National Basketball Association roundup: Sliding Nets oust GM, coach

In their first game since the firing of head coach Lionell Hollins and general manager Billy King, the Brooklyn Nets fell to the visiting San Antonio Spurs via a 106-79 blowout on Monday (Tuesday in Australia).

Only a day before Brown was shaking up the lineup, he had no idea he’d be taking over as coach.

Teams inquiring about trades will need to speak with King’s former assistant general manager, Frank Zanin, Prokhorov explained. “He’s a fighter and he’ll go out and do it the way he thinks is best to do it and he won’t apologize for it. And [if] it works, it works”.

“We’re in a rough stretch”, Brown said after the game.

-Spurs coach Gregg Popovich commented on recently fired Lionel Hollins saying, “He’s a good friend and a heck of a coach”. 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.

Brooklyn is 6-4 when allowing fewer than 100 points this season.

James Harden had 21 points for the Rockets and Dwight Howard added 21 points and 17 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double in his return after missing a game with soreness in his lower back.

On what he has learned from the coaches he has worked for, “That’s a tough one”.

The Bulls lost consecutive games for the first time since a three-game losing streak in December. The guys give their airball and swish. “I think he’s a super human being and a tremendous coach”.

The NBA trade deadline is February 18, so there is still a lot of time for things to shake themselves loose, but it seems we now have a few motivated sellers and that’s generally the precursor to deals actually getting done. I would also like to thank Brett Yormark and his staff for a great partnership.

As for Monday’s game, according to Brown, Pop “had some kind words at the beginning of the game, but I knew he was going to stick it to me once the game started”.

“Trust me, I have tortured myself much more than you (the media) have”.

“He wanted us to know that he was obviously going about his job, figuring things out and talking to his cabal to see what they wanted to do next”, Lopez said. He’s a very engaging man, understands the business of basketball and had success running a team in Europe and now running this team. After the game, Marjanovic commented on the cheers saying, “This is good because if people love you, you are good, and I feel great”. I want us to take advantage of where we are, playing in Brooklyn, playing in NY.

“We should be able to take the courage to turn down opportunities which maybe don’t fit to our strategy”, Prokhorov said.