Nets coach Avery Johnson figured his buddy, Saints coach Sean Payton, would be punished. But for a whole year? That, Johnson thinks, is “excessive” by any standards.
“When I first heard it, I was shocked,” Johnson said before the Nets’ 108-89 loss to the Wizards Wednesday night at Prudential Center. “I thought, based on what I know about the whole deal, I thought there would be probably some sort of a suspension — maybe a game or two — maybe three at the most. But for a whole season? Boy, that’s really excessive. So I was shocked when I heard the news.”
“More than anything, I love watching Sean work on the sidelines. He’s a terrific coach and so I just feel bad for the fans, for him, for his family. We all love watching what he does on the field.”
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Jordan Farmar sat his fourth straight game with a sore groin.
“It is what it is, And we’ll work him a little bit more and hopefully have him back at some point this weekend,” Johnson said. “It’s a day-by-day deal and he’s not quite where he’s supposed to be.”
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Brook Lopez was in Nets’ locker room in a walking boot.
“It’s a style choice,” the Nets’ center said jokingly.
The status of Lopez’s sprained right ankle status will be updated on Friday. …Nets killer Andray Blatche was not with the Wizards. The official reason: “conditioning.”
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Anthony Morrow (13 points) on Deron Williams’ and Johnson’s frustration with the calls or non-calls.
“You could tell when guys are going getting upset and getting frustrated,” he said. “Deron’s one of the most competitive guys I’ve been around, and anytime you feel like you’re playing hard and competing, and calls aren’t going your way, tempers are going to flare up. I just think it was some frustration from him and coach. It’s part of the game.”
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The Knicks sell out. The Nets don’t. The Knicks have a large fan base. The Nets don’t. Still, the Nets are going into the teeth of the enemy next season, hoping to gain a foothold in New York popularity.
“Probably not anytime soon,” Williams said. “There’s just so many Knicks fans it would take a while for all of the kids to grow up being Nets fans, the young kids right now or the ones that aren’t even born yet. Most people are Knicks fans, so I think it’d be a while. But if we win the championship, there’s no telling what could happen.”
Of course, the “We” made fans think, “Hey, he’s staying…”
Williams said he knew what he was getting into when he arrived.
“I knew that before I moved here. It didn’t take me moving here to know how many Knicks fans there were,” said Williams, who at his appearance in Brooklyn Tuesday noted “I got grilled last night by a lot of Brooklynites, man. Telling me I’d have to stay there or they’d be coming after me.”
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An obvious reason for why MarShon Brooks is struggling is the rookie wall, that mythical curse that usually befalls all first year NBA players at some point, resulting in lethargy and, more importantly, lousy statistics. But Brook s refuses to take the easy out.
“Just missing shots, easy shots that I normally make for whatever reason,” Brooks said. “I wouldn’t say the season’s taken a toll on me. I’ve just got to get back to the basics, make a couple shots and just keep believing in myself.”
OK, but the last six games, including last night’s loss, saw Brooks shoot 30.4 percent (17-of-58) and average 8.2 points, dropping his season marks to 43.2 percent and 13.1. Interestingly, those games were Nos. 33 through 38 for Brooks whose career high mark for games at Providence was 32. Maybe he is wearing down.
“Yeah, but I just don’t want to make excuses,” he said. “Just try to get us back on track and finish strong.”
Though Brooks may be fatigued, it is important to get him as much time as possible, especially with Deron Williams.
“The main thing is we’ve got to continue to get him minutes on the floor no matter how poorly he plays on either end,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to keep him in the lineup playing with Deron and get him some minutes as much as we can. Again this is a season he really needs and he needs these last 19 games as much as anybody.”
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Kris Humphries, after Johnson questioned the effort, said there is no reason not to play hard.
“There’s no excuse, we’ve got to play hard and even if we lose a game, we’ve still got to be scraping for every ball, playing tough, making it as difficult as possible,” Humphries said. “It almost has to be like we may lose a game, but it’s not going to be easy and you’re not going to want to play us. So that’s my goal, at least. We’ve got to play hard and give the effort every night.”
fred.kerber@nypost.com