The Nets concluded their season last night with a 111-
108 loss to the Cavaliers, their 11th straight defeat, and
now a "power struggle apparently is under way between the
Nets ownership and the YankeeNets parent company, with
executives of the latter ... eager to clean house entirely,"
according to John Brennan of the Bergen RECORD. Last night,
President Michael Rowe criticized unnamed YankeeNets execs
for talking about the state of the franchise in the media.
Rowe: "The thing that adds to the disappointment of [this
season] is the unnamed officials who have an interest in
making our organization look like it is in a state of chaos.
We've had record sponsor sales, we've had record ticket
sales this year. I think the foundation of our organization
is sounder than it has ever been" (Bergen RECORD, 4/20).
Rowe: "The time to evaluate the team is never anonymous and
you do it privately. People don't realize that. Maybe
they're new, maybe they're leaky, cowardly types but it is
disappointing to see a lot of hard work smeared in the
newspapers" (N.Y. POST, 4/20). Under the header, "YankeeNets
Facing A Civil War," Jerry Izenberg writes that when
"measured against the simmering cauldron that bubbles within
the uneasy framework of that embryo partnership called
YankeeNets," the Nets' firings will "mean very little in the
long run." Izenberg, on the multiple personalities in
YankeeNets: "This is a group whose entities merged
themselves into an allegedly seamless partnership that,
given the egos involved, could erupt into open heart surgery
if the wrong speed bumps appear" (STAR-LEDGER, 4/20).
