Kenyon Martin Reflects on the 2000s Nets with Kenny Anderson, Derrick Coleman & Buck Williams

Kenyon Martin Reflects on the 2000s Nets with Kenny Anderson, Derrick Coleman & Buck Williams

my first day of training camp is the worst day of my career no the very first drill that I did as a NBA player it’s called easy run oxymoron ain’t nothing easy about it right right yeah put like 25 minutes on the clock line up so free throw line no no that would be cool just run right tell me to run cool no not this drill you line up free throw line extended two lines time on the clock mhm you say go hands up you got to run down defensive slide at the end okay hey get to the corner back pedal back pedal slide go do some listen dog woo 25 minutes calves everybody listen the second practice that day dog dude you saw the So dudes walked in there like I couldn’t even move man i was like “Oh my god this is what the league is [Music] oh wow that’s too much what you guys experienced in the finals that’s what I want to know your experience in the finals uh you’ve been twice twice back to back um that’s amazing i’ve been twice also i was curious as to what your thoughts on that Nets find of course we getting Jay Kid coming in for my second year um trading Steph Kid um first year we we were fortunate to get past Indiana in the first round reggie them martin got it and the foul tough playoff series throughout but ran in the shack man a1 of the world not the Lakers like Ren and Shaq yeah a1 of the world like it was one of them man where you don’t know what to do but see a lot of people don’t get that cuz I’ve been to the finals twice man sometimes you run into guys like Michael Jordan right and people like what what do you do wrong dude you run against one of the greatest players ever played the game like same thing you’re saying like Shaq you then we run into Isel Thomas and Dum Mars dude come on man you run into like so my first two games I played decent then we go back home game three I had 26 game four I had 35 right I’m a I’m a 23 year old kid 24 year old kid right in the finals against me and JK cool but we we got RJ a rookie we got like Keith Van Horn like but it’s like we some decent players but we ain’t got nobody for him right well he pulled it down on us the whole basket he pulled the whole basket down on us yeah he was mad we were playing because again our competitive nature we all out there playing we We talking trash to each other so you know and Shaq’s from North so you know he’s out there he’s going he like “Yeah I’m I’m going to get 50 in here.” I said “You going to get 50?” As long as I’m in the game you ain’t your big ass ain’t going to get 50 he got 48 though no so he talking he talking best to me buck i punch it on him and then gave him the finger the Kimbe stole that from me i’m the first person to give him the finger like “Yo get out of here.” Here comes again kenyan Martin the oneman fast break is what Paul Pierce calls Jason Kid and the score is Kenny Anderson right corner drives past Aaron Williams into the middle little push shot is good [Music] coming back home you know coming back to you know New Jersey and everything i was excited but um we came back uh 20 we came back from 26 26 and we we beat them who was all on your team me Paul Pierce Antoine Walter yeah we beat them and we came back and uh it was amazing game but um we thought I thought we thought we had the series i thought y had that was I I thought I thought their heads was down coming us coming back defeating them like that they was But they they turned they they turned it up i don’t know the fact that we got up on y’all 20 on y’all floor yeah we knew we wasn’t like we were like “All right we dead.” We got in the back we was like “We let this get away.” Yeah right that’s the We didn’t say nothing hey we let this one get away of this game the pace is good for both teams get going to Martin great passing the needle for Jason them playing against this team that you was on then playing them again with Twan and them dudes man like just once one of them things man you looking at the dudes they really good and you gauging yourself you know how you gauge yourself against allars and you figure out certain matchups or certain people doesn’t take nothing against Tuan like I just Yeah i figured him out right so I I figured him out and I figured the league out early right so if you wasn’t a lot of guys you’re not more athletic than me right you’re not going to play harder than me and you ain’t go and you ain’t tougher than me out here so y’all lose right each night I looked at every individual match up and and I looked at Twan was allar he was one of them dudes that I was Yeah but we was playing Twan in the playoffs he playing okay but I was y’all was man all they could do was foul like they the T and they was throwing they was they was trying to small forwards on Eric Williams they trying everybody on me right barbecue chicken that’s what Hey and all they can do is try to file right right damn we got J Kid is just he making it easy as well man but that that series you know we thought we could beat cuz that in the season we just beat up fourth straight we beat y’all but y’all was ready y’all was straight ready and the New Jersey Nets have won the Eastern Conference Championship they are going to the NBA finals for the first time in franchise history that just fueled the next season going into next year man we got off Yeah was able to make it back and ran into San Antonio tim Duncan like that the way he was playing at the time man um we split in San Antonio one and two we won game two on their floor we go back home that’s when the fin it was 232 yeah yeah we lose two of the three at home mhm yeah and yeah they closed us out in six so no we had a chance man but most proud of for that team man um how we did it we didn’t do it in a traditional way of playing where we had a a 25 point score no we didn’t have that right we had balance across the board we ran we defended we played fast and we gave Nets fans that hadn’t had nothing to cheer for in a long time like we gave them something to cheer for and knowing what the Knicks were and have and be the be the team of in the area you know like and to play them in the playoffs and then sweep them one year so it was crazy it was great man to be able to walk around here in the city in New Jersey with your head held high and he gets it

In Episode 2 of One Night in Brooklyn, presented by Beam Suntory, Kenyon Martin, Derrick Coleman, Kenny Anderson, and Buck Williams reflect on the Nets’ early 2000s era. Kenyon dives into what made those teams special, while Derrick shares a classic story about dunking on Shaq.

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