The Brooklyn Nets do not have a reputation for possessing one of the NBA’s strongest home-court advantages. By relocating to Brooklyn, the franchise planned to compete with the faltering Knicks for New York City’s support.
The Knicks are still the best team in New York ten years later. The NBA, however, is a league of superstars, and the Nets’ fan base expanded as a result of the signings of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Last season, Brooklyn averaged 17,354 spectators per game, the most since they relocated to the city, and finished 13th in the NBA in terms of attendance. This was made clear by the boisterous home crowd at Brooklyn’s 109-105 victory against the Toronto Raptors on Friday night. Durant responded to those who denigrate the Nets fan base after the game.
According to Durant, we get a terrible name about our supporters since they don’t show up to support us and we don’t have many of them. But I feel like they’ve been shouting for the Nets at every game I’ve played since I’ve been here, and it’s always been loud.
New York City is also there, he added. There are other teams and fan bases there, but we can always hear the Nets clearly, and we’ll need that moving ahead.
Brooklyn’s first two home games of the season were sold out. The Nets crowd was in full force on Friday as Brooklyn overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to record their first victory, despite an ugly loss to the New Orleans Pelicans to start the season. The moment the Nets started to mount their comeback, the arena erupted on a Patty Mills corner three off a terrific offensive set.
beautiful beautiful ball movement pic.twitter.com/uavPqoG0IT
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 22, 2022
Kyrie Irving scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and 30 points overall to lead Brooklyn to victory. The seven-time All-Star has recently criticised his club, stating they need to play with more vigour and toughness. Irving gave the home audience in Brooklyn credit for pushing them to a high level when asked what it needed for Brooklyn to win on Friday.
Sincerely, Irving claimed, it required not being soft. Basketball is meant to be played at a high level of intensity, but occasionally we’ve been coming out too soft. I appreciate that because if we don’t play with intensity, our fans will let us know. Simply put, it motivates us to work harder.
NETS WIN @Meghan_Triplett speaks with Kyrie Irving and collects his thoughts after the first W of the season. #NETSonYES pic.twitter.com/IDcBRb2GKZ
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 22, 2022
The game on Friday was back-and-forth. The momentum changed as both sides went on long runs. In the third quarter, Toronto embarked on a 20-2 run to gain a 10-point lead after Brooklyn had taken an early 8-point lead. With 5:38 remaining, the Nets went up by 12, but the Raptors answered with a 12-0 run to tie the game in the waning seconds.
Once more, Brooklyn would respond and end the game with two three-pointers each from Durant and Royce O’Neale. After the game, head coach Steve Nash praised the home crowd for their support and talked about his team’s resilience.
Nash remarked, “I thought our crowd was amazing tonight. The crowd genuinely supported the lads. The (Brooklyn) Block was fantastic there, and I believe it’s incredibly crucial when our fans gives us energy when we’re worn out. Tonight, they provided us a genuine homecourt, and we’re appreciative.
On Monday, the Nets return to play with a challenging away game against Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies.
The article “We Get a Bad Rap”: Kevin Durant responds to the notion that Nets fans are few and far between first published on ClutchPoints.
