PICK OF TIME
D-Will, Lopez finally get on a roll
When the Nets traded for Deron Williams five years ago, they expected to have plenty of nights when he and Brook Lopez teamed up in the pick and roll to dominate their opponents.
The Nets would have envisioned many games exactly like Monday’s victory over the Trail Blazers. Williams finished with 24 points, six rebounds and 10 assists and Lopez went for 32 points and nine rebounds to take apart a shorthanded Portland team and move Brooklyn one step closer to a third straight playoff berth.
But such games have been few and far between for the Nets. Williams and Lopez have played in only 161 of the 351 regularseason and playoff games they have both been on the roster for, leaving many to wonder what could have been.
“We’re playing well together,” Williams said. “Our chemistry has definitely improved. Our pick and roll game has gotten a lot better aswe understand each other.
“We have played here a long time, but a lot of those have been he’s been out or I’ve been out. So I don’t know how many games total we’ve played together, but I don’t think it’s as many as one would think.”
It’s hard to believe Williams and Lopez could have much better chemistry in the pick and roll than they have recently. They’ve been rampaging through just about every opponent — excluding Saturday’s blowout loss in Atlanta to the Hawks, who the Nets will face Wednesday at Barclays Center — by pick and rolling them to death.
Both are playing as well as they ever have, and collectively are having better success than ever working off one another, which both are happy to admit.
“He just keeps telling me to get in the pocket as much as possible, and it’s brought us a lot of success,” Lopez said. “We’ve had stretches where we’ve played well together in the pick and roll. We know how to play with each other, but unfortunately it’s been very limited these past fewyears.”
Ironically, nowthat they’re playing as well together as they ever have— helping the Nets to win 11 of their past 14 — they head into an offseason full of uncertainty, because Lopez will be able to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent.
Itwould be easy for everyone involved, and especially Williams and Lopez, to be frustrated about howlong it’s taken for them to jell. But with bigger things to focus on — like trying to finally lock up a playoff spot— they’re choosing to think about the present.
“You can’t worry about that,” Williams said. “It’s something you can’t really control. It’s in the past, and going forward I think we like where we’re at chemistrywise, and hopefully that continues to improve.”