NBA

Lopez looms large, sets tone in physical series

While the Bulls were hemming and hawing about whether or not Joakim Noah was going to play in Game 1 last night at Barclays Center, P.J. Carlesimo kept saying it was more about how the Nets played than who played for the Bulls.

“It won’t change what we do,” the Nets coach said just before tip-off. “We want to go inside regardless.”

Carlesimo might as well have put a bull’s-eye on Brook Lopez’s back, pointing to him as the key to the Nets’ first playoff game as the Brooklyn franchise. Lopez is coming off a terrific, All-Star regular season. But this was his first playoff game and it was difficult to predict how he would react to the uptick in intensity.

Lopez didn’t disappoint. He delivered an emphatic performance that propelled the Nets to a 106-89 victory and could set the tone for the remainder of this best-of-seven series.

Game 2 is tomorrow night at Barclays Center, and the Bulls will spend much their off-day trying to figure out how to contain the Nets center. Lopez dominated Chicago’s frontline for 21 points, with 19 coming in the first half as the Nets stormed to a commanding 60-35 lead.

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Sure, Lopez wasn’t the only Nets hero on a night bathed in Brooklyn black. Deron Williams (22 points) played like the superstar the Nets need him to be, and everyone from Gerald Wallace (14 points) to C.J. Watson (14 points) raised their game a notch. But Lopez’s domination of the Bulls’ big men bodes well for the rest of this first-round series.

“I asked Brook before the game if he was ready,” Williams said. “He smiled and said, ‘I’ve been waiting for this.’ We wanted to start with him and get him established inside and play around that.”

It was the kind of evening that only could have been imagined when the Nets first announced their move to Brooklyn. Jerry Stackhouse pumped up the home crowd and his teammates with a stirring rendition of the national anthem. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov took the microphone at center court, thanked the fans for their “passion and support” and promised, “This is only the beginning.”

Then the fourth-seeded Nets made it look easy, out-playing the fifth-seeded Bulls at both ends of the floor. Noah started, but scored just four points in 13 minutes. He was no competition for Lopez, who missed one early jump shot and then took his game inside, slamming through his first dunk over Taj Gibson to put the Nets up 17-12. He also had blocks on Noah and Carlos Boozer during one early, message-sending sequence.

It doesn’t take James Naismith to guess this is going to be a physical series. This could be basketball’s version of Ground and Pound.

The Bulls have the rep as the tough defensive-minded team. The visitors entered Barclays Center as the bully, a role Boozer (25 points, eight rebounds) tried to embrace. It was up to the Nets to stand up and push back. Lopez understood.

“It’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out [series],” he had said.

Noah tried to challenge Lopez early and Boozer tried to flex his muscles. But the Nets didn’t back down. Not in blackout Brooklyn.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can compete that way,” Lopez said of the rough stuff. “That will make for a fun series.”

It was plenty of fun for Lopez. By the time the first half was over, he was 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Noah was scoreless. In the second half, Williams turned Barclays Center into his personal playground.

And if Prokhorov is right, it’s just the beginning.