Saturday November 4th, 2017 was a great day for Long Island basketball. It marked the return of professional basketball on Long Island. The Long Island Nets had a celebration and was welcomed by a nice crowd of fans that were anxious to witness the debut of #longislandsteam as they took on the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (the NBA affiliate team of the Indiana Pacers) in their season opener. It was the Nets that dominated from wire to wire. Late in the 4th the ‘Ants made a run to bring the game within 2 points but then the Nets went on a surge lead by the NBA’s affiliate team’s Isaiah Whitehead
In short the Mad Ants were overmatched from the start as Isaiah Whitehead from the Brooklyn had his way to the basket anytime he pleased. It became the Isaiah Whitehead show. As he lit it up from all over the court, and effortlessly finishing at the rim. (As Seen in video below)
But that wasn’t it, Isaiah made everyone around him better also. his main recipient was Kamari Murphy. Whitehead commanded so much attention that agile and active Murphy benefited by slashing to the basket and popping out to the open spots where Whitehead found him every time. Thus having Murphy finish as the 2nd high man on the Nets with 21 points.
(See Murphy’s highlights below)
The Nets’ scoring tandem of Whitehead and Murphy was too much for the ‘Ants to overcome, because every time the ‘Ant’s made a run these two would answer. Long Island also had the return of LI native J.J. Moore to celebrate.
JJ was well recieved by the fans and scored 2 points in limited minutes J.J. But was a fan favorite.
All in All the breakout party was a great success as the Nets handled their business, the fans and families had fun and most importantly the Nets won by the score of Long Island Nets 115 to the Mad Ants 99.
Check out the video of Dr J being honored with his jersey being retired at the All-new NYCB Live Nassau Veterans Coliseum.
