BROOKLYN, NY--On Friday night, Los Angeles Lakers center Brook Lopez faced his former team at its home for the first time since being traded over the summer, and Lopez played a major role on both ends of the court to help secure a 102-99 victory for the visitors.
"Brook was great," Lakers coach Luke Walton said after the game. "He had a huge block down the stretch."
In addition to Lopez, who played the most minutes in a game since the start of November and contibuted with 19 points and three blocks in the win, Brandon Ingram started at point guard and nearly tabbed a triple-double. Ingram recorded a career-high 10 assists on the night, though he required extra time on the trainers' table after the game due to a groin issue.
Ingram was not the only Lakers' starter to have a career night, as rookie Josh Hart earned the surprise start and grabbed the third double-double of his career with 15 points and 14 rebounds, the latter of which was a new record for the rookie. Hart took Tyler Ennis' place in the starting, reducing Ennis to a cheerleading role for the night.
"I was chanelling my inner Charles Barkley, you know, undersized guys," the rookie guard joked afterwards. "(Rebounding) was one emphasis Coach Luke talked about."
To start the game, the 22-year-old Hart played active defense and energized the starting unit to help LA get off to a fast start and taste a seven-point lead early. The Nets, of course, came back into the game and managed to even take a two-point lead with former Lakers' lottery draft pick D'Angelo Russell scoring the bucket to put Brooklyn up by two points after 12 minutes: 26-24.
After the first quarter, the Brooklyn Nets honored Lopez, who is Brooklyn's all-time leading scorer, with an in-arena video. Lopez spent nine years with the Nets and drew a great deal of attention in the buildup to the game, which continued into the postgame locker room. Even ushers at the arena gifted Lopez a cake for his return.
In the second quarter, both teams played an energetic up-and-down game, with Larry Nance Jr. grabbing four rebounds and scoring seven points in the quarter to standout for the Lakers' second unit. In fact, Nance even made his first three-pointer of the season. To be fair to the forward, the 25-year-old had only attempted three three-pointers over the first 50 games of the season, so he ended the night shooting 25 percent on three-pointers for the season.
By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the Lakers led by two points and neither team had led by more than seven points over the first 24 minutes.
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In the third quarter, the Nets came out focused and took a nine-point lead six minutes into the second half. That run seemed to immediately energize Lopez, who proceeded to catch fire from three-point land and bring his team back into the contest. Lopez scored 12 points in the quarter, and his strong showing appeared to pave the way for a rare fourth quarter stint by the big man. By the end of three quarters, Lopez had made three of his four three-point attemps and seven of his nine field goal attempts overall.
Thanks largely to Lopez's inspired third quarter, the Lakers and Nets entered the fourth and final quarter knotted with the Nets at 85-85.
Early in the fourth, Jordan Clarkson shook off his cold start to the game and got hot enough to drain two three-pointers. The Lakers' sixth man had started the game by missing his first five shots, but Clarkson proceeded to make three of his next four shots, all of which came from beyond the three-point line.
In a flash, the Lakers held a six-point advantage with four minutes elapsed in the final period. Four minutes later, Brooklyn only trailed by three points with former Laker Russell orchestrating the comeback and rookie Jarrett Allen having a career night. Allen made eight of his first nine shots and recorded 20 points, which was impressive considering he's a 19-year-old rookie.
But down the stretch with fewer than two minutes remaining in a four-point game, Lopez came up with a massive block under the basket that sent the crowd into a frenzy and seemed to stunt the rookie's impact on the game.
Ultimately, the game came down to the Lakers leading by three points with 8.9 seconds remaining and Brooklyn holding the ball. Brooklyn's Joe Harris took a contested three-pointer from the corner and couldn't make the shot. The Lakers walked away victorious and snapped a two-game losing streak.
Notes: Spencer Dinwiddie led the Nets with 23 points, nine assists and seven rebounds on the night. The Lakers assisted on 21 of 39 made field goals and shot 38.5 percent from beyond the three-point line. Lopez and Hart both hit three of six from beyond the arc.
