New York Knicks Preview: Keys To Defeating The Brooklyn Nets
4. Contain Brook Lopez
The Brooklyn Nets have one of the most under-appreciated players in the NBA in All-Star center Brook Lopez. His hype has withered away as Brooklyn’s roster has fallen to pieces, but he remains productive, reliable, and borderline unstoppable on offense.
With Jeremy Lin sidelined by an injury, the New York Knicks must be able to hold Lopez in check on Wednesday.
One of the lost arts from the previous era of NBA basketball appears to be intentionally getting big men in foul trouble. It still happens, of course, but it’s become less a matter of strategy and more about circumstance.
The best way for the Knicks to contain the Nets’ offense would be to get Lopez into foul trouble and off of the court.
Lopez boasts a career average of 18.3 points on 51.1 percent shooting from the field and 79.2 percent shooting from the free throw line. He’s averaging 19.4 points per game in 2016-17 and went off for 34 points against Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons.
The Knicks can’t let the Nets get going from beyond the arc, but containing Lopez would go a long way towards shutting Brooklyn’s offense down.