Check out the advanced box score from last night’s 99-79 Nets victory here.
A few brief takeaways:
- First and foremost: every single Nets player had a positive plus-minus. That never happens. The lead even increased when the end-of-bench guys Tyshawn Taylor & Tornike Shengelia took the floor in garbage time. The Suns were nearly all in the negatives, too — only Suns center Marcin Gortat, a +2 in 32 minutes, ruined what could’ve been a perfect all-pluses, all-minuses game.
- Deron Williams only attempted five shots, which you can thank his right quad contusion for.
- Speaking of injury: Gerald Wallace picks up the first “trillion” — a game in which a player plays and literally does nothing of consequence on the box score — since January 7, 2004, when he was a little-used reserve with the Sacramento Kings. It’s also Wallace’s “biggest” trillion, going six minutes without recording a stat. Since it was thanks to a brutal injury, it’s not fair to some degree. But it’s on the record.
- Brook Lopez shot 1-8 in the first half, finished 5-16 from the field, looked awful at times… and ended with a game-best +23 in 35 minutes. How’s that possible? Defense. The Suns shot just 18-57 when Lopez was on the court last night, most notably getting turned away at the rim. Lopez involved himself in nearly every attempt at the rim in the halfcourt, getting a hand in the face of slashing guards and contesting both Gortat and Luis Scola on close shots. The Suns were just 2-13 from within five feet with Lopez on the court, and 2-10 when Lopez was directly involved in the play.
- Reggie Evans: 15 rebounds. /stretches, yawns
- Michael Beasley, 2nd overall pick in 2008: 0-4 in 4:22. Brook Lopez was selected 10th in the same draft.
