The Nets head into their biggest game of the season on their hottest roll of the year. And that's because center Brook Lopez is playing some of the best basketball of his life, convincing even coach Lionel Hollins to proclaim how much he wants the free-agent-to-be to return next season.
The Nets trail Boston by two percentage points — with two games in hand — for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, following the Celtics' 116-104 victory over the Hornets on Monday night.
The Nets lead the 10th-place Pacers — whom they host on Tuesday night — by one-half game, with Indiana having one game in hand.
Brooklyn has taken five of its past six, with Lopez having won the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week award and being squarely focused on helping the Nets win their way into the playoffs.
"It's definitely good to be playing for something," Lopez said. "I've enjoyed what little taste of the playoffs I've had. It's definitely something I want to be in.
"Absolutely, we're confident.''
They should be. After four three-game winning streaks, Tuesday would be the perfect time to finally stretch a three to a four, a chance to clinch the season series against Indiana and capture the playoff tiebreaker. Lopez gives them a great chance, having averaging 28.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks to spark a 3-1 week.
Hollins has publicly prodded his center before. But once he finally realized Lopez was never going to be a dominant post-up player backing down defenders, the Nets' attack was tweaked. They began to run more pick-and-rolls for Lopez, who has been closer to the offensive glass when teammates shoot.
The result of that epiphany — after an eight-point, 4-for-14 disappointment at Toronto in early February — has been spectacular.
Lopez slams one down.Photo: AP
"For me, I understood … we had to play differently with him to be effective,'' Hollins said. "It was before the [Knicks] game in [Barclays Center]. I just told him, 'I'm not going to try to make you somebody you're not, just be who you are.' "
In Lopez's 38 games before that contest against the Knicks on Feb. 6, he averaged 15.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, shooting .498 from the floor. In the two dozen games since, he has seen his numbers rise to 18.7 points, 8.6 boards and 2.0 blocks. And his offensive boards have doubled from two to four.
And Lopez's plus-minus was a ghastly negative-117 before that Knicks game, but is plus-13 since.
Considering the Nets' playoff push — and Lopez's ability to opt out of the final $16.7 million year of his contract this summer — it's perfect timing.
"I don't worry about whether he's going to be a free agent, whether he's going to be back, or anything like that," Hollins said. "Obviously, I'd like for him to be back," Hollins said. "I hope he's going to be back. But those decisions aren't mine, and I don't worry about it.''
Hollins , who has clashed with Lopez, bristled when asked whether he'd have any say with general manager Billy King on the matter.
"I just said I want him back," Hollins said. "How many damn times do I have to say that? Damn! I want him back. I want him back. I want him back. OK, everybody got it? I want him back. I want him back. But it's still his call. … That's always out of my control. I can say I want him back all I want. If some team's offered him $25 million a year and we say as an organization they don't want to pay that, that's not my call.''
Lopez, 26, can become a free agent, or exercise his option and hit the market in the summer of 2016, when the new TV deal kicks in and the salary cap jumps to $90 million.
Either way, he insists it's the 2015 playoffs he's focused on, even though it's good to be wanted.
"Yeah, I guess so," he said. "But I think as a team we're doing so well right now. We're hitting our stride at the right time.''
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