Nets and Fans Silenced in Home Opener
A sellout crowd that brought initial electricity to the Prudential Center was quickly quieted by a dominant Atlanta Hawks team playing their first official game since being eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Chicago Bulls in May. It did not <a href="http://www.womenfashionbag.com/new-coach-tote-bag-whiteblack-model-11098360-p-19543.html"><strong>coaching institute</strong></a> matter that the Hawks hit traffic and arrived late to the arena; they romped from start to finish. Overwhelmingly positive vibes for Kris Humphries, who was under vocal attack from opposing fans in New York and Washington following the end of his brief marriage to the reality TV star Kim Kardashian, turned negative against the Nets when Jeff Teague buried a 3-pointer to put the Hawks up by 57-30 early in the third quarter. Deron Williams (10 points, 1 assist) struggled both shooting the ball and helping his teammates. Aside from scoring spurts by the rookie MarShon Brooks (17 points), the Nets were overmatched. For the second straight night, the Nets struggled mightily out of the gate and fell behind, 8-0. In what could serve as an early study of the effect of back-to-back games during the lockout-shortened season, they trailed, 28-11, after one quarter. The Hawks looked physically imposing and fresh in their season opener. Vladamir Radmanovic led the way with 17 points. Marvin Williams made a case that a 3-pointer early in the first quarter can be a backbreaker. Josh Smith was loose and engaged, his athleticism <a href="http://www.womenfashionbag.com/gucci-hysteria-large-top-handle-bag-chocolate-guccissima-leath-p-19854.html"><strong>chanel bag online</strong></a> a controlled weapon. An ageless Tracy McGrady attacked the rim. And Teague put the Hawks up by 52-30 at halftime by calmly hitting a long, stepback 3-pointer. Humphries got a loud ovation from the crowd during player introductions, perhaps matched only by the ovation given to Deron Williams, and a “We love Humphries!” chant broke out after he scored his first points of the night. Humphries fielded questions before the game on the strange attention he has been receiving. Mostly joking, he suggested that the home fans might boo him too. “Maybe if that’s what they think motivates me, they’ll do it,” he said. Humphries’s treatment is the end product of a bizarre spectacle that took place at the Prudential Center last season, when Kardashian, then his girlfriend, made her presence felt courtside. Kardashian’s show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” moves the American cultural needle to the point that People magazine’s Web site wrote about Humphries’s performance Monday. The Nets last season simultaneously capitalized on the reality TV boom by hosting the stars of “Jersey Shore” among the small Prudential Center crowds. On one bizarrely memorable evening last January, Nicole Polizzi, known as Snooki, the pint-size cultural touchstone of “Jersey Shore,” sat with Kardashian. But with the way the Hawks controlled the game, the Humphries appreciation party was never more than an appetizer. Late in the third quarter, a “We want Howard!” chant enveloped the Prudential Center from fans yearning for the <a href="http://www.womenfashionbag.com/miu-miu-handbag-leather-light-tan09606560-p-19172.html"><strong>leather handbags</strong></a> Magic’s Dwight Howard. Rebounds The former Yankee Bernie Williams played a stirring acoustic rendition of the national anthem and a halftime concert with his band for fans in attendance.
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