Mark Jackson still can’t believe there’s an NBA team in his native Brooklyn.
“Just to think that there is an arena in Brooklyn is funny to me,” Jackson said when the Nets faced his Warriors in Oakland late last month. “It’s incredible. I want to see it first-hand. … I’m interested to see exactly how they did it.”
Jackson will get his chance to see Barclays Center tonight, when the Nets get another shot at the Warriors after Golden State beat them 103-92 on Nov. 21. For Jackson, the opportunity to come back to the borough where he was born and starred at Bishop Loughlin High School is one he never thought would happen.
“That’s not a knock on Brooklyn,” Jackson said. “It’s just … you would sit there and think, ‘How?’ It’s incredible when you think about everything that had to fall into place.
“You also have to think about the impact that it has had on a whole lot of folks, the money generated in that area. … I know firsthand the people it has impacted. I think about being a kid growing up in Brooklyn as a Knick fan and an Earl Monroe fan. Imagine if I had a team up the street? It would have been even better.”
* The Nets now have the only two players in the NBA who have been fined for flopping under the league’s new anti-flopping rules, and also are the only team to have multiple players warned for flopping after Gerald Wallace was hit with a $5,000 fine by the league Wednesday for his second flopping violation in a week.
Wallace joined Reggie Evans as the two players to be fined so far under the new rules. But Nets coach Avery Johnson said he isn’t concerned about the fines impacting how two of his better defenders go about their business, and also isn’t worried about the league singling out his players.
“Not at all,” Johnson said when asked if the fines would change the mentality of either player. “I think there was another warning given, and you’re going to see more warnings with other teams.
“We’re not getting picked on. We’re a good defensive team. Unfortunately, two of our guys have gotten fined, but both of our guys that have gotten fined, Reggie and Gerald, it’s not going to affect their play.”