The matchups did not look good for MarShon Brooks. That was the proclamation by Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo before his team went out against the Bulls last night. Carlesimo wasn’t expecting big Brooks minutes.
And it turned out Carlesimo was right. The matchups weren’t good. But once the Nets’ attempt at size domination faltered early, the matchups for Brooks became very good.
The second year guard was part of a bench unit that gave Brooklyn a jolt of adrenalin — and points — as the Nets outlasted the personnel-challenged Bulls, 93-89, at Barclays Center.
Brooks, who played single-digit minutes in five of his previous seven games before getting a 21-minute run last night, finished with 13 points — scoring nine of them in the first 4:22 of the fourth quarter when Brooklyn seized the lead for good.
“I’m just trying to solid and be decisive and not force the issue,” said Brooks, who at times was overly aggressive, at other times shaky in his decisions, but at all times was determined.
“When I get in trouble, I’m thinking too much, which is just human nature. So I just try to go hard,” said Brooks, whose big fourth quarter spurt contained a 6-foot runner, a 3-point bomb (his first in 12 games), two free throws, a fast-break pull-up and a hockey assist (he swung the ball to Andray Blatche) on a C.J Watson triple.
“If I drive I’m going to drive. If I shoot I’m going to shoot,” Brooks said. “Just try to let the game come to me and be aggressive.”
But over-aggression can hurt when you try too hard for minutes.
“It’s tough,” Brooks said. “Sometimes I just try to be too aggressive when I get in and try to earn minutes later in the game. That gets you in trouble.”
Not this time.
Brooks has been plagued by sporadic playing time as the Nets have undergone the coaching change from Avery Johnson to Carlesimo. Brooks said he was unaware of Carlesimo’s pre-game proclamation.
“I wish he would tell me some [stuff] like that,” Brooks smiled. “Nah, he wouldn’t tell me that.”
Carlesimo also wouldn’t yank Brooks too quickly this time. and stayed true to his claim that the game dictates minutes.
“That [second unit] group was going so good, the only real problem that [Brooks] had was just physically trying to box out [Jimmy] Butler,” said Carlesimo, who lifted Brooks for Joe Johnson with 3:19 left. “We wanted a bigger body. … MarShon played well enough to stay in the game, but I was afraid a rebound was going to hurt us.”
Though Brooks may not have heard all that was going on in Carlesimo’s head, he had heard his name mentioned repeatedly in trade rumors. But, hey, this is the NBA. This is New York. Brooks has been here over a season. You get immune.
“I’m used to the trade situation,” Brooks said. “That’s just the way the business works. I was traded on draft day. There have been trade rumors ever since.”