-
-
1) The Beast Brook Lopez. Lopez makes his return to the basketball court for the first time since December 20th, 2013, when he fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his foot. After a mild right midfoot sprain kept him out for the first two games, Lopez has a chance to make his mark against a team that’s dropping its stars like flies. He’ll still have his work cut out for him, against shotblocking star Serge Ibaka and large post defender Kendrick Perkins. If the Nets can integrate him into their offense comfortably — no small task — they should have the upper hand.
(AP)
-
-
2) Perry Jones, III. With Durant out, the Thunder turned to little-used prospect Perry Jones III, drafted late in the first round of the 2012 draft, and Jones immediately delivered, dropping a career-high 32 points on an efficient 10-17 shooting. Jones, who was projected as a high lottery pick but fell because of character issues, followed that performance by dropping 23 points in a win over the Denver Nuggets, including this wild III-pointer above.
Jones III can score from all over the floor and has no issues creating his own shot. With Westbrook now out too, Jones’s offensive load gets even bigger. The Nets will have to contain his offense and force him into tough shots without any other real offensive options in Oklahoma City’s lineup.
GIF credit
-
-
3) Joe Cool. You may remember this shot — it was the unlikely, twisting fallaway work of Joe Johnson, burying a 20-footer over the outstretched fingers of Serge Ibaka to win the team’s first game of 2014 at the buzzer and set off a stretch of 34 wins in their final 51 games. The Nets went to Johnson down the stretch against the Detroit Pistons, and he dominated Detroit’s defense en route to an easy Nets victory.
Despite Lionel Hollins’s desire for more ball and player movement, he’s done what every Nets coach before him has with the game on the line: give the ball to Joe Marcus Johnson and let him cook. Will the Nets call on him to whip up another masterpiece?
