Basketball Fiend

Nets coach Lawrence Frank was fired Sunday, hours before his former team lost its record-tying 17th straight game.

The winless New Jersey Nets fired coach Lawrence Frank on Sunday, several hours before they matched the worst start in NBA history with their 17th straight loss.

Assistant Tom Barrise temporarily replaced his friend, but the Nets remained 0-for-the-season with a 106-87 loss to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe had been pressing team president Rod Thorn to fire Frank since last season, but Thorn was resistent to let Frank go, according to a report from Yahoo Sports.

But New Jersey’s recent stretch of futility became too much even for Thorn to bear. Thorn reportedly fired Frank before Sunday’s game versus the Lakers to save Frank the embarrassment of having the Nets’ record-tying streak on his resume.

Despite the team’s awful start, Nets players were sad to see Frank go.

“It’s tough, because he was the hardest worker on the team,” center Brook Lopez said. “He’s so passionate about what he does. It was a rough situation, and he did a great job of not using our injuries as an excuse. He came in every night and had us prepared.”

Frank, 39, spent seven seasons in New Jersey, finishing with an overall record of 225-241. His best season came in 2005-06 when he guided the Nets to a 49-33 regular season record and led them to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, where they lost to the Heat in five games.

Frank is currently the winningest coach in Nets history.

New Jersey looks to end its record-tying losing skid Wednesday with a win over the Mavericks, 12-5. If they lose, it will be officially the worst start in NBA history.

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