If you were at the Prudential Center Wednesday, you might heard strains of a simple Russian song that sounded like this. ITAR-TASS, the Russian news service, reports that the song, which it credited with the Nets' turnaround, is "Katyusha", a popular World War II song about a girl longing for her beloved who is away fighting the Nazis.
It's not quite a live performance of the Red Army Choir, which Mikhail Prokhorov promised NetsDaily back in July, but it made the point: the team is under new...and quite different ownership.
That's just one element that the Russian press focused on Thursday morning as it reported on the Nets' win over the Pistons from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. The media took pride in Mikhail Prokhorov's personal triumph as well as Timofey Mozgov's first game with the Knicks (he didn't score) and Aeroflot's agreement to sponsor the Nets.
- Prokhorov team New Jersey Nets defeated the Detroit Pistons (Google Translation) - ITAR-TASS
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The owner of the New Jersey Mikhail Prokhorov: Nets for me is not a toy (Google Translation) - V. Gurevich - SovSport
- Prokhorov, no doubt about the bright future of the NBA, "New Jersey" (Google Translation) - RIA Novosti
- Basketball: NBA Season Mikhail Prokhorov began with a win (Google Translation) - Komsomolsk Pravda
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Team Prokhorov started the season in the NBA with a win and songs about the Red Army (Google Translation) - Russian Gazette