J-Speaks: The Passing Of Another Legendary College Basketball Coach

 

It was around this time in August 2020 that the college basketball world lost one of coaching titans of the sport in the legendary coach that rose the Georgetown University Hoyas basketball to prominence in the 1980s. At the start of this weekend, the college basketball world said goodbye to his closet equal who was just as legendary a character who motivated his players to excel on the basketball hardwood, especially at the defensive end as well as off of it.

Late Friday morning, Hall of Fame basketball coach John Chaney, the innovator of the zone defense that is prominent at all levels of basketball, especially in the NBA died at the age of 89.

Temple University is where Coach Chaney, particularly left his mark said he passed away from an unspecified illness.

In a tweet from their page @TempleOwls about the passing of Coach Chaney, who was also well known for having an unbuttoned top shirt, no suit jacket, and zone defense, “Our hearts are broken. Rest in Peace, Coach.”

Coach Chaney is survived by his wife Jeanne Dixon, who he married in 1953, and his three children, Darryl, John Chaney, Jr., and Pamela Clark.

Chaney spent 24 seasons at Temple University, starting in 1982-83—the lone season the Owls during his time they did not participate in March Madness or the NIT. His owls earned 17 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, which included trips to the Elite Eight on five occasions and were ranked No. 1 for a stretch in the 1987-88 season, when they compiled a 32-2 record, including a perfect 18-0 record against Atlantic 10 Conference squads. In total, Chaney led the Owls to six Atlantic 10 Conference championships.

Before taking Temple University basketball to the aforementioned heights it went, Coach Chaney, spent a decade at Cheyney University, a Division II school 30 miles outside of Philadelphia, PA. CU reached eight Division II tournaments under Chaney’s watch, winning the Division II national title in 1978.

“John Chaney was a great coach, but he was so much more. For generations of Temple University students, he was a wise counselor, a dedicated teacher, an icon of success, and a passionate leader who always led by example and with conviction,” Temple President Richard M. Englert, who has known Coach Chaney around the same time he started coaching Owls in 1982 said in a statement. “I am also honored to say he was a dear friend.”

“For generations of his players, there is only one man whom they all lovingly called Coach even to this day. That was John Chaney. Our most sincere condolences go out to his wonderful family members. We will keep them in our prayers.”

Coach Chaney earned 516 of his 741 coaching wins in his career at Temple University, being elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame five years later. Chaney, who compiled a 516-253 mark (.671 winning percentage) at Temple still is ranked in the top 40 in career wins at No. 22 in in Division I basketball history and was the first African American coach to reach 700 career wins.

“It’s sad. It’s tough. Another legend yet gone again,” future Hall of Famer and now NBA on ESPN analyst Vince Carter said on Friday edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN. “His energy and what he’s done for Temple University. He’s a legend and he will be missed.”

He is also a two-time winner of the Henry Iba Award, which is given to the Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

That high number of victories by Coach Chaney’s squads came in large part because of his ability to put a strangle on the offense of the opposing team through his matchup zone defense, that for decades confused opponents and on annual basis had Temple University amongst the collegiate leaders in scoring defense.

“If a team has never faced a Temple zone, it’s really difficult to see and have a proper attack for it the first time, because you don’t know what defense is on,” former Owl guard Quincy Wadley said to The New York Times in 2001. “You think it’s one defense the entire time, but it’s not. It’s several different defenses that we play.”

As great as he was making his players into better basketball players, Coach Chaney was just as instrumental in making them better people once they leave his program, especially coming from the environments they grew up in a majority of the time.

Coach Chaney was similar to the late Hall of Fame head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas John Thompson, who passed away on Aug. 30, 2020 at age 78. He cared just as much, if not more about his players being excellent students and citizens as he did about their play and focus on the collegiate hardwood.

Chaney was a major advocate for late adolescents that came from not the best of neighborhoods in the “City of Brotherly Love” to better lives through not just basketball but education, saying in a 1994 profile on him done by Sports Illustrated described that getting an education is what will feed you, keep you warm, and provide shelter.

Coach Chaney added, “What entity has the right to play God? “You tellin’ me the NCAA can decide who lives and who dies among Black folks? Education is food, it’s heat, it’s shelter! Who has the right to deprive anyone of that? I come from the earth! I know what I’m talking about! What choice are we givin’ the kids who fail that SAT test? One choice! Back to the streets… to slow-legged death.”  

“Many of my players came from environments where people said they couldn’t do it,” Chaney said to the “The Athletic” in 2019. “I came from an era where it could end before being fulfilled. You have to move into a better place, in our minds and for our future. So many of them were able to change who they were. They ended up being what Temple’s statement has always been. Young acres of diamonds, right from the neighborhood, being told they could have the same kind of opportunity as everyone else.”

Chaney was born on Jan. 21, 1932 in Jacksonville, FL and grew up in Philadelphia, PA, where he would become the Basketball Player of the Year in the Philadelphia area, and went on to play collegiately for a Historically Black College/University of Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, FL, where he became an All-American.

He would go on to play professionally in the Eastern Professional Basketball League, first with the Sunbury Mercuries from 1955-63 and then the Williamsport Billies from 1963-66.

Coach Chaney, just like the late great John Thompson had a major impact in issues of social justice before within the college basketball world and the world at large long before they were topics of serious discussion like they are today.

He knew what racism looked like and would go to bat for his players when he felt they were getting the short end of the stick by the NCAA when it came to academic standards and culturally biased examinations.

One of the best examples of this was a former player of Chaney’s at Temple Rasheed Brokenborough, who was declared academically ineligible to play basketball for the Owls because he just missed the qualifying mark on his SAT score. He was not even allowed a scholarship, and Coach Chaney, according to ESPN’s College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas worked with Brokenborough so he could go to Temple as a so-called “regular student.”

Brokenborough, according to Bilas was able find money attend Temple and played for Chaney from 1996-99, averaging 13.1 points in those three seasons for the Owls. He went undrafted in the 1999 NBA Draft, but played for professionally in the then Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the International Basketball Association, and overseas in Europe.

Another player that Coach Chaney had a major impact on was Philadelphia native, former Temple Owl and current Owls head coach Aaron McKie, who played 14 NBA seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers after being drafted No. 17 overall in the 1994 NBA Draft Aaron McKie said that Coach Chaney, “Made me the man I am today.”

McKie, who played for Coach Chaney from 1991-94 also said, “Coach Chaney was like a father to me. He taught not just me, but all his players more than just how to succeed in basketball. He taught us life lessons to make us better individuals off the court. I owe so much to him.”  

While Coach Chaney did not convince him to come to Temple when he came down to Beaumont, TX to recruit him out of Clifton J. Ozen High School, 15-year NBA veteran and now ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins, who played for the Boston Celtics, where he won a title in 2008, the Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New Orleans Pelicans said Chaney was the “nicest guy in the world” who was “straight forward,” and only wanted the best for his players.

“He didn’t have a hidden agenda. Everything about him was genuine,” Perkins said of that visit from Coach Chaney on back in 2003. “You could just tell people with good hearts, and his spirit rubbed off on you as soon as he walked in the room. And we’re going to miss him.”

“And it’s just hard, because it seems like every day we’re walking up and losing a great iconic figure that changed the game. That inspires so many people in this world, especially in the basketball world, and Coach Chaney will truly be missed.”

As much as Coach Chaney was known for his matchup zone defense, he was also well known for his passion which on a few occasions led to several incidents with the opposition that he would like to put in his rearview mirror.

As ESPN’s Sportscenter anchor John Buccigross put during a segment of the early Saturday morning’s edition of the program when describing Coach Chaney during, he had that look in his eye that when he was upset with you, his eyes could “stir souls.”

As Chaney said back in 1994 to Sports Illustrated, “I’m capable of being anything.”

“…I’m a person who can be out of control. Sometimes it’s better to be crazy then intelligent.”

One person who got to see that crazy side of Chaney was now University of Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball coach John Calipari when the two schools built an interconference rivalry during his time at the University of Massachusetts (UMass).

After a game between the two schools back in 1994, which UMass won 56-55, Chaney was unhappy with how Coach Calipari treated the referees and confronted him during his postgame press conference.

“Could I say this to you, please?” Chaney said to Calipari, according to a report from The New York Times. “You’ve got a good ballclub. But what you did with the officials out there is wrong, and I don’t want to be a party to that. You understand?”

Coach Calipari responded by saying to Coach Chaney, “You weren’t out there, Coach.” “You don’t have any idea.”

After the coaches exchanged a few back-and-forths, Coach Chaney approached the postgame podium, which led to Calipari to confront Chaney.

Chaney said to Calipari as UMass guard Mike Williams separated the two, “I’ll kill you!”

Coach Chaney outburst led to a one-game suspension by the University and he apologized for what happened between him and Coach Calipari 48 hours later.

You would think that such a rough moment would be harbored for a long time, but the two coaches became friends years later.

“Coach Chaney and I fought every game we competed-as everyone knows, sometimes literally-but in the end he was my friend,” Coach Calipari said on his Twitter page @UKCoachCalipari on Friday afternoon. “Throughout my career, we would talk about basketball and life. I will miss those talks and I will my friend. Rest in peace, Coach!”

Eleven years later, Coach Chaney was suspended after he sent in a “goon” in 250-pound big man Nehemiah Ingram during a tilt against conference rival Saint Joseph’s, where he felt they were setting what he thought were illegal picks and no fouls were being called.

Chaney, according to Philadelphia Magazine said that before the game he planned to send in “one of his goons and have him run through one of those guys and chop him in the neck or something.”

Ingram picked up five fouls in four minutes, one of which broke the arm of Hawks forward John Bryant.

“I’m sending a message,” Chaney said postgame. “And I’m going to send in what we used to do years ago—send in the goons. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Temple suspended Chaney for the rest of that regular season. He did apologize to Bryant and it was reported the coach offered to pay for his medical bills.

Bilas also said on the Saturday morning edition of “Sportscenter” that his most visceral memory he has of Coach Chaney was being at one of his early morning 6 a.m. practices at Temple, seeing them work out while the assistant coaches ran them through drills. All of that was taking place before Coach Chaney arrived yet.

Bilas also said that when he did arrive at that practice with a Dunkin Donuts cup in his hand, Coach Chaney, he stopped practice, sat his team down in the bleachers of the gym and gave them this lecture that you would hear in church that Bilas described as “absolutely beautiful.”

Among the lines Coach Chaney used, according to Bilas consisted of, “A blind man has no business at the circus.”

That sermon included thoughts about basketball and life, something that was off the cuff that Chaney’s assistant coaches would not know was coming.

From those sermons, Chaney’s assistant would have to design drills to work on the things he talked about with his players for the next practice.

“He was truly not only one of the great coaches but really one of the great people that saw the game beyond the court, and what it did for the players. And I think was as invested in his players future as any coach I’ve been around,” Bilas said of Coach Chaney.  

Another titan in college basketball in Hall of Fame head coach of the Duke University Blue Devils Mike Krzyzewski, also known as “Coach K.” called Coach Chaney one of “our giants.”

Coach Krzyzewski added in a statement that Coach Chaney’s teams were “tough and discipline” and embodied the same competitive edge that he possessed. That he was a “great friend and remarkable leader.” That he along with the late John Thompson and George Raveling were a big help to him and many other college coaches when they were starting out to have a better understanding about what it was like to be a head coach in college basketball as an African American.

“John wanted nothing more than to see our game advance,” Coach K. said.

Coach Chaney’s successor after his retirement in 2006 from coaching Fran Dunphy said in a statement that Chaney was “more” than just a Hall of Fame basketball coach. He was a “Hall of Famer in life.”

“He touched countless lives, including my own. I will miss him dearly and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family during this difficult time.”

While the advancement of the game of basketball in general in terms of having more African American head coaches in it has been slow, those who are in the position of being a head coach at either the collegiate level or professional level, with just seven in the NBA now are forever grateful for Coach Chaney paving the way for their dreams to become a reality.

“Just love how he carried himself. I love how he fought for his team, his players, but also just the institution, you know in a lot of ways,” Philadelphia 76ers first-year head coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers said on Friday before his team’s 118-94 win at the Minnesota Timberwolves. “He was so much more than a basketball coach. He really was a teacher, and a teacher of life and you know, we don’t have a lot like that anymore.”

Coach Rivers former player with the Boston Celtics Kendrick Perkins, who played 15 NBA seasons with the C’s, Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New Orleans Pelicans said that Coach Chaney was not only one of the nicest guys in the world but someone who was “straight forward,” no hidden agendas of his own, and wanted the best for the players he coached. That he was genuine, who spirit rubbed off on you the minute he walked in the room and talked with you.

On Friday, Temple University and the College Basketball world said goodbye to one of the titans of the profession in John Chaney. A person who was more than just a basketball coach. He was innovator, teacher, mentor, motivator, leader, competitor, and above all a voice for his players against those that wanted to take advantage of them for either their own success or to simply look down on those that they felt they were better than.

While Coach Chaney was not a perfect man, he was a good one, who was respected, sometimes feared, but admired for how he, like John Thompson stood up for things at a time where it was not easy to do.

In 2019, Chaney told “The Athletic” that he wanted to be “remembered as someone who cared.”

“What we need more of these days—I don’t are how you look at it—is caring for others, whoever that is,” Chaney said.

John Chaney was someone who cared, about his players. He cared about their well-being. He cared about how they presented themselves on the hardwood as well as off of it. That they were as educated as well as being able to play his sophisticated zone defense.

He cared so much that he earned respect from the players he coached, even when he had to kick them in the pants more often than not. He earned respect and admiration from the many coaches he went against. Above all he earned the respect from the media who covered him and got to know him in his over three decades as a college coach at Cheyney University and at Temple University.

“John Chaney never gave up on his players, and I think worked through everything in the social justice realm,” Bilas said. “He knew what right looked like, and yet he had his flaws too…. John Chaney was an American original. Every bit as any coach you could name. Whether it’s Bob Knight, Dean Smith, John Wooden, he [Coach Chaney] was character in one sense. But he had unshakeable character in every sense.”

“I was honored to get to know him and spend time with him, and certainly watch him work and cover his teams. He was a true icon, and a true legend.”

Information and quotations are courtesy of 1/29/2021 3 p.m. “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Jorge Sedano, Kendrick Perkins, Vince Carter, and Zach Lowe; 1/30/2021 12:30 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” with John Buccigross and Nabil Karim; 1/30/2021 www.espn.com story, “Hall of Fame Temple Basketball Coach John Chaney Dies at 89,” by Jeff Borzello; 1/30/2021 “Who Is Jeanne Dixon? Wiki, Bio, John Chaney’s Wife, Family, Career, Many More Facts You Need To Know,” from https://wikitrusted.com/jeanne-dixon; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendrick_Perkins; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_McKie; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thompson_(basketball); https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasheed_Brokenborough; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chaney_(basketball,_born_1932).

J-Speaks: The Passing Of A Barrier-Breaking Actress

 Groundbreaking, hardworking, award-winning, and legendary are just some of the many words to describe a barrier-breaking actress who had anyone who saw her on the silver or small screen for nearly eight decades of her career. She had a command on screen that put on display her grace, power, and vulnerability that she seem to wield at will. This legend, who earned respect from those that watch her to those in politics who because of her courage to stand up for what was right has made life for many minorities better because of it. We lost this powerful icon of entertainment just two days before a latest project.

On Thursday afternoon, multi-award-winning actress Cecily Tyson passed away at the age of 96, just two days before the release of her memoir, “Just as I Am.” She was 96 years old and is survived by an unknown daughter.

The news of three-time Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, Tony, and honorary Oscar Award winner’s passing was announced by her family through her manager Larry Thompson, who did not provide any additional immediate details about how she died.

“With a heavy heart, the family of Miss Cecily Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon,” Ms. Tyson’s family said in a statement through Mr. Thompson. “At this time, please allow the family their privacy.”

Mr. Thompson also shared in a statement to “Variety” about his legendary client, “I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing. Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life. Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”

On Thursday night, the marquee outside the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NY, where Ms. Tyson was born was lit up in her memory, which read, “Rest in Peace Pioneering Icon Cicely Tyson December 19,1924-January 28, 2021.”

Ms. Tyson was a driving force, who lead the way in how African Americans and other minorities were depicted on television and in movies during the 1970s, like in the 1972 silver screen 20^th Century Fox drama “Sounder,” where she portrayed Rebecca Morgan, a hardworking mother. That role earned Ms. Tyson a Golden Globe nomination, a best actress Oscar nomination and the Governor’s Award.

“I don’t know that I would cherish a better gift than this,” Ms. Tyson said upon receiving that accolade then. “This is the culmination of all those years of have and have-not.”

In her last interview before her passing to promote her memoir, Ms. Tyson said to Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on Wednesday’s edition of the syndicated talk show “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” who said that she was a devoted fan of their show that she was not the first choice to play Rebecca Morgan in “Sounder.” Tyson got the role after a pay dispute led another actress, Gloria Foster to turn the role down. Ms. Tyson also said to Ripa and Seacrest that she and Foster ended up being good friends.

“I never really worked for money. I worked because there were certain issues that I wish were addressed about myself and my race as a Black woman,” Tyson said to Ripa and Seacrest.

In 1974, Ms. Tyson won two Emmys in “The Autobiography of Jane Pittman,” where she played a woman who aged from a young slave at the end of the Civil War to a woman who joined the Civil Rights movement at 110 years old.

This made for television movie came three years before Ms. Tyson’s role in the acclaimed mini-series movie “Roots,” where she played Binta, the mother of the main character Kunta Kinte.

Eight years later, Ms. Tyson won her third Primetime Emmy for “The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.”  

Ms. Tyson was an actress who refused to take part in any what she called the sex-and-violence blaxploitation films that portrayed Africa American women in a negative light.

She felt that if that work did not “really say something,” Ms. Tyson was not interested in being a part of it. Any work that, Ms. Tyson needed to know that it “served a purpose.”

“It has always been my mission to get people to understand that we are also human…Why we should be treated differently simply because of the color of our skin is far beyond me,” she said to The Hollywood Reporter eight years ago.

One of those instances consisted of colorblind casting was when Tyson was casted in Ethel Barrymore’s short-lived 1983 revival of “The Corn is Green,” about Welsh coal miners.

Ms. Tyson added that she set out to “break the mold and the concept that limited people’s vision of what we as Black women, or Black actresses, could do in this business.”  

Also, in 2013 at the age of 88, Tyson returned to Broadway for the first time in three decades as she starred in the first All-African American revival of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful,” at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York, NY. Ms. Tyson won the 2013 Tony Award for her betrayal of Miss Carrie Watts, a Texas woman who is unhappy living with her daughter-in-law and son, who does not take her side, and yearns to return to the small town of Bountiful, TX, where she was raised. The play was turned into a Lifetime television movie, for which she earned another Emmy nomination.

In 2015, Tyson co-starred aside James Earl Jones on Broadway in the Pulitzer Prize-Winning two-character play “The Gin Game,” by D.L. Colburn, that was about a thorny friendship in a nursing home.

In 2020, Ms. Tyson earned her 17^th Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in her role as Ophelia Harkness, the mother of lead star actress Annalise Keating, played by Academy, Emmy, and two-time Tony Award winning actress Viola Davis on ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder.”  

Along with continuing to make her mark in the theater, Ms. Tyson also continued to shine of the silver screen as a part of Tyler Perry’s movie franchise in his 2005 film “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” where she earned the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her role as Myrtle, the mother of star Kimberly Elise’s character Helen.

Ms. Tyson also played Myrtle in the 2006 sequel, “Madea’s Family Reunion” and then played the role of Ola, one half of an elderly couple in the Mr. Perry’s 2010 film “Why Did I Get Married Too?”

In 2011, Ms. Tyson played Constantine Jefferson in the 2011 DreamWorks Film, “The Help,” which won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Ms. Tyson was born in Harlem, NY on Dec. 19, 1924 as one of three children to immigrant parents from Nevis in the West Indies.

She also said in her aforementioned memoir that she was a shy but observant child who was so drawn to the arts that she would sneak out of her home in Harlem to listen to concerts.

Ms. Tyson told Ripa and Seacrest that she sucked her right thumb for her first 12 years of life. That she was an observer as a child. That when she sat at her family’s table as a child she would sit and observe what was said and done.

It was through these actions Ms. Tyson said that she learned why people said and did the things that they did.

Her journey to being a legend in entertainment began when she was discovered by a photographer for the famed Ebony magazine, and despite the disapproval of her domestic mother Fredericka and her carpenter, and painter father William Augustine, Ms. Tyson became a fashion model and then an actress, which she once said in an interview with “Elle” magazine that she did not want to be.

“I never wanted to be an actress because as children there were three of us-I was the middle child-and we spent our time in church from Sunday morning to Saturday night,” she said. “Any movies we saw were shown in our church on Thursday night, when they put up a bed sheet and got a projector.”

Ms. Tyson added, “The church was really where, subconsciously, I was sopping up all of this—whatever I use now—to perform.”  

Ms. Tyson’s first television acting role was on the 1951 television series for NBC, “Frontiers of Faith.” Her first film role came five years later in “Carib Gold,” playing Dottie.  

Ms. Tyson’s rise to greatness came out of necessity though because she confided that in her 1999 acceptance speech at the New York Women in Film & Television Awards, Tyson’s religious mother threw her out of the house for wanting to be an actress.

Ms. Tyson said to Ripa and Seacrest that her mother was very protective of her and her older brother and younger sister growing up but treated her first daughter like she was the younger of the three kids.

Tyson said that she and her siblings performed at their church very often, where she played the organ, piano and even sang.

“My mother was very protective of us, and she did not allow us to go any place without her,” she said about how protective Mrs. Fredericka was of her children. “We spent most of our time in the church.”

So, Ms. Tyson told Ripa and Seacrest that she would take it upon herself to take the subway to head up to 14^th street which housed a John Wanamaker’s Department Store where they would hold a concert for little Caucasian girls that dressed in white and Mary Jane shoes. Unfortunately, none of those acts featured any girls of color.

Ms. Tyson said that she would sit at the bottom of the steps of the department store and listen to these concerts each Saturday.

Her mother never knew her daughter was gone because she would return home right before she did and her older and younger siblings never told on her because they too did not know where she went.

Years later though, Tyson’s mother stood at the door of her daughter’s dressing room and accepted her congratulations as if the idea of becoming an actress was her idea.

One particular role that Tyson’s mother, who was a television junkie, really enjoyed seeing her daughter in was Martha Frazier on the CBS daytime television soap opera “Guiding Light in 1966, where Ms. Tyson made history as the first African American actress on a daytime soap opera.  

While Tyson was rising in her professional life, her personal life was one that was often troubled.

In her just aforementioned release “Just as I Am,” Tyson wrote very candidly about her tumultuous seven-year marriage to the famously private great jazz musician Miles Davis, who she married in 1981 in a ceremony conducted by then Atlanta, GA mayor Andrew Young at the home of Bill Cosby. Tyson dated the jazz trumpeter in the 1960s when he was in the process of divorcing dancer Frances Davis. He even used a photo of Tyson for his 1967 album, “Sorcerer,” telling the press then he intended to marry Tyson in March 1968 once his divorce was finalized, but he married singer Betty Davis in September of that year.

Davis and Tyson rekindled things a decade later and got married on Nov. 26, 1981 and resided in both Malibu, CA and New York, NY. Unfortunately, Mr. Davis’ very volatile temper and infidelity is what brought their marriage to an eventual end when their divorce was made final in 1989, just two years before Mr. Davis’ death in 1991. Davis did credit Tyson for saving his life by helping him kick his cocaine habit.

Before Davis, Tyson was married to Kenneth Franklin at age 18 on Dec. 27, 1942. He abandoned Tyson less than 18 months after they said, “I do.”

While it has been reported that Ms. Tyson did not have any children, she talked about a daughter, who she calls “Joan” in her memoir where she delved into the particulars about her birth and childhood.

USA Today wrote that Tyson and her daughter continued to work on their relationship, which was as “fragile” as it was “precious,” and Ms. Tyson dedicated her memoir to her saying in it, “the one who has paid the greatest price for this gift to all.”

Ms. Tyson not only stared in a blazing series of unforgettable and powerful roles, but roles that reflected our nation and culture at a time that were in serious upheaval.

By Tyson taking roles where she not only memorizing lines but spoke out about the injustices that many minorities faced not just in the entertainment role but in the world at large.

“I decided that I could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. I had several issues to address, and I chose my career as my platform,” Ms. Tyson said once about what her role was as an actress.

That courage and understanding of why she went about the roles she took as an actress is how she earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997. How in 2010, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awarded Ms. Tyson the Spingarn Medal for her contributions to the entertainment industry, her modeling career, and her support of civil rights.

It also earned her the highest civilian award, the “Presidential Medal of Freedom,” in 2016 by the first African American President of our nation Barack Obama.

On Nov. 18, 2018, Ms. Tyson at the age of 94 became the first African American woman to receive an honorary Oscar.

“It stunned me. But it was the culmination of all those years of just prodding along, and not giving up,” Ms. Tyson told WABC 7 Eyewitness News’ Kemberly Richardson about that moment.

Ms. Tyson also in 2018 was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame and was chosen to be inducted into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame last year.

Ms. Tyson also used her gift of acting to give back to those that wanted to rise to greatness like she did on the silver and small screen.

She has been a member of the Black Filmmaker’s Hall of Fame since 1977 as well as been consistently active in the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange, NJ, where she frequently visited and raised millions of dollars for college scholarships for those students. Ms. Tyson even took some of the students when she was a recipient at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015.

Ms. Tyson also has connection with East Orange, NJ because her aunt lived there, where she frequently spent time at her home.

Ms. Tyson and co-founder Arthur Mitchell in response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Apr. 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN created the Dance Theatre of Harlem in Harlem, NY. She also said to Ripa and Seacrest that she became a vegetarian after the assassination of Dr. King.  

On Thursday, the world said goodbye to a legendary actress in Cicely Tyson, who said to Ripa and Seacrest that when she was a baby that they came upon a woman one day who said to Ms. Tyson’s mother to take care of the child because she is going to make her “very proud one day” and that she will take great care of her when she is in her golden years of life.

Ms. Tyson not only took care of her mother, but also took care of us through her work on the silver and small screen by showing us what real courage was. She went from being a child who was shy but had a dream but also had standards that she would not waiver from.

That courage made Ms. Tyson a legend, created space for many other African Americans regardless of their circumstances that they could be anything they wanted to be, like President of the United States or Vice President, which Barack Obama, who awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 or our first elected African American, first woman, and first Asian American Vice President just nine days ago in Kamala Harris.

While Cicely Tyson, who lived an incredible 96 years on earth may be gone from a physical standpoint, her legacy through her School of Performing and Fine Arts will continue.

Ms. Tyson shined a light on what is possible in this world, and it is up to her students at her school as well as the many that watched her on the silver and small screen continue the lessons and dedication that she displayed for so long to make our nation as well as the world a better place.

Information and quotations are courtesy of 1/28/2021 11 p.m. WABC 7 “Eyewitness News at 11,” with Bill Ritter, Sandra Bookman, Lee Goldberg with weather, and Ryan Field with sports, with report from Jim Dolan; 1/29/2021 Newsday article, “Pioneering Performer Cicely Tyson (1924-2021),” by Linda Winer; 1/29/2021 9 a.m. “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on WABC 7; 1/29/2021 12 p.m. WABC 7 “Eyewitness News at Noon,” with Ken Rosato, Shirleen Allicot, and Amy Freeze with weather; https://heavy.com/entertainment/cicely-tyson-kids-family-children/; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carib_Gold; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Did_I_Get_Married_Too%3F; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trip_to_Bountiful_(play); https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primetime_Emmy_Award_for_Outstanding_Guest_Actress_in_a_Drama_Series; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Get_Away_with_Murder; and https://en.m.wikpedia.org/wiki/Cicely_Tyson.

J-Speaks: Two Women Make NBA History

 

There was a ground-breaking moment when the Charlotte Hornets played at the Orlando Magic on Monday night. That moment was not by any of the players or the head coaches. This glass-breaking moment for the National Basketball Association (NBA) was courtesy of two members of the three-person referee crew.

On Monday night, Natalie Sago and Jenna Schroeder made NBA history as the first two women to be assigned to work a regular-season game together.

Sago and Schroeder worked the Hornets-Magic tilt with crew chief Sean Wright, with Sago being the referee and Schroeder being the umpire.

Before the game, Sago and Schroeder took a picture with Wright to commemorate this milestone in NBA history, where Wright was in the middle of the photo.

 “This is a big deal,” Schroeder, Flint, MI native said of the history she and Sago made on Monday night. “It’s like my feminist dreams come true, that like my personal values are colliding with my professional values and it’s awesome.”

The NBA so far this season has used 76 referees, and seven of them have been women, already a record for the most to work games during any season in league history.

That group of seven includes Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling of Atlanta, GA, Ashley Moyer-Gleich of Camp Hill, PA, Simone Jelks of Cleveland, OH, Danielle Scott, Dannica Mosher, Suyash Mehta of Baltimore, MD, Andy Nagy of Toledo, OH, and the aforementioned Sago and Schroeder.

Scott and Mosher are non-staff, while Holtkamp-Sterling, Moyer-Gleich, Jelks, Sago, and Schroeder are full-time members of the NBA’s officiating roster.

This is not the first time that Sago and Schroeder have refereed a professional basketball game together as they were part of three-women crews in the NBA’s G League. It is the first time though they have worked an NBA game together, and it was something they both looked forward to since they saw it scheduled on the internally distributed schedule last month.

The three-person referee crews for NBA games are not announced to the public until 9 a.m. Eastern standard time on game day.

“It’s so cool,” Sago, of Farmington, MO said of this glass-ceiling breaking moment. “All of us, we’re so happy and excited to work together. We just have a good group of females, we’re all close, we have great relationships and we share these moments.”

The original schedule had called for another three-person referee crew with two women for another game later this week. While those plans have since been changed, but Sago is certain this will not be the last game with multiple female officials.

“It’s amazing,” Sago said. “I’m just so proud to be part of an organization that promotes people to do the job based on our abilities, not on our gender, race, ethnicity, those types of things.”

It is not lost on Sago and Schroeder that this glass shattering moment comes amidst a flurry of history making days for women not just in the sports world, but in the world in general.

On Dec. 30, 2021, San Antonio Spurs (9-8) assistant coach Becky Hammon became the first woman to coach an NBA team taking over when head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected in the first half of the team’s 121-107 loss versus the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers (14-4).

One week ago, the U.S. swore in the first woman, first African American woman, and first woman of South Asian dissent in former U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) to the second highest office in our nation’s government.

On Feb. 7, Sarah Thomas will be the first woman to be on the Super Bowl officiating crew when the reigning Super Bowl champion and American Football Conference champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the National Football Conference champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.

This past college football season, Sarah Fuller broke the glass-ceiling in that sport as the first woman to kick a field goal for the Vanderbilt University.

“I wish my daughter was here to see this,” Schroeder said of the history many women are making in our nation. 

This moment was not lost on Hornets head coach James Borrego, who said after his squad’s 117-108 loss at the Magic of the moment, “It’s a special night for our league and for women and I look at somebody like my daughter, who will be watching and it’s a big step.”

“I love that I’m a part of a league that break’s barriers, and tonight I’m proud to be a part of that game.”

Two women that made it possible for this moment are Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer, the league’s first full-time female NBA officials in 1997 when the NBA began utilizing female referees.

Kanter though was the first female NBA official to be fired by the league in 2002, which left Palmer as the lone female referee for the next 12 seasons until the 2016-17 season.

The NBA has had only seven full-time female officials in its history, with five still currently working for the league.

Schroeder became a full-time referee two years ago, and Jelks followed a year later. Before getting promoted to being a full-time NBA official, Schroeder as mentioned spent time in the G League before being promoted to being a full-time NBA game official.

Monday night was a major moment in NBA history with two female officials scheduled to ref an NBA game. With the amount of female referees in the NBA now, it was just a matter of time before this happened. That moment happened on Monday night.

With all the glass ceiling shattering moments we have had in sports and in our world in recent months, it will be more special when seeing two female NBA referees officiating an NBA game will be normal and not just a special moment.

“Very special moment,” NBATV studio analyst and recent newest addition to the WNBA’s Chicago Sky Candace Parker said on Tuesday night’s edition of NBATV’s “Gametime.” “But once again, it’s 2021. We need more of that. This does not need to be a segment in 2022.”

Information and quotations are courtesy of 12/23/2021 www.nba.com story, “NBA Promotes 3 Referees To 2020-21 Officiating Staff;” 1/25/2021 www.mcall.com story, “NBA First: Natalie Sago and Jenna Schroeder To Be Part of Two-Woman Ref Crew,” by Tim Reynolds; 1/25/2021 www.cbssports.com story, “Two Female Referees To Officiate Same Game For First Time In NBA History,” by Chris Bengel; 1/25/2021 www.nba.com story, “Sago, Schroeder Part of NBA’s First Two-Woman Ref Crew,” by Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press; 1/26/2021 1:30 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by Kia with Ro Parrish, Candace Parker, and Steve Smith; https://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameid=401267220; https://www.nbra.net/nba-officials/referee-biographies/natalie-sago/; https://www.espn.com/nba/standings;  https://www.nbra.net/nba-officials/referee-biographies/jenna-schroeder/; https://www.nbra.net/nba-officials/referee-biographies/lauren-holtkamp/; and https://www.nbra.net/nba-officials/referee-biographies/ashley-moyer-gleich/.    

J-Speaks: Two History Making Games By Two-Time NBA MVP

 Because he sat out much of last season mainly due to injury, a number of people seem to have forgotten how great of a player that resides in the Bay Area. Behind a career-high scoring performance and a history making performance, this two-time MVP reminded the sports world how great of a player he has been in his NBA career.

On Jan. 3, two-time Kia MVP and three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors scored a career-high 62 points on 18 for 31 from the field, including 8 for 16 from three-point range and 18 for 19 free throws in 36 minutes in his team’s 137-122 win versus the Portland Trail Blazers. Curry’s previous career-high was 54 points on Feb. 27, 2013 at the New York Knicks.  

Despite a 127-108 loss by the Warriors (8-8) at the Utah Jazz (12-4) on Saturday night, Curry, who had 24 points on 9 for 19 shooting, including 5 for 10 from three-point range, moved passed Hall of Famer Reggie Miller into second place on the NBA’s all-time three-pointers made list, now trailing only Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and the Miami Heat in 2013 at 2,973 made three-pointers.

The six-time All-Star’s career-high scoring night against the Trail Blazers had him join his teammate and five-time All-Star Klay Thompson; the Brooklyn Nets’ James Harden, and the late five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant as the only players in NBA history to score 60 points or more in fewer than 37 minutes in the last 20 NBA seasons.

Thompson, who is out this season because of torn right Achilles sustained back in the middle of November 2020 posted on Twitter with a fire emoji, “Sheeesh @StephenCurry30!! Welcome to the club big bro #62.”

Thompson, a two-time Al-NBA Third Team selection scored 60 points on Dec. 5, 2016 against the Indiana Pacers.

Curry also became the second oldest player at 32 years, 295 days old to score 60 points in a single game in NBA history, as he registered 30 points in the opening half, scoring 21 points in the first quarter. It was his 10^th career 30-point half, scoring 32 points in the second half.

Only Bryant at 37 years, 234 days old registered 60 points at an older age in the last game of his NBA career back in Apr. 2016 versus ironically enough the Jazz. Third on that list is the late great Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlin, who scored 60-plus at 32 years, 172 days old in February 1969.  

This game also represented the 27^th time the eight-time All-NBA selection scored 20 or more in a quarter in his soon to be Hall of Fame career.

“I love it. I love everything about what this game offers, the competitiveness and the fire,” Curry said after the win. “I never run from it. Just excited to be in that atmosphere where I get to play at the highest level and do what I do.”

These moments have been a long time coming for Curry, who missed 60 of the Warriors 65 games a season ago, 58 of them because of broken left hand sustained in the team’s 121-110 loss versus the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 30, 2020.

There have been times this season where the 32-year-old looked like the player that won back-to-back MVPs, with his second straight by unanimous decision in 2015-16. There have been other times that he has looked human, mainly because the supporting cast around him is different, and as mentioned his fellow “Splash Brother” in Thompson is not on the court with him to divert the attention of the opposing team’s defense.

So seeing him smack the floor and scream in delight, close his eyes and show off an open-mouthed grin at his brother-in-law and teammate Damion Lee as he poured water over his head after his stellar performance against the Trail Blazers earlier this month makes doing what it took to get back on the court after being limited to playing just five games in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic shortened season of 2019-20 and a 2020-21 season with no fans in the second season of the Warriors home the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA.  

“When you have something to be excited about, you kind of feed off your own energy,” Curry said, adding the “great ones” learn how to block out the critics and embrace the expectations.

While playing professional sports may come with critics, it also comes with fans and former great players who will give you your respect when you show that you have earned it.

Miller showed that respect and appreciation when Curry passed him into second place on the NBA’s all-time three-pointers made list at the Jazz on Saturday night.

“We speak for a lot of people around the world. No. 1, congratulations. This is an unbelievable achievement,” Miller, current television color analyst for NBATV/NBA on TNT said virtually to Curry after the game with his seven-year-old son Ryker sitting in his lap. “The work is not done. Obviously, I know you’re chasing Ray [Allen]. But you are an inspiration to so many little ones, like mine. And I’m just so proud of all the work because I know what goes into that.”

“The Millers are very proud of you, especially this little guy [Ryker]. He is your No. 1 fan. Thank you so much for what you have done my friend.”

Curry, who reached that mark in 674 fewer games than Miller, said in response it meant a lot to receive that congratulations from the Hall of Famer, and while he knows that he still has a lot more three-pointers left to shoot in his NBA career, to live out that “competitive juice,” to put in that consistent work to become a great shooter at the highest level of competitive basketball, and to follow in the footsteps of legendary shooter like Miller meant a great deal to Curry.

“I appreciate the support,” Curry said to Miller. “If I’m chasing any record, to have two guys [Miller and Allen] that have reached back and encourage me the way you all have, it means a lot. So, I’ll pass that torch on as well. But I appreciate you man. Thanks for all the support. It means a lot.”

Miller did stoke that competitive flame also saying to Curry to not leave any room because his son if he does play professionally could catch him on the all-time three-pointers made list.

Curry responded by saying, “All records are meant to be broken.”

This proud moment between a Hall of Famer and a future Hall of Famer showing appreciation for one another is an example of greatness appreciating greatness. Also, a lot of our world having to be done virtually, Miller got the chance to congratulate Curry after he surpassed him on the all-time three-pointers made list with one of his biggest fans in his son Ryker also getting to show a player that he enjoys watching that same respect and appreciation.

Curry also got props from a former Cavalier in now NBATV analyst Channing Frye, who said on Saturday night’s edition of NBATV’s “Gametime” that those Warriors teams they lost to in three of their four Finals tilts were “one of the toughest” he had ever seen play.

Frye even went on to say jokingly that he had “no business” being on the court when the Cavs played against the Warriors squads, who moved at a speed on both ends that was next level.

Frye said that he had an inkling of Curry becoming something of this nature from a conversation with former Suns General Manager and now Warriors head coach Steve Kerr talking about Curry while he was a collegian at the University of Davidson. That he was the next big thing coming, which he ended proving right.

“To where he is now has been awesome,” Frye said of Curry’s NBA career.

It can be easy to forget how good an athlete, especially a professional one is when they have not played at a certain level that we are accustomed to seeing them when they are in our consciousness for a lengthy period of time.

Stephen Curry was out of our consciousness for nearly all of last season because of broken left hand and without him or Klay Thompson, the Warriors fell off the NBA map going 15-50 a season ago.

With his career-high night of 62 points and climbing to second place on the NBA’s all-time three-pointers made list, Curry got back into the consciousness of the sports landscape. It is unclear whether he can lead the Golden State Warriors back to a championship. But it will not be because he and his teammates did not put the work or dedication into that effort.

Stephen Curry is a Hall of Famer. He will go down as one of the best players and shooters to ever play in the NBA. More than anything, he will go down as one of the most competitive, dedicated, and honorable players to ever play in the National Basketball Association.

“You heard him say he still has a lot more in the tank. He wants to continue to climb up the charts. I think it’s amazing what he’s been able to accomplish,” NBATV’s Stephanie Ready said.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 1/24/2021 1:30 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by State Farm with Stephanie Ready, Greg Anthony, and Channing Frye; 1/24/2021 2 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Neil Everett and Stan Verrett; https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameid=401267252;  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klay_Thompson; https://fanbuzz.com/nba/reggie-miller-wife/; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Curry. 

J-Speaks: The Growing Pains For Brooklyn Nets New "Big Three"

When the Brooklyn Nets traded for a perennial All-Star and former league MVP to reunite him with his former teammates with the Oklahoma City Thunder and their perennial All-Star point guard, they put themselves in the conversation of being a real contender for the NBA title this season and the following season. While they have shown offensively that they can compete with the best in the NBA, they showed in two of their first three games together that they have to get on the same page not just offensively but defensively as well.

The Nets (10-8) in their first game with their new trio of perennial All-Stars Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden on Wednesday night, they sparkled offensively combining for 96 points, but it was a 147-135 loss at the Cleveland Cavaliers (8-7), which snapped their four-game winning streak.

Durant was incredible with 38 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, and four block shots on 12 for 25 shooing and 11 for 13 from the free throw line. Irving, in his first game back after a five-game absence because of personal reasons/Coronavirus (COVID-19) health and safety protocols had 37 points and three block shots on 15 for 28 shooting. Harden had a triple-double in his first three games with the Nets with 21 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds, and two steals on 6 for 14 shooting.

Offensively, the Nets “Big Three” was spectacular as Durant had his fifth double-double on the season. His 11^th straight game of 25-plus points, which is tied for No. 3 in NBA history by a player in his 13^th season or longer.

Harden had his second triple-double in his first three games as a Net.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the big scoring nights by Durant and Irving was the first time in Nets history to have two players scored at least 35 points and have a teammate register a triple-double in a single-game.

When it came to crunch time though, the Nets trio combined to scored 22 points on 7 for 17 shooting in clutch time (score within five points the final five minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime), with Irving and Harden combining to shoot 4 for 13 in that stretch.

Harden according to Second Spectrum, ran 14 of the Nets’ 34 isolation plays in the loss at the Cavaliers. In the three minutes Harden was on the floor by himself, the Nets point differential was a -11.

When Irving was on the floor with Harden for five minutes, the Nets point differential was a -3. When he was on the floor with Durant for eight minutes, the Nets were a -7.

The Harden/Durant combination, who played together with the Thunder for from 2009-12 worked the best as in their seven minutes on the court, the Nets were a +6.

With all the Nets new “Big Three” on the floor together, the Nets were a +3 in their 36 minutes.

The Nets on this night really got taken to the cleaners defensively as the Cavaliers shot 51.4 percent from the field, 20/40 (50 percent) from three-point range. They turned 16 Nets turnovers into 21 points. Outscored the Nets in the paint 64-48 and 20-17 in second change points. The 147 points the Cavaliers registered is the third most in franchise history.

Collin Sexton really gave the Nets problems all night long as he scored a career-high 42 points on 16 for 29 from the field with five assists, and five boards on 16 for 29 from the field, including 5 for 11 from three-point range. He scored at one point 20 straight points from the first overtime to the second overtime, with 15 of those points on 4 for 5 from three-point range coming in the second five minutes, where the Nets were outscored by the Cavaliers 20-8 in the second overtime.

In clutch time Sexton scored 21 points, the most by a Cavs player in the last 25 seasons.  

As well as Sexton played in the Nets loss on Wednesday night, he was not the only Cavalier giving them problems. Cedi Osman had 25 points with seven rebounds and seven assists on 4 for 9 from three-point range. Jarrett Allen, who along with Taurean Prince who were dealt to the Cavaliers in the deal for Harden played well also with Allen registering 12 points, 11 rebounds and four block shots. Prince had 17 points and seven boards making 3 for 5 from three-point range.

“We’re not so much consumed on what we can do. We’re more less responsible for putting these pieces together and making it work,” Irving said postgame. “And clearly offensively it clearly wasn’t enough tonight, you know. We still needed to get stops on the other end. So, that’s going to be the tale of our season is how committed are we to that end of the floor.”

Harden echoed those same sentiments saying that it is all about “learning” from your mistakes in those losses and repeating those same mistakes. He did say the team is headed in the right direction, and with film to watch on how they can improve, especially defensively when it comes to switching and grasping the defensive principles of first-year head coach in Hall of Famer Steve Nash.

“This journey together is going to be fun,” Durant said postgame. “It was a tough first start, especially it was an up-and-down game for us. But I like where we are.”

Things did not get better for the Nets on Friday night as they dropped another one to the Cavaliers 125-113, suffering their second straight loss, sustaining consecutive losses to a LeBron James-less Cavaliers squad for the first time since 2003. The Cavaliers have won the first two games of the season series and earned their third straight win overall.

The Nets were without Durant, who sat out for rest as he is coming back from a ruptured Achilles sustained 18 months back in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors.

Irving scored a season-high 38 points on 14 for 24 from the field, including 4 for 9 from three-point range. Harden had 19 points, 11 assists and five rebounds, also going 4 for 9 from three-point range.

Irving scored 25-plus points for the eighth time in his nine games played this season and scored 35-plus points in consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 2015 while with the Cavaliers.

While the Nets scored 110-plus points for the 11^th straight game, adding to their franchise record, they were outscored in the paint again 70-46; were out-rebounded 50-29, including 13-6 on the offensive glass, and were outscored 18-7 in second chance points.

Sexton had another strong game with 25 points and nine assists. Drummond, who had 13 points and seven rebounds versus the Nets on Wednesday had 19 points, 16 rebounds, and two steals on Friday night. Allen also had 19 points with six rebounds against his former team. Larry Nance, Jr. also had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Prince had 14 points.

While the Cavaliers came back to earth from three-point range going 8 for 25 on Friday night versus the Nets, they still shot over 50 percent from the floor again at 51.7.

To put how bad the Nets have been defensively in their two-game set at the Cavaliers, they have been out-rebounded 100-81; been outscored in the paint 134-94; and outscored 38-24 in second-chance points. The 134 points allowed in the paint represents the most by the Nets in a two-game span in the last 25 years.

“Just showing up to the gym is not good enough,” Nash said postgame after the Nets second loss at the Cavaliers. “We’re playing people that I think are excited to play and compete against our team, and they’re going to bring it every night, and we have to match that.”

The Nets did get back on track on Saturday night with a 128-124 win versus the Miami Heat (6-9), snapping their two-game losing streak, and improving to 3-2 with the arrival of Harden, including a 1-1 mark with Durant, Irving, and Harden in the lineup.

Durant had 31 points on 11 for 19 from the field, including 4 for 7 from three-point range with two block shots. Irving had 18 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter with seven assists, and six rebounds on 10 for 17 from the field, including 3 for 5 from three-point range. Harden had another double-double with 12 points and 11 assists, with seven boards.

Durant had his five straight game scoring 30-plus points and registered his 12^th straight game with 25-plus points, a new Nets record, surpassing the eight straight such games by former then New Jersey Net Hall of Famer Bernard King in 1979. Durant’s 13 games of 20-plus points to start this season is also a new Nets record, surpassing the eight straight by Irving last season and by former Net Richard Jefferson. 

While the Nets gave up over 120 points again, they did out-rebound the Heat 50-45; were only outscored in the paint 46-44 and in second chance points 9-8. Their three-point defense was also better as the Heat shot just 13 for 46 (28.3 percent) from three-point range.

Two other main issues for the Nets since the trade has been turnovers and finding offensive balance. They committed 17 turnovers versus the Heat on Saturday night that led to 22 points to the visitors.

In their first loss at the Cavaliers, Jeff Green, who was 4 for 7 from three-point range and DeAndre Jordan were the only other Nets to score in double figures with 16 and 13 points respectably.

Only two other Nets scored in double figures in the second loss at the Cavaliers on Friday night when Green scored 13 points, while Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot had 11 points, going 3 for 7 from three-point range.

When the Nets made the deal for James Harden to team up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on Jan. 14, it was clear that the Brooklyn Nets want to be in the mix as an NBA title contender.

On paper, this is trio has the makings of doing something special, especially on offense.

The Nets have scored as mentioned 110-plus points in a team-record no 12 consecutive games, including scoring 120-plus points in their last four home games.

The trio of Durant, Irving, and Harden also in the early stages of their maturation respect and want to make this work.

“Playing the game that love, I’m grateful. So, I never take it for granted, and then also to be, you know, playing with Kevin Durant, James Harden—just those names alone, you know, just those names alone right now, just like we’re having some fun. But it’s not just about us, and I’ll always say that.”  

If the Nets want to make their championship dreams a reality with the trio of Durant, Irving, and Harden, their commitment to playing consistent defense as well as being more balanced and efficient at the offensive end has to be better.

The Nets had given up at least 120 points seven times this season. Their 134 totals points in the paint allowed in the two games at the Cavaliers most in any two-game span since at least the 1996-97 season. Their 16.9 second chance points allowed entering their tilt versus the Heat ranked dead last in the league.  

“We’ve got a lot of things to work on. There’s a lot to clean up,” Coach Nash said on Friday night about the Nets road ahead with the “Big Three.” “It’s very early. It’s relatively new. Having Ky [Irving] back after two weeks. James joining the team. Kevin sitting out tonight. It’s a lot thrown at us.”

“I don’t want to overreact but we are going to urge the guys to clean up as much as we can the hustle. But just schematically, just continue to refine and get better.”  

Also, Harden playing a career-high 50:30 minutes; Durant playing 50:09 minutes, the most in a regular-season game since 2015; and Irving playing a career-high 48:22 minutes by seven seconds just will not cut it. They need to have as much energy and focus as possible come playoff time if they want to win it all this late spring.

“You know, we know what the outside world expects of us. That’s going to happen,” Irving said postgame on Friday night. “Those ups and downs are going to happen. One day were great, the next day were not. That’s just luxury of being in a great business such as this, and I say that very sarcastically.”

Harden added, “We’re very good at scoring, you know. We’ve got to, you know, round up some stops. And once we get that going, then we’ll be, you know, elite on both ends of the ball. Right now, our problem is defense.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of scored via 1/21/2021 1:30 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Matt Winer, Greg Anthony, and Candace Parker; 1/21/2021 2 a.m. ESPN news crawl and “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Neil Everett and Stan Verrett, with report from Tim Legler; 1/22/2021 2 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by State Farm with Stephanie Ready, Steve Smith, and Channing Frye; 1/23/2021 8 p.m. “Miami Heat versus Brooklyn Nets” on Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network with Ryan Ruocco, Sarah Kustok, and Michael Grady; 1/23/2021 12:30 a.m. ESPN news crawl and “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Neil Everett and Stan Verrett https://www.nba.com/game/bkn-vs-cle-0022000216; https://www.nba.com/game/bkn-vs-cle-0022000232; https://www.nba.com/game/mia-vs-bkn-0022000244; and https://www.espn.com/nba/matchup?gameid=401267404.