If Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri was hoping to stoke the flames of a rivalry between the Nets and Raptors with his “F— Brooklyn” ending to his pregame speech to the fans outside Air Canada Centre Saturday, it doesn’t seem to have worked.
Following Sunday’s practice back in New Jersey – a day after the Nets took Game 1 of the best-of-7 series in Toronto – Paul Pierce pleaded ignorance when asked about Ujiri’s comments.
“Really?” Pierce said, before adding, “I’m shocked that Bryan Colangelo would say that.”
Colangelo was the general manager of the Raptors from 2006 through last summer, when he was replaced by Ujiri – who himself was a successful GM in Denver – after the Raptors had missed the playoffs for five straight seasons.
When informed that, in fact, Ujiri was the team’s GM, Pierce again claimed not to have any knowledge of this.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“I guess I don’t keep up. I keep up with the players, I keep up with the players.”
Given the amount of attention the comments received, it’s a stretch to believe someone who’s been around the NBA as long as Pierce – now in his 16th NBA season – wouldn’t know who Ujiri was.
Instead, it seemed like the latest instance, including when Kidd uttered a similar line after Saturday’s win when asked about Ujiri’s comment, of the Nets dismissing the Raptors as an equal.
Deron Williams took a similar tack Sunday when a reporter attempted to ask him if a rivalry was forming between the two teams.
“No,” he said, cutting the question off.