GT#39: Atlanta @ BROOKLYN - 1/18 - 7:30pm on YES Network

[NyCeEvO]

Ya'll need to chill.

It's ok if Glory Road has a difference of opinion, but there's absolutely no need to tell another Nets fan to leave the board.

That's nonsense.

[Paradise]

What's more hilarious about this debate is I've seen this entire board (including me) all yell at Lopez for his soft play in games. Yet, when someone else says it while we are winning, it's not true and he should leave.

Fact is, Lopez is playing his best career ball but he does not go up strong enough and he gets pushed around on the post which is WHY PJ has told the team NOT to give him the ball around the 3 point line area because it will not end well and it's encouraging his soft low post positioning. Is Lopez the best center in the East? Hell Yes. Does that mean anything in the playoffs? Hell no.

The team also does not give him the ball enough on mismatches(like NYCeEvO said) but that's also his fault for not demanding it and also he is terrible at entry lob catches which makes the team not confident in passing it there. Joe passed it to him with Petro trying to front him and he nearly turned it over and he had tons of space to catch it but he simply did not outmuscle Petro to get free, if Petro didn't get a finger on it. That play could have lost us the game.

Then, Lopez has Josh next to him and he's riding him, instead of fouling him right there and getting the Hawks to inbound it with a set defense. He lets him blow past him and dunk it in his face.

For all the great numbers Brook is putting up, you cannot sit and tell me he does not play soft or sometimes annoyingly stupid ball.

[NyCeEvO]

Then, Lopez has Josh next to him and he's riding him, instead of fouling him right there and getting the Hawks to inbound it with a set defense. He lets him blow past him and dunk it in his face.

I was laying down on my bed when that play happened.

My wife was sleeping and I yelled so loud and cringed that she woke up and thought something serious happened.

I just told her that Lopez got dunked on really badly and she went back to sleep.

[Ronito]

No, my problem (and others) is certain people are just saying things that are simply not true.

For example:

I DID rewatch and Noah had by far the most impact of ANY player on either team. Cannot say the same for Lopez. Noah also frustrated Lopez and forced him into a lot of ugly shots.

I just went back and looked at every play Lopez had on offense against Noah. And only Noah; so no Boozer, Gibson, Nazr or on any mismatch. Lopez didn't take a single bad shot unless you want to talk about his final shot.

After sitting for more than 5 minutes of game time, Avery put Lopez back in a tie game and ISO'd (go figure) him against Noah. Lopez tried his rip move, didn't work. He back in Noah a tad and spinned around as Gibson came in for the double. Lopez shot and missed. That was the only shot that you can even debate was bad.

Again, certain people are saying things that aren't true and hoping no one checks it out. Sorry, but I don't like it when people do that.

[therealbig3]

I agree that it might be a coaching issue and i think Carlisemo did that vs the Hawks. I notice he never ran post ups for Brook or isolations for him. That worked out very badly for the Nets the last game because Lopez sucks when isolated vs bigs like Zaza and those damn speedy guards were just getting those misses and running which hurt bad.

If he had run more plays for post ups or isolations for Lopez we would have lost imo

This is just blatantly not true though. The last game, Lopez barely got the ball, and that's when we went down huge. We started feeding him the ball in the 2nd half, and THAT'S when we made a run to cut the lead to as close as 10 points, but never got closer than that.

You're just dead wrong with this post. Lopez did not suck at all when he was isolated against the Hawks bigs, he went 10-14 from the field, there weren't very many misses to grab and run. Feeding him in the post PREVENTED their transition baskets, because he slowed the game down, and by being so efficient, he forced them to take the ball and inbound it, which allowed our defense to get back and get set. What you're saying is the complete opposite of what actually happened.

What killed us were all the misses from everyone else, mainly off bad ISO jumpers, and all the TOs, which resulted in the Hawks getting a ton of transition layups. The one guy that actually played well offensively was Lopez.

Nobody is saying Lopez is some elite, top 5 player, but you're reaching badly and just flat out lying at this point in order to hate on Lopez. We all watched the game, and Lopez was our most effective offensive player against the Hawks in the first meeting. And we finally got some separation and took the lead when Lopez got more touches in the last game.

[therealbig3]

http://rubasket.com/component/joomleagu ... t&mid=3539

http://rubasket.com/component/joomleagu ... t&mid=3555

Heck, here's the link to both games. Prove us wrong.

[PetroNet]

I acknowledge he is our most consistent player as well as the fact that he leads the league in points in the paint and whatever other mindless stats you wanna throw in. I never deny his stats.

What exactly is "mindless" about points in the paint? It is as legit a stat as there is. when he scores, its often in the paint. and he does so more then anyone in the NBA.

As far not denying his stats, the only time you acknowledge them is to say that they dont matter and how stats are meaningless.

Just because i am saying that he struggles against all the centers he will meet in the playoffs does not mean i think he is useless or that he is not doing well now.

it is baseless that he struggles against all the centers he will meet in the playoffs. he may not dominate them, but he gets his season average on them, i.e. roughly 18/8 on 50% shooting 1 TO 2 Blocks. id hardly call that "struggling".

You guys can say oh he outscored Garnett. However Garnett had the bigger impact in the game overall and when the playoffs come he will do what he always does. Lopez might get his 18pts here and there but can we give him the ball in the 4th and tell him to get us the win vs Garnett? GTFOH hell no!

Garnett got owned in the first meeting. as did the entire celtics front court. the second game he held his own, but still got outplayed. in fact, the entire reason we beat them the first 2 games is because we dominated them inside and on the offensive glass. the third game, yeah garnett played well and lopez did not. it was also the game that got avery fired, FWIW.

you can absolutely dump it to brook the last 4 minutes and have him scored and get us a W. he has been excellent in 4th quarters.

[Ronito]

I have the charted play-by-play of Brook against Noah and will post it if anyone wants. Lopez went 8-14 from the floor when Noah was on him. He had 2 turnovers (both travels) while forcing Noah into a defensive 3 second.

Of those 6 misses, 3 were on missed tip-in/layups via offensive rebounds. He had 5 in the game, by the way, in his limited minutes. But apparently, ''Noah also frustrated Lopez and forced him into a lot of ugly shots.''

If you want to lie, you're at the wrong place.

[jeff1624]

I just don't understand how anyone could criticize Brook's offense this year and call it a potential problem in the playoffs. If you want to criticize his defense go ahead, there are plenty of things to criticize and it's the reason he isn't a top 10 player in the league... but trying to downplay his ability on the offensive end just seems troll-ish IMO. You can't name a single center playing better on the offensive end this year. Not one.

[Glory Road]

No, my problem (and others) is certain people are just saying things that are simply not true.

For example:

I DID rewatch and Noah had by far the most impact of ANY player on either team. Cannot say the same for Lopez. Noah also frustrated Lopez and forced him into a lot of ugly shots.

I just went back and looked at every play Lopez had on offense against Noah. And only Noah; so no Boozer, Gibson, Nazr or on any mismatch. Lopez didn't take a single bad shot unless you want to talk about his final shot.

After sitting for more than 5 minutes of game time, Avery put Lopez back in a tie game and ISO'd (go figure) him against Noah. Lopez tried his rip move, didn't work. He back in Noah a tad and spinned around as Gibson came in for the double. Lopez shot and missed. That was the only shot that you can even debate was bad.

Again, certain people are saying things that aren't true and hoping no one checks it out. Sorry, but I don't like it when people do that.

Link me to this please. I want to watch the game again

[Glory Road]

I just don't understand how anyone could criticize Brook's offense this year and call it a potential problem in the playoffs. If you want to criticize his defense go ahead, there are plenty of things to criticize and it's the reason he isn't a top 10 player in the league... but trying to downplay his ability on the offensive end just seems troll-ish IMO. You can't name a single center playing better on the offensive end this year. Not one.

I am not criticizing his offense. I am saying he is going struggle in 7 games series vs most of the bigs he will be matched up with in the east playoffs

Will he get his random points throughout the games? Sure. He is a scorer. Wouldnt be any good at all if he could not do at least that. Will he take over a game and dominate his matchup forcing coaches to adjust in the playoffs? Highly doubt it.

Lopez should be a 3rd option in the playoffs. That is all i am saying. The kid can score. but some Nets fans make it seem like the guy is some unstoppable force that dominates anyone

No. He struggles vs most of the top centers i have watched him against when they isolate him. The Nets played him like he was Dirk or something.

I am going to end this Lopez thing for the moment and watch how he does this week. These are going to be 3 very tough matchups for him coming up vs Chandler, Gasol, and Asik. Shame Pekovic is injured because that would have been fun to watch as well.

[Ronito]

No, my problem (and others) is certain people are just saying things that are simply not true.

For example:

I DID rewatch and Noah had by far the most impact of ANY player on either team. Cannot say the same for Lopez. Noah also frustrated Lopez and forced him into a lot of ugly shots.

I just went back and looked at every play Lopez had on offense against Noah. And only Noah; so no Boozer, Gibson, Nazr or on any mismatch. Lopez didn't take a single bad shot unless you want to talk about his final shot.

After sitting for more than 5 minutes of game time, Avery put Lopez back in a tie game and ISO'd (go figure) him against Noah. Lopez tried his rip move, didn't work. He back in Noah a tad and spinned around as Gibson came in for the double. Lopez shot and missed. That was the only shot that you can even debate was bad.

Again, certain people are saying things that aren't true and hoping no one checks it out. Sorry, but I don't like it when people do that.

Link me to this please. I want to watch the game again

Link you to what? I have NBA League Pass and went back to watch it.

[Paradise]

I actually had that Bulls game on DVR...Lopez never went one on one much and that's why he played so great on Noah. Towards the 4th quarter, he outplayed Noah on the glass and outhustled him then Avery took him out like a dumbass.

When Lopez tried to size him, he got stripped or he shot a terrible bank shot that went off the side of the backboard.

[DarkXaero]

I agree with what Ronito has said. In my recollection of that game, I remember Brook outplaying AND scoring on Noah, when he was in the game. Infact, I remember Brook actually got off to a very hot start in that game. The only bad play came when Avery ran the late 4th iso for Brook against Noah, when Brook took a difficult shot from the baseline on a post up. But that was a very difficult shot in the first place, and it was a dumb play to run (thanks Avery).

Either way, Brook definitely outplayed Noah in that game.

[jerseyjac]

Ya'll need to chill.

It's ok if Glory Road has a difference of opinion, but there's absolutely no need to tell another Nets fan to leave the board.

That's nonsense.