ALBANY — By halftime yesterday, Brook Lopez had 19 points — his total at the end of the game. So someone joked about watching football games after halftime and asked the Nets center what happened in the second half.
“You can just say I was watching them, too,” Lopez cracked.
He was a nine-minute, second-half non-factor — like the Nets’ defense in their 115-107 loss that opened the preseason schedule with a case of good and bad, lots of bad for the Nets. But under the good stuff was Lopez’s offensive first half that included 11 free-throw attempts. The Knicks played Lopez straight up, and the Nets attacked.
“I was just looking to be very physical, very aggressive in terms of making it easy for everyone else to get me the ball,” said Lopez, who shot 5 of 7 in the first half and showed why he’ll be a guy the Nets will and must play through. “I was just running the floor, getting to the open lane, running the floor and drawing men to me.”
Lopez, who played 22 minutes, eventually will be drawing more attention as his talents expand. Last season, Vince Carter drew all the double teams. This season, that honor figures to land on Lopez.
“The earlier they do it, the better for my development,” Lopez said.
But the Knicks started using David Lee and then Darko Milicic straight up on Lopez. So the Nets took what was there.
“I got what I wanted and he did a beautiful job in the first half,” said point guard Devin Harris. “He did a beautiful job in the first half, which was just run to the basket and sealing. I don’t know how many teams are going to do that and they’re obviously playing a lot smaller than most teams are.
“But if that’s what we can get, I’m definitely comfortable with him getting the ball in the post and finishing at the basket. If we can get a layup with him, I got no complaints.”
And then the next step will be: see Brook pass out of the double team. And, hopefully, the Nets will fall in proper line.
“He will start to command a double team more and more the better he gets,” Harris said. “It’s our job to space the floor so he can get what he wants in the post.”