MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After the entire Nets lineup rushed to pick up Kyrie Irving when his last-second shot missed in Wednesday’s opening loss, he spoke about how much it meant to him that his teammates had his back.
That was made even more clear in Friday’s win over the Knicks, when the Nets’ Taurean Prince got into a brief scuffle with Bobby Portis while protecting his point guard.
Irving drove and got knocked to the ground by Julius Randle. He fell to the court on his behind with the ball in his hands. Portis tried to wrest it away, pulling Irving off the ground several times until Prince sprinted over to try to pull the Knicks forward away from him.