Key notes for tonight’s game:
Isaiah Whitehead has stayed back east, assigned to the Long Island Nets in advance of their season opener Saturday at NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Jacob Wiley, on a two-way contract, has traveled to Los Angeles with the Nets and will be active for tonight’s game.
AT CENTER: RONDAE
With Jarrett Allen out on Tuesday, a stretch of small ball for the Nets was a necessity. Allen, starting center Timofey Mozgov and Tyler Zeller are the only Nets taller than 6-foot-8.
In this case, it meant 6-foot-7 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson at center as the Nets were storming back from an 18-point deficit.
“It really brought us back in the game,” said coach Kenny Atkinson. “Obviously it’s our small ball lineup. with DeMarre (Carroll) at the 4 we get a lot more shooting. We’re faster. We do suffer on the boards. But I felt like we’re down 15, we had to try something different. And you’ll see that periodically, especially because we’re down some bigs. It’s a lineup you could see sporadically.”
“Rondae, him playing Tyson Chandler or Alex Len, his length is so long and he’s so active that we don’t feel like we’re really punished in the post,” said Atkinson. “Teams don’t post up as much and take advantage of those. And Rondae’s a really good rebounder. I do like that. I think it gives us an offensive advantage and we don’t get hurt that much defensively. If there’s one concern about that, it’s the rebounding factor. That’s where you get hurt.”
ABOUT THE LAKERS
The Los Angeles Lakers are 3-5 heading into their first meeting of the season with the Nets after dropping a 113-110 final to Portland Thursday night. Former Net Brook Lopez had a season-high 27 points for the Lakers in the loss.
The Lakers have been going to the rim for scoring, leading the league in points in the paint with 55.3 and second in fast break points with 15.5. They’re less successful on the perimeter, 26th in 3-point attempts per game and 30th in percentage (29.8).