NBA

Blatche has big game off bench in Nets’ Game 3 win

Between Kevin Garnett’s return from back spasms and Mason Plumlee’s strong play during his rookie season, Andray Blatche has taken a back seat to both in recent weeks.

But the always entertaining big man showed how valuable he can still be to the Nets during Friday’s 102-98 victory over the Raptors in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first round series in Brooklyn, finishing with 12 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes, including playing most of the fourth quarter.

“[Dray] was big for us,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “We got in foul trouble with our bigs, so next guy up, and he did a wonderful job for us.
“He was aggressive in the post, and made a lot of things happen when we got him the ball.”

Blatche made things happen on both ends of the floor. He had his way offensively, going a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line and repeatedly finding success attacking Tyler Hansbrough when the
Raptors forward was matched up against him.

But he also did a nice job defensively — including taking a critical charge to draw a fourth foul on Raptors guard Kyle Lowry in the second half.

“That’s what he does,” Blatche said. “He drives, and he throws his body into you. He’s looking for the contact, for you to foul him, so I just slid in and took the charge.”


Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov made a rare appearance at a game this season, sitting in his luxury box above center court to watch his team’s win over the Raptors.

It’s been a while between visits for Prokhorov, who is expected to attend Sunday’s game in Brooklyn as well. The billionaire Russian owner had previously only seen two games in person this season — the Nets’ home-opening victory over the Heat back on Nov. 1 and their blowout victory over the Hawks at the O2 Arena in London in January.

At the game in London, Prokhorov said he would be attending more Nets games during the second half of the season, after his commitment to the Russian Biathlon Union was set to run its course following the Olympics in Sochi in February.

“Look, I’ll be back to Brooklyn after Olympics,” Prokhorov said. “So I am very busy because I am president of the Russian Biathlon Union. So I have a lot of jobs to do during the Olympics. But, after the Olympics, I, of course, will be at more games.

“But, frankly speaking, there’s a lot of criticism that I am not in Brooklyn but, I just have a question for you: Do you really think you need to be sitting in the arena to see a game? My friends, we are living in the 21st century. And, in spite of the fact I have no computer, I still have a subscription for the NBA games and for me, it’s like enough to even have a look on the stats so you can understand what is going on.”

Those comments came before the ongoing dispute between Russia and Ukraine over Crimea began, which all but certainly played a role in Prokhorov staying away from the team since the Olympics ended.


After sitting out of Thursday’s practice and Friday’s shootaround because of an undisclosed illness, Shaun Livingston was back in the starting lineup for Game 3, as expected, and finished with three points, six rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes.

Livingston sat out of the final five games of the regular season with a sprained right big toe that he suffered on a dunk attempt during the Nets’ win over the Heat in Miami on April 8, and is now averaging 8.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in the series.