All told, the Nets (17-18) are having themselves a decent season. They’re certainly doing better than most critics had anticipated, including yours truly.
Which is why they have a hard time understanding the negativity, especially from their own fans.
NetsDaily brings us the story of booing Nets fans and their effect on the team’s psyche:
With three minutes left in the third quarter of Monday night’s game vs. the Kings, Keyon Dooling stole the ball from Kevin Martin near halfcourt and was immediately fouled by Martin. Dooling went to the line for two shots on the clear path violation. After he missed the first, one in a series of missed free throws by the Nets, a cascade of boo’s rained down on the Nets’ guard. Dooling made a motion with his hands as if to say, “bring it on” while mimicking the crowd’s boos. After making the second and then quickly hitting a three, Dooling turned to the crowd as he ran down the court and sarcastically mouthed the word “boo!”
He was asked, Is it that bad? Dooling responded: “I played for the Clippers, and it was never like this,” he said, a testament to just how bad he thinks things are.
It’s a fascinating look inside the thinking on a young team, as Dooling acknowledges.
Fans pay a lot of money to watch NBA games in person, and they’re certainly well within their right to boo the players. It would behoove the paying customers in Jersey, however, to tone down the abuse, lest they want their own players to start sobbing at the free throw line.
