For C.J. Watson and Keith Bogans, tonight’s playoff opener against the Bulls will see them pitted against familiar foes.
The two veteran guards know all about their opponent, after Watson spent two seasons with Chicago before signing with the Nets last summer, while Bogans spent the 2010-11 season with the Bulls before signing in Brooklyn last February.
Both said they harbored no ill will toward their former team.
“It’s just another game and another series,” Watson said after yesterday’s practice. “It’s the team we’re facing in the playoffs, and we’ve got to win.”
Watson spent the past two seasons backing up Derrick Rose before stepping into the starting lineup during the playoffs after Rose suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in Chicago’s first-round loss to the 76ers last year. The Bulls then chose to waive him rather than pay the non-guaranteed $3.2 million contract Watson originally had for this season.
Bogans, on the other hand, started at shooting guard for the Bulls for the entire 2010-11 season, helping Chicago to a league-best 62 wins before bowing out in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Both are expected to be key bench pieces, as they hope to help the Nets win their first playoff series in six years by knocking off their former team.
“No hard feelings at all,” Bogans said. “I still stay in contact with a lot of the guys on that team. That’s some of my best friends … I still talk to Derrick, Taj [Gibson], Joakim [Noah], Luol [Deng]. There’s no hard feelings, but once we get out on that floor, they’re going to be in their jersey and we’ll be in ours. That’s all I’m concerned about.”
* Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo still doesn’t know what he needs to do in the playoffs to convince the team’s owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, to give him the job on a permanent basis.
“No idea,” Carlesimo said. “No clue whatsoever.”
Carlesimo said he hasn’t had any kind of meeting or discussion with Prokhorov about how he has done, or his future, since the two had lunch in midtown Manhattan on Dec. 29 before the Nets beat the Kings to improve to 2-0 under Carlesimo’s stewardship.
“I don’t anticipate any,” Carlesimo said. “I haven’t anticipated any since the meeting the first day. It was just, ‘Do your job, do what you think is best, and we’ll talk when it’s all over.’ ”