PLAYING BIG-BALL
Nets adjust schemes to maximize Lopez
Despite the rise of smallball and their own revvedup tempo, the Nets aren’t deemphasizing Brook Lopez. Just the opposite.
Interim coach Tony Brown likened Lopez to some of the great classic centers of the past. And since he has taken the reins, Brown has searched for ways to hide Lopez’s weaknesses on defense and accentuate his strengths on offense.
“Obviously a lot of teams are going in that [smallball] direction. But when you have a quality big man like Brook Lopez, smallball goes out the window in my mind,’’ Brown said before Lopez scored 36 points in the Nets’ 112104 loss to the Trail Blazers in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday. “He’s a guy that can dominate down in the low post, he’s a guy who can demand double teams in the low post. That’s an advantage.
“[In] the history of the game, there’s always been big guys like that: Shaq [Shaquille O’Neal], Kareem [AbdulJabbar], Wilt [Chamberlain]. These guys dominated in the paint. So the smallball stuff is great — there’s places for that — but when you have a player of his caliber, you want to make sure you get him the ball. He can create problems.’’
Lopez has created even more problems since Brown replaced Lionel Hollins on Jan. 10. In the 24 games since Jan. 1, he went into Tuesday averaging 21.5 points on 53.4 percent shooting, the only player in the NBA in that stretch averaging 20 points and hitting more than 53 percent from the floor.
Lopez was even better in eight February games, averaging 22.0 points on 56.1 percent shooting.
“It’s not just postups. We consciously tried to move the ball sidetoside, and during that process, if Brook is on the move in the paint area, we’d like for him to catch it if he has an opportunity,’’ Brown said. “[It’s] just not walking it up and throwing it in to him now. … There’s going to be various ways to get him the ball, but so far I like the way we’ve been doing it.”
What is less successful is the Nets’ pickandroll defense. Teams always have punished that Achilles’ heel, taking advantage of Lopez’s lack of mobility — and it’s something Brooklyn hopes to change with a scheme tweak.
“It’s a different kind of unique look that we have. It takes communication with the guards, letting them know where it’s coming from and then being there to help them out,’’ Lopez said. “I have to be there to communicate, let them know and back them up.’’
That communication broke down at times Sunday when the Hornets’ Kemba Walker torched the Nets for 28 points, mostly in the pickandroll. But they’re committed to making the tweaks work longterm.
“Our challenges have always been in pickandroll, especially when Brook is on the ball. He’s a big guy, not as mobile as some people in the league,’’ Brown said. “But I have to give him credit: Some of the stuff we’ve implemented he has a good feel for it.
“We don’t want him extended out, showing up on the ball, which is going to make it a longer run back into the paint [to] protect our rim and rebound. So a lot of it’s geared toward trying to keep him in the paint, and puts a lot more onus on our defenders on the ball to either fight over or go under when there’s an opportunity. We seem to have done a decent job of that and we’re going to continue.’’