You never know what you’re going to get on an NBA road trip, especially an eight-game, 16-day, 8,100-mile trip across the country and back. And especially with a character like Brook Lopez on board.
Halfway through the Nets eight-game road trip, a look back at some of the top road trip moments.
Funniest Moment: Brook Trolls Cal
Save for a few drops of dry blood by the folded up bleachers or the timer on the shot clock, there’s not a lot of red at Haas Pavilion - the gym at Cal Berkeley.
The gym is draped in Yale blue and California gold, from the steep stands to the colors painted on the court.
So it was impossible to miss Brook Lopez wearing all red, sporting a Stanford shirt and shorts at center court.
If shade has a color, it’s cardinal red.
“I had to,” Lopez said of wearing enemy colors at Berkeley and briefly horrifying Cal alum - and Nets General Manager - Sean Marks.
Lopez also reminded Marks and the media of his record against Cal, going 3-1 in his two years at Stanford, winning both of his games at Haas Pavilion.
“It got a little hostile out there,” he said, referring to Marks’ not in my housereaction.
The big man was definitely asking for some friendly confrontation, standing defiantly at center court, but it was all in good fun. Lopez can definitely be counted on for spontaneity on the road and knows how to keep things light.
Awe Moment: Brook Uses His Height For Good:
Lopez scored his 10,000th career point in Wednesday’s win over Sacramento, but perhaps his most memorable highlight was an assist two games before in Denver.
Sitting on the bench during a second-quarter timeout, Lopez got caught watching the Nuggets’ mascot - Rocky - helping a young fan try to make a shot. The kid couldn’t have been older than four and the basketball was bigger than his head, so even when former Nugget Alex English held him up, he couldn’t get the shot to drop.
“Kenny is probably going to be mad, but I was watching out of the corner of my eye, watching the whole little show. It was cute and I was enjoying it,” Lopez said.
What he didn’t like was seeing the boy not be able to score, so spontaneously Lopez got up out of his seat and ran onto the court. At 7-foot, Lopez had the size to boost him up just a little further, giving him one last chance to sink a basket before the game resumed.
“So I was just like I have to do something, I have to step in and help and I was happy to be able to help,” he said. “I hope we all made that kid’s night. It was a great basket on his part. We put him there, we passed him the ball, gave him the assist, but he had to put it in the basket.”
The clip circulated thanks to the NBA’s Twitter account and was picked up by broadcast networks like ABC. It just confirmed what most Nets fans already know about the seven-footer; Brook Lopez is a friendly giant and you never know what you’re going to get with the Nets star.
Best Individual Moment: Brook Gets 10,000th Point:
Brook Lopez surpassed the 10,000-point mark in Sacramento on Wednesday, becoming the second Net to reach the milestone and the fastest (541 games).
Before the gamde Lopez called it an honor to have scored 10,000 points, but while the humble Lopez deflected talk after the game, Jeremy Lin put perspective on the accomplishment.
“That’s an incredible achievement for a guy to score 10,000 points anywhere, a rec league, let alone the NBA,” Lin said.
For all the hoopla made about Lopez’s developed 3-point game this season, the center’s 10,000th point came like many before, a nonchalant dunk in the post. Congrats Brook, here’s to 10,000 more.
Best Team Moment: Nets Beat Sacramento 109-100:
Easily the top team moment from the trip so far, as the Nets put together a wire-to-wire win over Sacramento.
"If there was ever a team that deserved it," Coach Kenny Atkinson said afterwards. "The guys have been working and improving. I love that it was a team win. Everybody contributed."