Daily Southtown (Sunday)

Nets’ Atkinson out in surprise move

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Kenny Atkinson won’t have the chance to coach Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving together in Brooklyn.

The Nets surprising­ly split with their coach Saturday, even as they remain on track for a second consecutiv­e playoff berth.

The announceme­nt came less than 12 hours after Atkinson guided the Nets to a 139-120 rout of the Spurs. General manager Sean Marks said he and Atkinson had been talking long before that about what was best for the Nets, and they finally concluded it wasn’t their fourth-year coach.

James speaks out against contingenc­y:

The NBA wants its teams to prepare to play games without fans if necessary because of the coronaviru­s crisis, but LeBron James already says he won’t play in an empty arena.

“We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible,” said James after scoring 37 points in the Lakers’ 113-103 win over the leaguelead­ing Bucks on Friday

Kenny Atkinson is out as Nets coach with just a few weeks left in the season. night. “I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for. I play for my teammates, and I play for the fans. That’s what it’s all about.”

Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokoun­mpo is getting a precaution­ary MRI on his left knee, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowsk­i reported.

The league’s reigning MVP landed hard on the floor and tweaked the knee in the second half against the Lakers, but he remained in the game and finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds.

Just checking:

 ?? MARY SCHWALM/AP ??
MARY SCHWALM/AP

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