On a 5-52 Nets team stumbling toward the worst record in NBA history, there are precious few bright spots or silver linings. But one has been Courtney Lee, both his recent return to form, and all the unseen hard work it took to achieve it.
Lee scored a career-high 28 points in Tuesday’s 102-93 loss to Portland, the clearest sign that he has broken out of his shooting slump, and interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe said Lee’s revival has been more hard work than work of art.
“Courtney’s been working on his shot — a lot.” Vandeweghe said. “And I’m proud of him, because he’s a classic example of somebody who just worked himself back into shooting well, into playing well.”
For Lee’s part, he insists he didn’t have to find his game — it had never left.
“I feel like it never went [any]where,” said Lee, who put in a lot of extra work on his stroke, coming in on off-days when the Nets didn’t practice, and staying late when they did. “I was still doing the same things I usually do on the defensive end, and having spurts on the offensive end, but on a more consistent basis.”
“That’s what you’ve got to do, being in a shooting slump you’ve got to get your rhythm back, and that’s something that I did,” he added. “I can’t even tell you the number [of shots I put up], staying after, coming in on off days, shooting a lot so you get that rhythm and you get that feeling to where it feels good.”
Lee clearly has gotten that feeling back the past two weeks, that shooting renaissance was demonstrated by his 56-foot heave that beat the final buzzer Tuesday night.
In 13 games from Jan. 10 through Feb. 6, Lee averaged just 10.1 points on 43.2 percent shooting. But he has mustered three 20-point outings in the seven tilts since, averaging 16.4 on 48.4 percent from the floor.
“I think it really does help him on the defensive end to play the point guard,” Vandeweghe said. “He’s done it very well, and he seems to always have a good game when we do that.
Lee said he agrees with Vandeweghe’s assessment that it sparks his transition game.
“Yeah, it definitely does it gets me going,” Lee said. “I’m definitely a defensive-minded player. I let my offense trigger off my defense. If I can get stops and I can get out and run and frustrate the point guard, that’s something would like to do in games. On the offensive end, that leads to our fast-break points, so definitely.”
Like Tuesday, when Lee shot 11-of-18 from the floor with six rebounds and not a single turnover.
“Yeah [its good seeing] him aggressive and getting to his spots and making shots,” said Devin Harris. “But the aggressiveness is really what we want. He was aggressive, pick-and-rolls, coming off screens and [getting out in] transition. That’s the way we need him to play.”
Nevertheless, it went for naught for the Nets, as has much of their lost season. They got swept on a four-game homestand and have lost a dozen of their last 13 going into Saturday’s game in Boston — four of them by four points or fewer.
“Yeah, man, it’s embarrassing. Even though with our record, if we don’t go out there and compete, what are we playing for? So everybody on the team has been doing a good job of competing,” Lee said. “It’s definitely frustrating, two and three-point losses. We’re right there. We just need to figure out whatever it is to get us over the hump.”