 to another Kyrie Irving 26 points tonight 24 of them in the first half finished 10 of 16 from the floor and was a game high plus 32. Let's hear from the next starting point guard. Ky, first game in the start of a long journey for your team. How good did it feel to go out there and execute the way you guys did this evening? So good. You know, it's basketball. So I'm grateful we lost. Yeah, no, I was saying that I'm grateful every time I step out on that floor. You know, to go out there and play with great teammates, great guys that love the game and just be a part of, you know, a brotherhood and the NBA where we just go out and just do what we love to do. You know, it's an honor that I don't take lightly. And, you know, every time I go out there, I'm putting off my family from my community for the native and black indigenous community that I represent and the Brooklyn Nets and New Jersey. So it was a great start to a long journey. And I know Nets fans are waiting for us to continue this. And I'm looking forward to it. Craig Logan, Newsday. Hi, Kyrie. I know you can't do this every night, but the way you guys start with 40 points in the first quarter, you and Kate both on fire. What does that say about how ready you guys were mentally to get this show on the road and what do you think it says for the future? Well, for the future, we just got away and see, you know, I don't want to put, you know, too many unrealistic expectations on something that's just getting started. And it's such a sensitive time in the world and our families come first. But when we step here on this floor, you know, when we're checking in for our jobs every single day as artists or athletes, you know, we take it very serious and we want to go out there and play well. And that starts with the hard work that not a lot of people get a chance to see. And we've been working hard during training camp. And, you know, we just want that that hard work to continue to pay off in the long run. You know, we're going to enjoy this regular season game to game. But we ultimately know what the goal is after these seven two games. And that's 16 wins. Brian Lewis, New York Post. I think it was presumed that this team would be able to score. But how encouraged are you by how you guys played defensively? Understanding that that team was a little shorthanded. But how encouraged were you by that? Very encouraged. I mean, it's just another day to get better. Another day to make progress. Another day to solidify the principles on defensive end. And I feel like today was a great start for that. Christian Winfield, New York Daily News. Hey, Kyrie, in the statement that you wrote earlier this also said that you wanted your game to do a lot of the talking for you. When you come out the way you did tonight and kind of firing all cylinders. Just what kind of message do you think the performance you put on the floor has? Well, like I said, I'm always grateful to be able to put on a uniform, strap up my shoes. You know, it's been a long journey to get here and to be able to master this craft and to learn that it's not just about hero basketball. It's about how great the team is. And, you know, I think I got caught up in that in my career a few times. You're just trying to play hero basketball where, you know, the team's success is really going to dictate how great you are as an individual and how great you play your role. So, you know, being here at that this present moment, I'm enjoying that and I'm embracing it, you know, not really doing too much talking. It's just really about the action. Let's go out there and throw the ball in the air and let's see who's the best of the best. And I'm here to prove that every single night with a great team alongside of me that gives me confidence. So, yeah, we look forward to that challenge of just letting our game do the talking and just letting everybody else talk on the external. Mike Andrews, ESPN. Hey, Kyrie, what do you think when you say got caught up in playing hero basketball? What changed? What was the moment of change or growth or however you want to characterize that? I think it's just the right time, you know, right situation, right environment. You know, and to explain that is, you know, as a young player, you think that scoring a bunch of points and doing a bunch of things, getting individual accolades are great. You know, and you, excuse me, I definitely was going after those things. And now I really don't care for any of those individual accolades or goals. You know, it really doesn't bother me. I know I'm validated culturally, you know, and that's all that matters. I don't need an all NBA. I don't need an MVP. I just want a championship with a great team that I could look back on history and say we, we did it our way and we have fun doing it. You know, I'm in year 10. All I want to do is enjoy every single day I'm playing basketball and coming into work other than that. You know, I live my life with my family and that's that's the most important thing to me. Brian Mahoney, Kyrie, obviously you had a really good opening night last night, too, but you had a rough preseason with last year getting off to, you know, and try to get hit in the face. How do you feel physically versus where you were when the season started last year? I was definitely a difference just because of the amount of preparation that I had to do for last season versus this season and the amount of time that we had to get prepared. It's just, it's just a difference. You know, I've been off for 10 months, you know, coming into last season, coming from Boston, then in the year, the way we wanted to in 2019. And before I went to free agency. So coming into that next season definitely had some things on my mind that I wanted to accomplish. But I couldn't do it without being a hundred percent myself health wise and then also having other guys on my team be a hundred percent healthy as well. So it wasn't just me who caught the injury bug and that's no excuse. You know, we put great guys out there that were playing hard and we definitely were in seventh place in a good position. But I think our goals are a lot higher this year and we want to just be able to come in and dominate and do that consistently. So it's we don't really want to compare it to last year, but we keep that in the back of our minds as something that we want to learn from something I want to learn from. So I could just be better this year as we start this year. Howard Beck. Hey, Kyrie, it's been 18 months or so since you and Katie first committed here. What did you envision at the moment that you guys committed together? And now that it's 18 months later, do you finally get to do this together? How did the actuality of it kind of compare to what you had in mind? And I mean, both the basketball and, of course, the environment are lack thereof tonight. Yeah, no, I think it's been a long time coming. And I'm grateful that we could let our games do the talking. But I'm also grateful that we can have relationships here that matter off the court, that help us on the court. And that was something that I have with Katie. But I have with other guys on the team as well. It's just more or less our synergy off the floor. And then now playing on the floor this year has made a difference. You know, we spent a lot of time together. You know, we've just gone through some challenging times and we're able to put on this uniform as a team together. While understanding that the more we stay collective as a group, the better off will be in the long run. We don't want to let anything disrupt what we got going on here or what our goals are as simple as the championship. So we got to enjoy this record season, like I said. But we're just going to enjoy every step of the journey as well, too. Otis Livingston. Hey, Kyrie, you and Katie have preached that it's not your team. It's a collective team, just like you just mentioned. How good was it to watch tonight and see everybody contribute? Everybody that got in the game made a contribution and that's been the plan all along. Yes, it has and it will continue to be that way. You know, we want to be the best team. You know, we don't want to be a great collection of just me and Katie and, you know, other guys that we haven't seen. No, we're a great team and we want to be identified as the Brooklyn Nets team. I'm not the leading voice in the locker room. I'm not the leader here. I'm not this one guy that's depending upon to get us over the hump. No, we have other great players that are developing that are already established and we just need to continue to give knowledge when needed to these players that are thirsty for it. You know, these guys here want to win just as bad as us. So if you have that winning mentality and attitude, it's easy for me to fall in line, you know, and follow direction. We just keep it real simple around here, you know, it's basketball. We've been doing this for a long time and now we're at the top of the top and now is our chance to continue to show why we are that way.