Troy Murphy finally got to play alongside Brook Lopez. Even if Murphy did so for only 18 minutes.
Murphy, who missed the first three games of the season with a back injury after sitting out the entire preseason, made his Nets debut last night, starting and playing 18 minutes in a loss to the Bobcats. He had two points and two rebounds.
“It felt OK. It was great to be out there,” said Murphy, whose only issue was “just timing from not being out there, but as far as conditioning I was OK.”
Murphy had been champing at the bit to play next to Brook Lopez, who he admits is the best center he has been teamed with.
“You know he’s good from playing against him, but until you see him in practice and see him every day you don’t realize how good he really is,” Murphy said. “I haven’t played with a center as good as Brook.”
*
Even with the move that put Murphy in the starting lineup, cut down Kris Humphries’
minutes and placed Joe Smith
, a three-game starter, on the inactive list, coach Avery Johnson
said one thing would not change: Derrick Favors’
minutes. And they didn’t.
“The main thing is we don’t want Favors’ minutes affected,” Johnson said. “This whole year is about Favors growing as an NBA player. So his minutes won’t be affected.”
Favors averaged 21.3 minutes in the Nets’ first three games. He played 24 last night, got 11 points, 8 rebounds.
*
Lopez tied his career high with five blocks. … Anthony Morrow
remained in the starting lineup, despite rolling his left ankle near the end of Tuesday’s practice and needing treatment. … CC Sabathia
sat courtside.
*
Nets GM Billy King
and Larry Brown
had a somewhat unique relationship in Philadelphia — King was Brown’s GM but Brown was King’s boss as president and coach. King also was relied on to keep Brown’s trade trigger finger at bay.
“He’s great at what he does, he’s a good friend, he’s as good as anybody in the business. He’s really landed in a great situation with great ownership. He’s got a great coach,” Brown said.
“He’s supportive. He cares about you and the players. [What] you should value as a GM, he does. He got me the pieces to coach and was not a ‘yes’ man in any way. He has his own ideas. But he knows everyone is in this together. He’ll figure [how] to be successful.”
*
Johnson did not mince words discussing backup center Johan Petro
‘s status.
“Petro needs to play better. He needs to stay away from cheap fouls, block more shots, give more hard legal fouls, make his jump shot from the free-throw line. I don’t think he understands yet how valuable his 12 minutes are to us off the bench.”