While beat writers are trying to get Avery Johnson and Co. to talk some more about Carmelo Anthony, the Nets coach is focused on playing his former team and mentor tonight in Greg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs:
“I mean, my jersey’s retired in the AT&T Center. Pop means so much to me. Tim [Duncan] means so much to me. Peter Holt the owner. R.C. Buford the GM,” Johnson added. “We just go so far back and we’re still friends until this day. So it means a lot. Obviously, when the ball goes up, we’ll try to do our best to win the game, but Pop is my mentor and it’s going to be a pretty good night.”
There’s a lot of talk that the Nets have been emulating the Spurs in terms of organization-building. I’ll be curious to see how these two teams match-up tonight.
