Brook Lopez, one of the few Nets to play in every game this season, is looking to move on from his rough game Monday night, which was capped off when he walked out on the media afterwards: “I hold myself to high standards and I didn’t meet them and then obviously the loss (factored in), too,” Lopez continued. “Then after the game I felt I didn’t hold myself right, I didn’t act right. It was just a lot of stuff altogether.”
Dave D’Alessandro looks into what could be frustrating Brook Lopez: Lopez averages only 14.2 shots per game — that is the second-lowest average among the top 25 scorers in the league. And the befuddling part is that his shots have dropped sharply (to 10.0 per game) in the three games that the Nets’ top shot-taker (Chris Douglas Roberts, 14.3) has been absent. So something is askew. They’ve stopped running pick-and-rolls for him. They rarely look for the lob over the top when he is fronted. They never re-post it when he sends it out against a double-team.
Kiki Vandeweghe and company are not willing to sacrifice their salary cap space and minutes for their younger players just to get a veteran that would add a couple of wins: “If we can improve it without impacting next year, you always try and do that. To me if we can add assets going forward, that’s important. We’re not looking to bring in veterans to take the time of young players. To bring in somebody here to take Brook’s minutes, or Devin [Harris’] minutes, Yi’s minutes or Courtney’s minutes – we’re not looking to do that. If we can augment, we’ll augment.”
When it comes to the Nets, the Izod Center is in its finals days: A concessionaire selling T-shirts and sweatshirts said he could not lower his prices, as one customer hoped. “But just wait, it’ll be free in a few weeks,” he chuckled.
CCTV talks about how Yi Jianlian’s career high in points Monday night was overshadowed by the Nets loss.
HoopsWorld breaks down each team’s performance after 30 games, including the Nets, who get an “F.”
After Bruce Ratner’s eminent domain victory in Brooklyn last month, Norman Oder of the Atlantic Yards Report takes a walking tour of Brooklyn.
