When: April 1, 2016; 7:30 PM EST
Where: Madison Square Garden; New York, NY
TV: YES Network
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
- It’s perhaps fitting that Brook and Robin Lopez were both born on today, April
Fools’ Day1st, and that they’ll face off against each other tonight at MSG with each of their teams well out of playoff contention. The Lopez brothers turned 28 today and, with Brook sitting out the Nets’ 107-87 loss in Cleveland last night, will presumably match up with each other for most of the game. - The Knicks, who have lost their last three games, will be without Kristaps Porzingis (shoulder) and Jose Calderon (quad) as they try to bounce back from a tough 91-89 loss in Dallas to the Mavericks on Wednesday night. Holding a seven-point lead after three quarters, Kurt Rambis’ team fell apart down the stretch as J.J. Barea took over late for Dallas. Barea ended up scoring a team-high 26 points off the bench.
- Brooklyn’s stretch of four games in five nights mercifully ends on Friday and it’s been a pretty ugly couple of days for the Nets. Three consecutive double-digit losses against the Heat, Magic and Cavaliers have been rough affairs to watch on the defensive end for Tony Brown’s team, but since the Knicks are pretty bad, the Nets could have a shot tonight.
- While Brook Lopez and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson rested for last night’s game, Bojan Bogdanovic and Thaddeus Young will be on the bench tonight. In their stead, Hollis-Jefferson and Thomas Robinson will start. Robinson, after a few games of being out of the rotation, has been getting more playing time as of late and has posted double-doubles in the Nets’ last two games.
- Rookie Jerian Grant and Derrick Williams will get the start for the Knicks. Grant’s relative lack of playing time on a non-playoff team has upset some Knicks fans this season but he should be able to get some runs as the campaign winds down.
- Cleanthony Early, whom the Knicks drafted in 2014, was recalled from the D-League earlier today. Early has missed much of this season after he was shot in an attempted robbery outside a Queens nightclub on December 30th, 2015. Early is a Bronx native but grew up in upstate Middletown before playing for Wichita State during his college years.
Probable lineups
BKN- Shane Larkin (PG), Sergey Karasev (SG), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (SF), Thomas Robinson (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
NYK- Jerian Grant (PG), Sasha Vujacic (SG), Derrick Williams (SF), Carmelo Anthony (PF), Robin Lopez (C)
Final thoughts
Both of these teams are bad and each have multiple key players sitting out. But, as we’ve seen clearly from the Nets in recent games, Brooklyn has a very hard time even being competitive when one of Lopez or Young doesn’t play. Also, the Nets haven’t been good in the second halves of back-to-backs this season so if they want to win their season series with crosstown Knicks 3-1, they’ll need a big effort from Brook Lopez against his brother on their shared birthday.
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