For the first half, Brook Lopez was unstoppable: 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting for the Nets.
For the second half, he was kind of stoppable: four points on 2-of-7 shooting.
“A combination of double teams, a combination of getting him off his spot, a combination of not getting on-time, on-target passes,” coach Avery Johnson said of the scoring difference after the Nets’ 120-116 loss to the Knicks last night at the Garden. “And then he was battling some foul trouble.”
Lopez picked up his fourth foul with just under 5:00 left in the third quarter and did not return until 9:29 of the fourth.
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Johnson on Deron Williams‘ return: “Timing was off a little bit, but man, he made some big plays for us. Big shots. Timely 3’s. Good assists. But you could see on some of his floaters at the end where maybe he just kind of ran out of gas a little bit. But for a guy who hadn’t played in a while or practiced with contact, I thought he was awfully good.”
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Williams further explaining his miss with 4.9 seconds left after the Nets called time to set up a play. “The play was me for to get in the middle and clear everybody out,” he said. “Chauncey [Billups] took that away so I had to go back door, caught it. As soon as I caught it I squared up, I looked at the line it was wide open, I was going to try to get to the basket. Anthony cut it over. I had a good look. I just rushed the shot.”
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Kris Humphries defends. He rebounds. He does things the Knicks really need.
But if Humphries has his way, he will continue doing those things for the Nets after becoming a free agent this summer.
“It’s not something people don’t ever think about,” said Humphries, who grabbed 14 rebounds – including 11 in the first half when the Knicks had 17 as a team. “Obviously you want to make the most money you can and have a great career and all those things.
“I want to be here” Humphries, who scored 15 points to post his 29th double-double, said of New Jersey. “They’ve helped me get a lot better and rolled with me this year. It would be great to be back here. We’re looking to do that.”
This might not be the best summer to be a free agent, with the collective bargaining agreement situation and the “L” word lockout — being freely used.
“If you look at the different routes the CBA can take us and change the game, obviously the more strict things get as far as cap and exceptions, it becomes more difficult to retain players,” Humphries said. “I’m not saying that’s my case, but if you look at the sports with hard caps, there’s more players moving around. . . . But hopefully with the way everything folds out, we’ll be able to end up staying with our teams and continue to build a fan base.”
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Anthony Morrow said before the game that his left hand still was bothering him from the finger he jammed last week.
“[It’s] just one of those little injuries we’re all battling through at this time,” he said.
Sure didn’t look it was any trouble once the game began.
Morrow hit 10-of-15 shots — including 4-of-5 on 3-pointers — and finished with a season-high 30 points.
“Anthony was good. Big shots, big threes,” Johnson said. “[He] had his in-between game going. Showed really how he’s progressed this year. Guys like Kris Humphries, Anthony Morrow those are really good stories of guys improving and taking their games to another level.”
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Johnson praised his team and was upbeat for the most part, but he was clearly disturbed by the lack of a foul call for Lopez on his drive with one minute left and the Nets down two.
“We got a couple of good looks, they just didn’t go down,” Johnson said. “The one we’re really disappointed about was Brook’s strong drive. That drive that Brook made, he’s got five guys all over him and just couldn’t get to the free throw line, so [I’m] really disappointed with that situation.”
On the play, Lopez lost a shoe.
“That’s how hard he got hit,” he said. “It knocked his shoe off.”
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Quinton Ross, who consulted with a surgeon on Tuesday, will meet with another one Monday about the necessity of surgery on his herniated disk.
“Then we’ll decide where we go from there,” Johnson said.
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Johnson said he was pleased to hear that Sasha Vujacic had labeled last night as “the biggest game of the season” for the Nets, in light of the way they had played recently. In addition to being a game with the rival Knicks, it was the Nets’ only appearance on ESPN this season.
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Against the Hawks Saturday in Atlanta, the Nets were outscored, 32-15, in the first quarter. At home Tuesday against the Rockets, the Nets were outscored 34-21. So that was 66-36 in two games. Not good.
Johnson noticed that, and made a change. He inserted 6-foot-9 Travis Outlaw at small forward over 6-7 Sasha Vujacic to present more a challenge to Carmelo Anthony (who still scored 39). But he also thought Outlaw would bring some energy.
“We’ve just been getting off to poor starts,” said Johnson, noting the absence of Damion James (foot). “Our first quarters have been not good. I would like to keep Outlaw coming off the bench. Without Outlaw, we’re significantly small at that position.”
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Ben Uzoh did not dress because of a sore left knee.