NET NOTES
TRENTON – Keith Van Horn said he wanted to hear criticism directly from Byron Scott. Instead, others told him or he read about it in the papers.
Then after his final game as a Net before he was traded to Philadelphia, Van Horn felt he was made a “scapegoat” by Kenyon Martin for the Finals loss to the Lakers.
Van Horn was stung that his teammate chose to “sell out” on him. Martin after the Finals Game 4 ripped teammates who didn’t play hard. Then universal feeling made Van Horn the chief target.
“When I was in New Jersey I never would sell out on a teammate,” said Van Horn. “If I want to be critical of someone, always I would much rather [go face to face].
“I wasn’t the type of guy to go out and say those things. It was easy for people to make me out to be a scapegoat because they knew I wasn’t going to come out and rip . . . If you have a problem, you should go to the individual.”
After the Sixers’ morning prep in Philly, Van Horn showed frustration, irritation and disappointment about aspects of his time in New Jersey. But last there was satisfaction: he scored 21 points in 23 minutes as Philly routed the 24-turnover infested Nets, 118-89.
The Nets were without Martin (hyper-extended left knee).
“Obviously, going up against your old team and beating them, that’s gratifying,” Van Horn said. “I shook hands with just about everybody [including Scott]. I don’t think there’s any animosity.”
Van Horn told how he sent thank-you notes to numerous members of the Nets’ organization – but not Scott. Van Horn seemed ticked that he did not hear from Scott after his trade to Philly with Todd MacCulloch for Dikembe Mutombo.
“If I would have gotten a phone call, maybe [he would have sent Scott a thank you]. I sent them to the people I was closest with,” said Van Horn. “For whatever reason, Byron and I never really communicated . . . Any coach I ever had, if they had something critical [to say] about me, they would say it to me first.”
Scott said that he often criticized Van Horn as motivation.
“I would tell him beforehand, sometimes I would let him hear about it, then talk to him,” Scott said. “He either heard it before or after. Keith was the type of guy if you criticized him in the papers he would come out and play.”
Said Martin, “That’s in the past. It’s over.”
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Martin suffered his knee injury Monday and insisted it was “nothing serious” and that he would have played had it been a regular-season game.
“There were a bunch of bodies, we were running a pick and roll,” Martin said. “I picked, but couldn’t roll.” A precautionary MRI revealed no damage.