PASSING LANE
Minus ball hog Lopez, Nets have 29 assists in blowout of Hornets
CHARLOTTE — Brooklyn’s offense never looked better than it did Saturday night, a freeflowing version that was reminiscent of last season’s surge into playoffs.
The Nets absolutely overwhelmed the Hornets in a 114-87 cruise, with Deron Williams and Joe Johnson leading the way to a second consecutive victory and a good feeling in the locker room.
And yet, there’s a potential 7-foot conundrum looming: the return of Brook Lopez.
“I can’t worry about Brook right now,” coach Lionel Hollins said. “I know that’s a question in the future, and an old coach once told me, ‘Don’t squeal until you get stuck.’ ”
‘Stuck’ is the operative word regarding Lopez, who missed his fourth straight game Saturday with a back injury but is set to be re-evaluated before Tuesday against Miami. Ball movement often ceases when a lineup features the 26-yearold center, a gifted post player who is a frequent sufferer of tunnel vision with the ball, and who has just 12 assists in 16 games this season.
Over the last two games without Lopez, including Saturday’s romp over Charlotte, the Nets combined for 54 assists — well above their average (19.9) with the center on the roster .
“I don’t know (if we can keep playing like this when Lopez returns). Hopefully, we can,” said Williams, who had 10 assists Saturday and added 18 points. “That’s how we want to play. I think everybody understands that. When the ball is moving around, it’s fun out there. You get into a rhythm, you feed off each other’s energy and it’s good to see.”
A day after GM Billy King issued what seemed like a warning to his three highest-paid players — saying he “doesn’t want to wait” through another round of underperforming — Williams and Johnson (22 points, seven boards) responded positively. And perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that the offense ignited for a wire-to-wire victory without the third player on a max contract, Lopez. After all, Brooklyn was a train wreck last year until Lopez went down for the season with a broken foot, prompting the Nets to change their style and start winning games.
“A little bit more spread out,” was how Mason Plumlee described the offense.
Without Lopez occupying the lane Saturday, the Nets shot 58%, winning the battles in the paint and on the perimeter. They also hit 16 of their 23 three-point attempts.
“(Friday night against the Sixers) we had 25 assists and I was like, ‘Wow, that was good,’ ” Hollins said. “We came right back out and backed it up. That shows that we are moving the ball a little better from side to side. Plus we are making shots. You don’t get assists unless you’re making shots.”
The Nets (10-12), the most expensive team in the NBA, may have been hardly recognizable with a lineup featuring Cory Jefferson and Sergey Karasev, but that combo helped build an 18-point lead in the first quarter.
Plumlee also limited Charlotte’s bruising center, Al Jefferson, to just eight points for the game. Brooklyn didn’t have Lopez, Kevin Garnett (rest) and Mirza Teletovic (hip), so even the struggling Hornets (6-17) should’ve represented a difficult opponent. But the Nets rolled from tipoff in their first complete performance since early November.
“It has been a while since we are the right side of a blowout,” Williams said.
The Hornets created a buzz by walking on the court with “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts — becoming the latest team to make a statement regarding the Eric Garner case — but then they fizzled after tipoff.
It was a good time for a dominating effort from the Nets, with such uncertainty surrounding the franchise. It’s a bizarre dynamic because the GM is threatening to dismantle the expensive roster he assembled, and the man who makes the final decisions, Mikhail Prokhorov, is never around to provide his two cents, or is it Rubles?
Of course trading massive contracts, including Lopez’s, is a difficult task. One trading partner that might be l ooking for a shakeup is the Hornets, who have been miserable this season amidst high expectations.
Brooklyn product Lance Stephenson has been blamed for disturbing the chemistry of a Charlotte squad that qualified for the playoffs last season. However, a source told the Daily News that the feeling i n Stephenson’s camp is that he’s not ready for a move back home, at least not yet, because of the potential for distractions. Stephenson, who went to Lincoln High in Coney Island, struggled Saturday with 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting.