Lopez Leads Nets Past Duncan & Spurs in 4th
March 29, 2010
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—Monday at the IZOD Center, the Nets beat the Spurs, 90-84, for their third victory in four games and 10th on the season. Brook Lopez (22 points, 12 rebounds) rebounded from a poor first half to score 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Nets came-from-behind to beat the Spurs, 90-84. Devin Harris added 17 points and a game-high nine assists, while Courtney Lee contributed 19 points and rookie Terrence Williams added 13 off the bench.
For the full recap, read Bob Considine's story on NBA.com: Click Here
Lopez Leads Nets Past Duncan & Spurs in 4th
Brook Lopez knows this is not yet a case of the learner becoming the master. There is much basketball to be played before that. But four times now Lopez has matched up with Spurs center Tim Duncan, and gradually the second-year center is beginning to find ways to pull Duncan’s normally gaudy numbers down to something he can offset.
“You can’t (compare yourself) against him, because that’s a long way to go,” said Lopez, at the Nets' Wednesday morning shootaround. “But in my own right, I feel like I’ve progressed fairly well. There’s still a lot I have yet to learn and a lot I want to achieve. I think we’ve started to lay good groundwork.”
At the IZOD Center, Lopez battled through a frustrating first half (2-9 FGs) to score 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, propelling the Nets to a 90-84 victory against the Spurs, who were playing without Tony Parker (broken finger) and Manu Ginobili (lower back spasms). While Duncan racked up 13 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots, he also shot 6-of-15 and committed four turnovers, the final one coming with 7.9 seconds remaining and stripping the Spurs of their last attempt to tie the game.
Trailing by three, the Spurs inbounded to Duncan in the high post, but he misread George Hill’s cut and tossed his pass unimpeded to the opposite sideline. Nets guard Courtney Lee, defending Hill on the play, said he was trying to take away the three. That forced Hill toward the baseline, but his jab step juked Duncan into firing crosscourt.
On the ensuing inbounds, Duncan fouled Devin Harris (17 points, 9 assists), and the Nets’ guard split a pair of free throws to put his squad up four. They would never have been there without a stellar fourth quarter by the 22-year-old center, who finished the final period 3-of-3 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line while playing strong defense on Duncan. The Spurs’ big mustered only a contested hook and a tip in while missing two other attempts during the game-deciding 15-4 run.
Lopez, meanwhile, twice hit catch-and-shoot jumpers outside the paint, capping the run with a 19-footer that left the Nets leading 87-81 with 1 ½ minutes remaining. Just 90 seconds earlier, Lopez – a center! – was swishing a technical free-throw to add a point, shortly after throwing down an alley-oop to emphatically push the Nets’ lead to three.
“That shows – because I know he got upset – how he can focus,” said Nets coach and general manager Kiki Vandeweghe. “It’s a process, and we’ve talked about it over the course of the year: as you get upset and frustrated during the game – they’re always going to double-team you – it’s a matter of channeling that focus and directing it toward the other team and channeling it toward rebounding and defense. And I think he did that.”
With a 22-point, 12-rebound final line, Lopez posted his 32nd double-double of the season (23rd 20-10), erasing a sour second quarter in which his only attempt airballed. The Nets allowed only 13 points in the second quarter, carrying Lopez enough to close within three points at halftime, setting the stage for Lopez’s redemptive finish.
The Nets allowed the Spurs to shoot only .381 in the final two periods, and Lopez credited his teammates with communicating, rotating effectively and “helping-the-helper.” They also received a boost when
“I don’t know if last year if I would have made it through a little stretch like that,” Lopez acknowledged. “But Kiki has talked to me about focusing my energy, like a laser beam. Just focusing it and not letting anything else get in the way.”
Lopez did just that, working with rookie Terrence Williams (13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) and shooting guard Lee (19 points, 2-3 3Ps, 6 rebounds) to seal the victory. In his fourth matchup with Duncan, Lopez finally emerged victorious, and now holds averages in those games of 20.8 PPG, 8.8 RPG and 1.0 BPG while shooting .532 from the field.
Yet after his worst game against Lopez, Duncan still carries matchup averages of 21.0 PPG, 13.3 RPG, 3.0 BPG and a .561 shooting percentage. He is, as Vandeweghe puts it, “still Tim Duncan,” still earning All-NBA nods even though he’s supposed to be on the far side of his prime.
“I think that when you’re playing against guys you’ve admired, that’s when you give it a little extra juice,” Vandeweghe explained. “I know I always did when I was lucky enough to play against Dr. J or somebody I had watched coming up. Tim Duncan is still Tim Duncan, I’ll tell you that. He’s averaging 18 and 10 this year. They said he’s slowed down, but anybody in the league will take 18 and 10.”
Lopez left this game with averaging 19 and 9. Anybody in the league will need to find someone else.
Terrence Takes the Big Ones
Rookie swingman Terrence Williams didn’t shoot well (4-13 FGs), but hit two crunch-time shots that bode well for his long-term development. The first was a game-tying three early in the fourth, fired from the corner; the second, a pullup jumper on an extended possession that left the Nets leading by six with just fewer than three minutes to go.
That latter shot was fired following a pair of screen-and-roll attempts with Brook Lopez, the first failing to materialize when Williams’ defender played back. Williams stepped out and again initiated the most basic of basketball plays.
“Brook set the screen, (and) my man went under, so I told him to reset it,” Williams said. “As soon as he set it again, my man tried to go under it again and Tim Duncan was there too long. You’ve got to shoot it with confidence, I guess.”
Correction: he knows. Williams – despite a 3-for-9 showing to that point – stepped right into a pullup just nine seconds into the shot clock. Swish.
“Indeed.” (Word to your Rafer.)
