The Brooklyn Nets are offering fans an olive branch – or at least cheaper nachos – after this week’s tweet heard ’round the borough created a dust-up between the organization and its fledgling faithful.
The club is offering free t-shirts and concession discounts to fans who arrive 90 minutes before the 7 p.m. tipoff of tonight’s elimination playoff game against the Toronto Raptors.
The move is in response to the firestorm of bad PR the team received during and after Wednesday night’s Game 5 loss to the Raptors before a raucous crowd in Toronto. The trouble started when a Nets and Barclays Center flack, Lenn Robbins, took to the team’s Twitter account and challenged Nets fans to “take note” the electric atmosphere inside the Air Canada Center.
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#Nets fans take note- this is what a playoff crowd sounds like..set your DVD and take notes #RAPTORSvNETS – LR
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) May 1, 2014
The reaction was swift and loud.
Whoever does the @BrooklynNets account when Lenn Robbins doesn’t should wrest the keyboard away from him.
— NetsDaily.com (@NetsDaily) May 1, 2014
how long before the @BrooklynNets pull that tweet? LOL
— Sunny (@Takhar77) May 1, 2014
@BrooklynNets Wow, extremely insulting to Nets fans.. And by the way, it’s DVR, not DVD. Shameful tweet on behalf of the Nets..
— Cliff Knueppel (@CKCash30) May 1, 2014
The Nets didn’t take down the tweet but did distance itself from Robbins’ post on Thursday by tweeting:
Lenn Robbins’ tweet last night didn’t represent our organization’s feelings. We have great fans. Looking frwrd to seeing u Friday for Game 6
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) May 1, 2014
And they’re hoping to see them there early. Those fans who roll in for 25 percent off (food only) concessions will also be given a free Nets t-shirt. The club is hoping to end what has been a disturbing trend of the first two home games of the series which saw a late-arriving crowd – especially in the most visible seats closer to the floor – that often struggled to find its voice.
In Game 3, the first game in Brooklyn, the crowd spent much of the first quarter chanting “USA! USA!” It was an odd choice considering the Nets’ owner is Russian and employs three foreign-born players.
The second game was equally as uneven, amplified by the fact that the Nets struggled down the stretch and eventually lost the game.
As for Robbins, he’s remained silent on the issue of his tweet, but appears to be trying to make amends. Since firing off the offending tweet he’s tweeted 18 times from his personal account – all positive.
See also: Get to Know the Toronto Raptors