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| Brook wasn't doing any dunking last night in Detroit, a sprained ankle made sure of that |
It's obvious that the Brooklyn Nets are a much better team when center Brook Lopez is on the floor, and Friday's close loss to the Detroit Pistons only served to strengthen that idea.
Brook, who sprained his ankle in Thursday's win over the Clippers in Brooklyn, traveled with the Nets to Detroit but ended up not playing in the game for precautionary measures, even though the injury isn't expected to be serious. His team sorely missed him, as it got down by as much as 21 points (thanks to losing the 2nd quarter 38-20) and saw a comeback attempt fall short due to a missed officiating call, a pair of missed free throws, and a lost defensive rebound.
Some other observations I had from the game: They might have lost (and fallen to 8-15 on the season and 0-2 against the Pistons) but the fact that the Nets–without Brook, Andrei, and Terry–were able to nearly complete a 21-point comeback against a big, athletic, talented, and quick team like the Pistons says a lot about this squad has changed its play of late. The Nets from a few weeks ago would have withered away and gotten blown out in this one. The Nets of right now fought back with intensity and were a few bounces and calls from an incredible triumph that just wasn't meant to be.
Looking Ahead
The Nets have a hard-earned two-day break ahead of them until they play the 76ers at the Barclays Center on Monday.
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