



The soul-searching Brooklyn Nets have heard the increasingly loud criticisms of first-year head coach Jason Kidd, but they say that they’re still behind their bench boss. (For what it’s worth, Kidd said he was to blame for the Nets’ loss Monday night loss at home to the Blazers.) Per the NY Post: “The Nets (3-7) arguably are the biggest disappointment in the NBA, having dropped five of six, including a Monday loss to Portland that had rookie coach Jason Kidd trying to shoulder the blame. It’s misguided and overly simple; there is far too much blame to go around, and far too much misery as well. ‘Dismal. No one’s happy about how we’re playing. No one likes the current state. But everybody’s willing and committed towards changing it. The way you change it is through work, and that’s what we’re doing,’ Kevin Garnett said. ‘The blame’s on all of us. It’s not just on Jason. You can’t put the [blame] all on him. We’re players who obviously have to be professional, come out here and do our jobs.’ An anonymous scout was quoted in an Internet report saying Kidd ‘doesn’t do anything’ and his bench comportment is ‘terrible,’ an idea with which Pacers executive Donnie Walsh, the former Knicks general manager, vehemently disagreed. ‘Are those the anonymous scouts? Tell them to put their name to it,’ Walsh said Tuesday night at Fordham Prep in The Bronx, where the Catholic school’s new basketball court was named Donnie Walsh Court. ‘I think he’s going to be a good coach. You got my name. Too many gutless guys in this league.’ […] ‘As competitors, we’re angry. Nobody likes to lose,’ Paul Pierce said. ‘Everybody in this group that we’re here with are very angry. Nobody’s happy about losing. We’ve got to hold everybody accountable: The players, the coaches, this one big group and we’re all in it together, so it’s not only on [Kidd]. It’s on all of us.'”

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