The Newark Star Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro’s post-game notes from last night’s Nets defeat of the Knicks at MSG feature a number of noteworthy quotes from both sides of the Hudson ;
Jerome James, on the DL with fluid on the righ hamstring (“whatever that is”)
James, who signed a five-year, $30 million contract over the summer, was asked if he made a mistake coming to the Knicks.
“Mistakes are made on taxes,” he said, adding that he wasn’t fretting over his current status as the whipping boy of the team.
“I came from the bottom,” he said. “I played in Yugoslavia. Playing in the U.S. is a cakewalk compared to that. I’m not worried about it.”
Larry Brown, on benching Slam Dunk Contest victor Nate Robinson,
“I can’t worry about that right now,” Brown said. “I’m proud he won the slam-dunk contest, but I don’t think they have a scoring system like that when we play a game.”
Malik Rose on a certain lumbering teammate,
“Eddy’s too passive sometimes,” Malik Rose said in a sympathetic way. “He needs to get some dog in him. I wish I could slap him before each quarter.”
Lawrence Frank on Nenad Kristic’s lights-out shooting,
“We are going to tell him every game is being broadcast back in Serbia.”
But best of all, from D’Allessandro’s online Nets Blast, is the following explanation for why Chicago’s John Paxson will cut Tim Thomas loose, despite making the player available to sign with one of the Bulls’ Eastern Conference foes,
You might want to consider something a GM told us yesterday. œYou want to screw with Arn Tellem, you™re basically screwed for the rest of your tenure.