Steve Nash has often deliberately avoided using timeouts, saying he wants his Brooklyn Nets to play through things themselves and problem solve on the floor.
On Sunday, Kyrie Irving, Guard for Brooklyn Nets, took matters into his own hands during Brooklyn’s 123-122 loss to the Wizards at Barclays Center.
Brooklyn’s defense was in disarray and getting torn up on switches by Washington’s Rui Hachimura. The forward scored three Wizards baskets and assisted on the fourth in a run before Irving called a timeout with 7:35 in the third.
Asked to elaborate on the seeming disconnect between the bench and the players, Irving pushed back against the question.
“Disconnect? I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he snapped. “This is basketball. It’s pretty simple.”
Kevin Durant, Forward for the Brooklyn Nets, claimed not to have noticed the whole affair at hand.
“I didn’t even see that” said Durant. “But Steve knows when to call timeouts. He knows what he’s doing over there. We all trust him. He’s only going to get more comfortable as time goes on.”
Durant and Irving were doing their own on-court coaching.
There was a lot of coaching going on out on the court, with Nets players talking to one another. Irving saw a value in those teachable moments.
“It’s basketball. We should be able to communicate out there openly,” said Irving. “So just want to make adjustments on the fly. Just got to continue to get better at that.”
Kyrie Irving scoffs at Idea of ‘Disconnect’ Amid Nets Drama was originally published on New York Post
