East Notes: Nets, Kyrie Irving, Knicks, Derrick Rose, Cavs

Nets 

Nike CEO Phil Knight said the shoe giant’s relationship with Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has likely ended for good.

“Kyrie stepped over the line,” Knight said on CNBC, via Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. “It’s kind of that simple, so he made some statements that we just can’t abide by and that’s why we ended the relationship. And yeah, I was fine with that.”

• Star forward Kevin Durant had plenty of praise for Jacque Vaughn, who was promoted from interim to full-time head coach. You can read more on that right here.

Knicks

Point guard Derrick Rose said he has not spoken with coach Tom Thibodeau about his reduced role.

“I’m letting everybody be, man,” Rose said, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “The last guy he wants to hear from is the guy who has been in the league for 15 years going in and complaining and bitching. Just trying to give everybody the space.”

Rose did admit to being in the dark.

“I’m in the unknown,” he said, via Steve Popper of Newsday.

• Forward RJ Barrett said the blowout loss to the Nets on Wednesday was no reason to panic. “Over the course of 82 games, game like this is going to happen, but we can’t make this a habit,” he told reporters.

Cavaliers

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff has said the Cavs have to be careful not to develop bad habits, which were seemingly on full display during Wednesday’s road loss to the Kings.

“We’ve gotten to this habit — and it’s my responsibility to be better — of allowing people to just play freely to start games and then think that we’re going to turn it on in the second half,” Bickerstaff said, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “That’s arrogant basketball. You can’t survive in the NBA playing that way.”

After winning eight straight, the Cavs (8-3) have now lost two in a row, with a visit to the defending champion Warriors on the horizon.

“If we want to be a good basketball team, we need to remember who we are and we need to play Cavaliers basketball,” Bickerstaff said, via Fedor. “Not hero ball, not my turn, not selfish defensively, not not executing game plans. If we don’t do those things, we’ll have nights like this. We were a disappointing basketball team tonight. There’s no other way around it. We all need to be held accountable for it.”

• For more on the Cavs, and some of their recent defensive concerns, check out the latest Dribbles right here.