YES, THERE WAS AN NBA GAME ON MONDAY
Well, some of the Blazers. LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum and Chris Kaman did not make the trip. Portland's starting lineup was Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Arron Afflalo, Meyers Leonard and Robin Lopez. Joel Freeland was the only big off the bench, so Alonzo Gee and Allen Crabbe both played some minutes at power forward.
Lillard was awesome -- he had 36 points on 14-for-26 shooting -- and both McCollum and Leonard were effective offensively, but Portland just didn't have any firepower left on its bench. The loss means it is two games back of Memphis for the third spot in the West.
Brook won the battle of the Lopezes, finishing with 32 points (15-25 FG), nine rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block and no turnovers in 32 minutes. In fact, no Nets starter turned the ball over. The back-to-back Eastern Conference player of the week pulled off a nice spin move on his brother, too:
Robin did have a block on him earlier, though. So that's something. Especially after he called Brook a "crappy center."
Deron Williams continues to look rejuvenated. He had 24 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. He got into the lane at will and also made four of his five 3-point attempts. Brooklyn has won seven of its last eight games and is seventh in the East, two games back of the sixth-place Bucks.
DUNK OF THE NIGHT
DUNK OF THE NIGHT RUNNER-UP
WHEEEEEE
KAREEM, HE IS NOT
THERE WERE 18 SECONDS LEFT ON THE SHOT CLOCK