Brook Lopez grabbed 5 rebounds tonight! I didn’t show them, because I don’t show rebounds as a matter of principle (they are the lamest of the five major stat categories), but you do get to see one as part of a dunk. Obviously, I’m bringing this up because he didn’t have any rebounds last game, in major minutes. As a 7-footer. He was the big story of the night with that performance; this one is more normal for him and won’t get as much attention.
With those two performances combined, he has shown that if he’s being guarded by a soft, lumbering Euro (so basically a Euro version of himself), he can score the rock without too much trouble. What’s Jokic/Vucevic going to against his variety of offensive moves? Not much, besides look exasperated. Lopez made good use of his extra “Lopez step” that he gets when he’s doing post moves that makes his travels not-travels, and he also flashed a Duncan-esque midrange elbow jumper off the glass. I don’t think I’ve seen that before from him, and I’ve seen a lot of his buckets over the past few years. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? People who’ve never seen Lopez and his sweet new scoring move, that’s who.