BROOKLYN -- It was a heart-wrenching scene.
During the dying seconds of the third quarter, Caris LeVert was chasing down Chris Paul in an effort to keep the Nets’ deficit to under 10 when the Rockets’ Nene levelled the second-year guard on a controversial and vicious screen. LeVert was taken off the court and was ruled out for the rest of the game as he was being evaluated for a possible concussion.
After Brooklyn’s 123-113 loss, both the coaching staff and players revealed that the moment clearly affected the result.
“I think it moved all of us,” Kenny Atkinson said after the game. “I think we’re all affected, but we’re professionals and guys moved on, obviously we missed Caris the player. He was playing really well, so that was a big blow.”
DeMarre Carroll, never one to call out officiating, vented out his frustrations with the way the situation was handled.
“Caris went down and it sucked the life out of us,” Carroll said before explaining his emotions. “You know when you’re a father and something happens to your kid at day care? I was feeling like getting thrown out just because of that fact [the nature of the play].
“In the end of the day, I felt like we don’t know if it’s legal or illegal…They [the referees] could show us some decency and watch it [the play] on film – just to see [if it was legal]. But that’s neither here nor there. We just have to carry by and hopefully, he’ll be back with us soon.”