By Brian Lewis
Anybody wondering what life is going to look like for the Nets without point guard Jeremy Lin got a glimpse on Friday night. Brook Lopez got fronted in the post, got double-teamed on a regular basis, and got harassed all night in a 99-95 loss to the Hornets.
Expect Lopez to see more of the same for the foreseeable future. And expect to see the Nets struggle until they figure a way to fight it.
“Their defense [was] excellent. There’s a reason they’re a top defensive team. They take away some stuff you want to do, and you have to go down the line with your options,’’ Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They knocked us off of our pace, knocked us off of our rhythm.”
Atkinson shouldered some of the blame for not giving Lopez enough options out of his motion offense, a failing the coach will have to fix with Lin sidelined.
“[Charlotte] probably had a talk at halftime and said we can’t let this guy get so many touches and so many shots in the post,’’ Atkinson said. “They started fronting him in the post, and quite honestly, we’re going to have to work on doing a better job of getting him some counters to that.”
The Post has reported the Nets at least are open to the idea of trading Lopez before the February deadline, but they aren’t actively shopping him. Lopez is averaging a team-high 19.4 points but could have to work even harder for those points in the next few weeks with the Nets’ point-guard play compromised.
Lin suffered a strained hamstring Wednesday at Detroit, and won’t be re-evaluated for two weeks. After Lopez finished that win over the Pistons with 34 points, the Nets struggled to get him the ball Friday with Lin and backups Greivis Vasquez and Randy Foye all hurt and raw rookie Isaiah Whitehead making his first career start.
“It’s a huge adjustment [without Lin], no question, because he brings so much to our team,” Lopez said. “It was just a matter of giving Isaiah confidence and letting him know that we’re all out there with him and have trust in him. It’s not just one of us on the floor.”
But defenses may treat it that way. Lopez had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to spot Brooklyn a 21-8 lead over Charlotte, but the Hornets doubled him into invisibility after that, holding him to 3-of-12 shooting the rest of the night.
“They were just coming from the baseline trying to double. They did a good job of pressuring us a lot, denied us, got us out of our motion and made us try different things,’’ said Lopez, adding of constant double-teams, “If that continues to happen, it’s something we’ll address, for sure.”
For his part, Whitehead didn’t use the dearth of counters in the motion offense as an alibi, admitting he just has to find ways to get Lopez the ball.
“I don’t necessarily think they made it tough; we just weren’t finding him,’’ Whitehead said. “We should always find him in the right spots. It’s our job to really get him open, and call the right plays.”
Foye told The Post he didn’t play Friday because that morning’s shootaround was his first live action since pulling his hamstring. He was hopeful of being ready for Tuesday against the Timberwolves at Barclays Center.
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