Hours before the Brooklyn Nets took on the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night, Nets center Brook Lopez earned the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award for the second consecutive week, making him the first player in Nets franchise history and the first player in the NBA this season to win the award in consecutive weeks.
Lopez averaged 20.3 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game over the four games, with the Nets winning three.
But Robin Lopez, Brook’s twin brother and Trail Blazers starting center, was not impressed.
“It’s amazing how far you can go with a crappy center,” Robin cracked about Brook before Monday night’s make-up game. “But I guess he fooled the NBA for a couple weeks, at least.”
Robin is the starting center on a 50-26 Trail Blazers team that has clinched the Northwest Division, and kept the jokes rolling, brushing off the idea that not enough people believe that he is the more talented center between the twins. “There are a lot of thick-headed people in this world,” Lopez joked. “They don’t obviously see the diamonds in the rough in front of them.”
Robin kept going, even going so far as to comment on Brook’s hair. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Even though he obviously can’t quite pull it off with the charisma and style that I can. But he can always dream, he can always aspire.”
The two have faced off eight times in their NBA careers. Brook puts up bigger numbers, averaging nearly 19 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. But Robin’s Trail Blazers have won five of the eight contests. Robin added that the two often wager on different things in the game, like who scores first and who dunks first, but did not want the wagers themselves on the record. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”
Robin has also waged war on NBA mascots recently, but won’t have competition in Brooklyn. The Nets got rid of the BrooklyKnight, their widely-panned mascot, before this season. “I think he saw what was coming. … I’m sure he saw me in his nightmares,” Robin said.
Brook posed for a photo earlier this season with the Cavaliers mascot Moondog, sharing popcorn. Robin saw the photo, and wasn’t happy. “It was a little tough to swallow,” Robin said. “I’m sure it wasn’t as bitter as the popcorn, but it was bitter.”
The Nets and Trail Blazers kick off at 7:00 P.M. EDT.
