Brook Lopez is not very good at the power of persuasion.
After playing Sunday night for the first time this season, having sat 32 games because of a broken foot, Lopez brought his case to play last night before Nets coach Avery Johnson. He would have been better off asking for a hefty loan. Instead of seeing the Knicks, Lopez will play at home tomorrow against Dwight Howard and the Magic.
“It’s going to be a good challenge for me to see where I’m at, a good benchmark,” Lopez said before the Nets’ 100-92 victory over the Knicks. “I’ll just have to go out there and be as physical as possible.”
As for last night, “I tried,” Lopez said about trying to convince Johnson to let him play a second straight night after a 22-minute effort. “I’m not good at convincing people to do anything.”
Did Lopez ever have a chance with Johnson?
“No,” the coach said firmly.
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If you thought it was crazy for the Nets with a rematch against Jeremy Lin, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Howard hits New Jersey tomorrow.
“It’ll be actually interesting to see how the fans are going to react. It should be pretty crazy — I kind of look forward to the game. I like playing against him. It should be fun,” said Deron Williams, who scored 38 points last night.
Williams, of course, is one of the major lures in the Nets’ attempt to land Howard for Brooklyn. And Howard is the attempted lure to try to keep Williams, who again addressed the Nets’ need to upgrade talent.
“We still need to get some guys in here if we’re going to be a better team. There’s no doubt about that. We’re 10-24 right now. So we have to get some better players. But I think everything will work out. … It takes some time to put it together,” Williams said.
“I’m very comfortable right now,” Williams said of the Nets plan. “There’s not much I can really do but just play basketball. That’s what I said I was going to do, from the beginning of the season — play basketball, let everything work itself out. And at the end of the season, I’ll assess where things are. I’m sure I’ll have a conversation with Billy, and ownership, and go from there.”
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The Nets gave it a long thought, discussed it — and eventually may try to bring him aboard — but they are likely to pass on making a run at Renaldo Balkman when his waiver time expires today.
Right now, interest is “lukewarm,” a league source confirmed. The Nets are more inclined to keep a roster spot open until after the March 15 trading deadline. Andre Emmett’s 10-day deal expires Wednesday and Balkman would be locked in for the remainder of the season.
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Anthony Morrow lost four temporary teeth from a Carmelo Anthony shot with 1:15 left. Morrow bled, cringed — and was called for traveling. Morrow found something good, though.
“I was supposed to see the dentist tomorrow at 4. I’ve been moved up to 9,” Morrow said.
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Shawne Williams admitted his sprained left shoulder is the source of his “out indefinitely” status, that his previously troublesome foot and leg are fine.
“I feel better, but it’s day to day,” Williams said. “If it wasn’t for the shoulder, I could play.”
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The Nets’ record may stink but they are going to be all over All-Star Weekend. MarShon Brooks is in the Rising Stars game. Morrow is in the 3-point shootout. Williams is an Eastern All-Star reserve. And now Williams will compete in the skills challenge competition. Williams will make his third appearance in the event — he holds the record for completing the challenge in 25.5 seconds, a mark established in 2008 in New Orleans.
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The return of Anthony makes the Knicks a potentially frightening offensive team, Johnson acknowledged.
“Carmelo, he’s a guy that can score in bunches. If he comes out and they try to feed him the ball early, that’s probably going to take away from the things that made them successful here on their winning streak,” Johnson said, stressing, “it makes you have to guard every position.
“There’s not really a guy when you start Carmelo and [Amar’e] Stoudemire and even [Tyson] Chandler now, he really gained a lot of confidence coming off his championship year last year — and with [Jeremy] Lin in the lineup, whether it’s [Landry] Fields or [Iman] Shumpert whoever starts you’ve got to guard everybody. And then when you add J.R. Smith into the mix, pretty explosive offensive team.”
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Johnson, too offered up all the necessary praise of Lin — including disputing the phenom was made by Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni’s system.
“That system stuff sometimes can be overrated. Let’s give the kid credit,” Johnson said. “Mike’s had a pretty good system ever since he was in Phoenix, but your system works a lot better when you’ve got a point guard that’s playing the way he’s playing. So let’s give the kid some credit.”
Johnson, though, did stop short when the comparison was brought around to future Hall of Famer and two-time MVP Steve Nash.
“But I wouldn’t dare say that — I’ve heard a lot of different stories and even, I got a question from my daughter, whether Lin was in Nash’s category. We don’t want to go there, OK?” Johnson laughed. “It’s only been nine games. Give the kid a chance. It’s a great global story. Tiny Nate Archibald inspired me to play basketball, and Pistol Pete Maravich. So it’s a great story, and he’s inspired a lot of kids. But let’s give the kid a chance to play a whole season, maybe even play a playoff series before we start putting him in Nash’s category.”