A Tale of Two Boroughs as the Knicks and Nets Plot Second Half Surges

The distance between the home arenas for the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks is about five miles, but when it comes to their respective outlooks for the the second half of their 2024 seasons, the two teams are light years apart.The Knicks return from the National Basketball Association All-Star Game break looking to get healthy and make a strong run into the playoffs. Led by their dynamic duo of guard Jalen Brunson and forward Julius Randle, the Knicks resume their season Thursday night at Philadelphia with a 33-22 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Nets’ outlook is considerably bleaker. The team, who not long ago featured a trio of superstars in Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, are 11th in the East with a 21-33 record and are now led by interim head coach Kevin Ollie after Jacque Vaughn was fired on Monday. They will begin the second half at Toronto.Mr. Vaughn’s dismissal is no surprise. It comes on the heels of a 50-point loss to the Boston Celtics in the final game before the All-Star break. The embarrassing defeat capped a disappointing first-half for the Nets, who struggled to find consistency on both ends of the court. Nets general manager Sean Marks said firing Mr. Vaughn was “an incredibly difficult decision,” but insisted that something had to be done to ignite a team with a mediocre 13-17 record at home. “At the end of the day we’re in a results-driven business,” Mr. Marks told reporters on Tuesday. “This isn’t where this team needs to be and this is not the direction we need to be heading. That’s when you have to make these tough decisions and move on. Hopefully, it sends a message to not only the players but a message to the fan base and the organization that our expectations are more than we’re living up to.”Mr. Marks explained that the All-Star break was a time for re-evaluation. Mr. Vaughn was first named the interim head coach in 2020, replacing Kenny Atkinson. The Nets were eventually swept in the first round during that pandemic altered season.Mr. Vaughn, who is a former NBA point guard, returned as an assistant coach after Steve Nash was named the head coach the following season. The Nets named Mr. Vaughn head coach in November 2022 when Mr. Nash was released after the Big 3 era of Mr. Durant, Mr. Harden, and Mr. Irving never got the Nets within a sniff of a long-sought-after NBA title.With Mr. Vaughn at the helm, the Nets were 43-32 last year and were again swept in the postseason. The franchise, though, felt like it could compete for the playoffs again this season. Mr. Marks, though, became disenchanted with the Nets’ lack of accountability this season and the club’s absence of “effort plays” that can mean the difference between winning and losing. “The level of compete hasn’t always been there,” he said.The coaching change doesn’t mean the Nets are surrendering their quest to make the playoffs this season. They are just two and a half games behind the Atlanta Hawks to qualify for the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference, and Mr. Marks is hoping the coaching change will spark his team. Mr. Marks, a Kiwi, sought to impress a sense of urgency, declaring, “It’s a time where we can get some movement with this group,” he said. “The expectation for Kevin as the new head coach is to come in and get that movement. He won’t be doing it alone. It will be a team effort with the front office, performance, and everybody else. We’re all striving for the same thing.”Mr. Ollie, who played 13 seasons in the NBA and won a national championship as the University of Connecticut’s head coach in 2014, joined the Nets as an assistant coach this season. Whether he can spark the Nets and get them into playoff contention remains to be seen. The franchise, though, will look for a head coach during the offseason to lead a rebuild around forward Mikal Bridges. They have ample salary cap space and draft assets.“We’ve shown we can we can attract top tier free agents,” Mr. Marks said. “But right now our focus is on this group of young men, developing them and making sure they put themselves in the greatest place to succeed.”Thursday night’s game at Toronto is the first of four straight road games before critical back-to-back encounters with the Hawks at Barclays Center. If Mr. Ollie can get the Nets into the playoffs it will help his case to be named the next coach, but as of now, Mr. Marks plans to “cast a very wide search” for a new leader. “We’ll look at a vast variety of candidates,” he said, adding that “It’s going to be a robust search.”Meanwhile, the Knicks are trying to get healthy and develop chemistry with new arrivals. Mr. Randle, who is a three-time All-Star, is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder suffered on January 27. Center Mitchell Robinson remains out after ankle surgery, and OG Anunoby is sidelined following elbow surgery. In addition, crucial cogs like Isaiah Hartenstein, Donte DiVincenzo, and Bojan Bogdanovic missed the game before the break with injuries.When and if the Knicks are complete, they have enough talent to contend for a championship. They showed glimpses of that when they won 12 of the 14 games in which Mr. Anunoby played after being acquired in a trade with Toronto in December. A January trade with the Detroit Pistons that acquired Mr. Bogdanovic and Alec Burks added much-needed depth, which could come in handy if the injury bug continues to bite.“I think the break was good for everyone to take a step back, breathe, and recharge and head down the stretch,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said Tuesday at the Knicks practice facility. “So be ready. That’s been the theme all along. Be the more ready team. Be the more mentally tough team. Those are the things that are important.”

A Tale of Two Boroughs as the Knicks and Nets Plot Second Half Surges

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