1) Getting Brook Lopez More Involved
“If we had to depend on Brook (Lopez) to get 20 shots, we were going to lose by 25,” Hollins said, clarifying that statement Monday after he was told by a reporter that the Nets were 7-0 in games since the All-Star Break when Lopez took 20 or more shots.
“Maybe I should just go out there and say Brook just shoot anywhere, everywhere, any time, and we’ll win, right?” Hollins countered, with a hint of derision in his voice. “Come on, man. It’s deeper than that. We’re going to try to get Brook more shots, but that’s the game of cat-and-mouse.”
Lopez had just three shots and 16 frontcourt touches that weren’t direct the result of offensive rebounds in 36 minutes, per the NBA’s SportVU data.[note]He had seven shot attempts and 22 frontcourt touches overall.[/note] During the regular season, Lopez averaged over 20 touches in under 30 minutes per game.
Many of Lopez’s touches come as the end of a play, either when lurking under the basket for dump-offs, or when Deron Williams or Joe Johnson finds him rolling to the basket with a “pocket pass” in between two defenders, and Lopez takes a short floater or layup. But the Nets have had less success with the pick-and-roll lately, which has limited Lopez’s effectiveness.
“When you play good teams, their defense takes away what you’re trying to do,” Lionel Hollins said of Lopez’s lack of success in the pick-and-roll. “We just have to be better at executing. The pocket pass was still there yesterday, we didn’t do as good a job executing offensively, but we also have to do some other things as well.”
Lopez finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds despite taking just seven shots. It was the first time Lopez had played more than 35 minutes and taken seven shots or fewer than 2010, during his second year in the league.[note]Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.[/note]
Lopez said he was going to be “a bit more aggressive” within the gameplan in Game 2, and hoped the team would make better decisions offensively. “We need to take advantage of what they’re giving up, and take advantage of their second and third options, (the) second side, and moving the ball,” Lopez said. “Make them play defense the way they want us to play. Scrambling and helping each other. … I think we (made them do that) for parts. I think we had lots of possessions where we got up a quick shot that we didn’t really need to take, or a shot over three guys where we could’ve moved the ball more and got them scrambling.”
