Dorian Finney-Smith played nearly 600 games in the NBA and countless more before reaching the league.
But nothing was more emotional than Saturday, when he performed live for the first time in front of his father.
Elbert Smith, who had just been released from a Virginia prison in December, was finally in the stands to watch his son play.
And watching Finney-Smith go straight to his father courtside at Barclays Center for a hug after the Nets’ 113-103 win over the Pistons shows just how much that moment meant to the Nets forward. The story was told.
“I had to go out there and show him some love,” Finney-Smith told the Post. “He didn’t hit the ball as well as he wanted, but we won, so that’s all that matters.”
Finney-Smith played 24 minutes and finished with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting and seven rebounds. But his father was enjoying every moment.
“He didn’t care about any of that. He was just happy. He was smiling the whole game,” Finney-Smith told the Post. “All I saw was his phone. He was recording the whole match. He’s new to his iPhone and still figuring everything out.”
That’s understandable. Smith was released from Greensville Correctional Center in December after serving 28 years, nine months and 10 days in prison.
The former Navy veteran was involved in a fatal accident on January 25, 1995.
When he was released from prison, Finney Smith came to see him. Now, after months of communicating and working with officials from the Virginia Department of Corrections, Elbert Smith has finally been cleared to travel.
“I’m just trying to get him here, really, just trying my best.” [issue], his situation. We had to wait a certain amount of time before he traveled. So just getting here was everything,” Finney-Smith said.
Smith arrived in New York after Nets practice on Friday and was courtside with Finney-Smith’s mother on Saturday night.
He was wearing a black Nets cap, a white Nets shirt, and a Cheshire Cat grin from ear to ear, filming everything.
“It doesn’t seem real,” Finney-Smith told the Post.
The Nets are without Cam Johnson (left big toe sprain) and Dennis Smith Jr. (right hip synovitis), but neither has been ruled out for the season.
Dennis Schroder had 24 points, six assists and five rebounds, playing 35 minutes and 53 seconds, longer than Kevin Ollie had planned.
“We’re going to give,” the interim coach said. [Schroder] Sunday, the final game of back-to-back games against the visiting Kings.
Noah Clowney had 17 points, six rebounds and four blocks off the bench.
He became the second teenager in Nets history to have four blocks in a game, joining Jarrett Allen.
Mikal Bridges has made 212 3-pointers this season, trailing D’Angelo Russell (234 in 2018-19) and Patty Mills for most 3-pointers in a single season for the Nets. (227 shots two years ago), which placed him in third place.
