Alonzo Mourning does not want to play in New Jersey, trying to get the Nets to buy out his existing contract because the team’s penny-pinching new ownership dismantled the contending team he thought he was joining when he signed the deal last year.
After the team’s dismal performance last night, Mourning’s desire to be moved can only have been intensified.
“We got out [butts] kicked,” the center said after the Nets were run out of the Meadowlands in a 112-80 loss to the 3-0 Suns. “We didn’t guard nobody. We got out [butts] kicked. We got beat by damn near 40 points. And when that happens, evidently you didn’t guard anybody.”
In 18 minutes of action, Mourning – who played in his first-back-to-back games since returning from a kidney transplant last December – scored 12 points and ripped down seven rebounds, tying Richard Jefferson for the team high in the latter category.
But the gospel according to No. 33 last night was not about what the Nets did on the offensive end. Their demise, he said, was strictly because of their inability to prevent the visitors from scoring at will.
“It wasn’t the offense; it was defense,” Mourning said. “When you got somebody scoring 100-something points on your home court, then you’re not guarding anybody. You’re not stopping anybody. It’s not your offense.
“I’ve been a part of teams when we didn’t rely on the offense and we won 60-something games,” he added. “It’s not about that. It’s about keeping your opponent from scoring, and that’s what we didn’t do.”
Mourning was at fault as much as anybody as the Suns torched the Nets under the hoop, paced by clearly more athletic center Amare Stoudemire, who scored 22 points. Forwards Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion combined for 31 points and went to the basket without much opposition.
Defense wasn’t the only culprit as the Nets fell to 1-2 on the season, 0-2 on their home floor.
“Effort,” Mourning said. “And we’re not guarding anybody. So with that said, we got our [butts] kicked. You can’t guard nobody, you get your [butt] kicked.”