International Culture Night”, and there were players (and owners) involved from all over the globe: Australia to Argentina; Italy to Serbia; France to Russian Federation.

They say that teams find a sense of responsibility after their coach is fired, that oh-so semi-mythical-but-never-disproven post-firing bump. “I told the guys if we play with this intensity and togetherness, we will win”.

Kawhi Leonard added 17 points for the Spurs, who play at Detroit on Tuesday before putting their 31-game home winning streak on the line Thursday in a showdown against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Spurs (33-6) were up seven at halftime before dominating the second half, just as they did in their 102-75 victory over the Nets on October 30.

Centre Brook Lopez led Brooklyn with 18 points and forward Joe Johnson added 16 for the Nets, who lost their 10th consecutive home game.

Brown changed the starting lineup, inserting Donald Sloan and Wayne Ellington in the backcourt for Shane Larkin and Bojan Bogdanovic.

When Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov took over ownership, the Brooklyn Nets were expected to become a title contender with his vision, money, and commitment to the game for which he admits to love the most. He had 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Magic and is averaging 13.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in 32 games.

The Bulls didn’t win, but Derrick Rose had to feel pretty good about how he shot the ball.

“We had to do a great job for 48 minutes and obviously in the third quarter they opened it up”. “I want to help something good happen here”, he said.

Spurs: Aldridge made his first five shots and finished 12 for 17 from the field…. There were times in the first half where players were not on the same page. Brown had won all three games when he previously stepped in to coach, filling in for Doc Rivers once in Boston, Larry Krystkowiak in Milwaukee and Mike Dunleavy with the Clippers.

Kathy Willens/AP Tony Brown makes his debut as Nets head coach and suffers a blowout loss to the Spurs. “I woke up to my phone just going insane”. “Our business just sucks”. He spoke at a news conference on Monday, a day after shaking up the organization.