When Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown were teammates in Boston, they admittedly “butted heads” according to Brown. But while Irving was suspended recently by the Nets, Brown was one of his more vocal supporters — and Sunday night Irving said the Celtic star was like family.
“He’s a brother of mine,” Irving said. “Grateful that we’ve built a relationship off the court. True warriors when we go against each other. In Boston, we got a chance to get to know each other on a deeper level. So, again, I’m just grateful that we’ve been able to build on top of the very foundation of aligning on us how we live our lives and how we treat people. So, it’s been good. He’s a brother [of mine].”
Irving was suspended by the Nets for eight games without pay for promoting an anti-Semitic movie on social media and refusing to apologize. At the time, Brown — who, like Irving is a vice president of the National Basketball Players Association — defended his former teammate.
“I don’t believe Kyrie Irving is anti-Semitic. I don’t think people in our governing bodies think he’s anti-Semitic. He made a mistake,” Brown told the Boston Globe.
After T.J. Warren logged 16:38 in his Nets debut on Friday — his first NBA game since Dec. 29, 2020 — he played 17:53 on Sunday. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn expects a similar minutes limit for the immediate future before gradually increasing it.
“Yeah, he’s somewhere around there. I don’t have a lockstep number, but seems like that 17 around there felt pretty good for him,” Vaughn said. “Maybe we start inching that up a little bit, hopefully. We want him to feel good for a little bit of a stretch before we do.”
Former Net Blake Griffin — who signed with Boston in the offseason — got a mildly surprising tribute video between the first and second quarters.
“True professional. I think he’s added to their group, to their locker room,” Vaughn said of Griffin, the only Celtic to not play Sunday. “Having guys like that [being] a part of your team that have been in playoff games and in meaningful games, there’s something to it. … That’s the kind of guy you want in your locker room.”
Ben Simmons (calf strain), Edmond Sumner, (glute) and Yuta Watanabe (hamstring) were all out.
After missing a predetermined three games, Simmons will be evaluated Monday.
“We’ll see. Off day [Monday]. They didn’t tell me anything differently. He’ll come in even on the off day, get some treatment,” Vaughn said. “Day by day now unless they tell me otherwise. But they haven’t said yes or no to what’s next.”
Watanabe missed his eighth straight. Sumner, who took a hard fall on Friday, does not appear to have a long-term injury.
“No, more precautionary than anything. Go day by day. … We’ll give it another day,” said Vaughn, teasing a possible return for Sumner on Wednesday against Charlotte.
Robert Williams III (knee), Marcus Smart (left hip contusion) and Danilo Gallinari (knee) were out for Boston.
