Kenny Atkinson on Nets beating out Knicks in Free Agency: 'It's childish if you look at it that way'

Brooklyn's head coach didn't want to stoked the fire in the Knicks-Nets rivalry.

Kyrie Irving got into his dream team. The star player gets a chance to compete against the Knicks on Friday, after his highest-scoring debut in NBA history on Wednesday with 50 points.

While the Nets had a 127-126 overtime loss to the Timberwolves, Irving had shot 17 out of 33 without no turnovers while his teammates had 31 of 68 with 16 turnovers. The team dug out of a 18-point hole in the first half that got them to 68 points.

This brings attention to Nets fans to look out for Friday’s game against the Knicks. What’s exciting for Irving is the team will have a special Irving jersey giveaway. 

Atkinson and the team hasn’t commented publicly with any details for the game after beating the Knicks in the free agency.

 “I think that’s quite honestly childish if you look at it that way,” Atkinson said. “I think we were fortunate, and things went our way.” 

Coach Kenny Atkinson looks at how the team is built after adding Irving and he wouldn’t mind seeing Irving performed again from Wednesday’s game.

  “I’d love to see the same Kyrie,” Atkinson said after practice on Thursday. “I thought his energy was great. The big thing is how’s he gonna recover from 38 minutes?”

Whatever happens on Friday night will be a game Irving will never forget.

 “I can’t wait until both teams are playing at a really high level,” Atkinson said. “It’s a great rivalry without that but you want it like Yankees and Mets when both teams were really good. [I’d] love to see that.”