Nets coach Avery Johnson expects Brook Lopez to get back to 'a certain level'

Nets coach Avery Johnson spent a good deal of time Friday morning talking about how much better a player Brook Lopez is than he was earlier in the season — how his center is going harder after more rebounds; how he is better at fighting for position; how much more mature he is.

Then Lopez promptly went out and laid two eggs in a row.

First there was the 10-point, two-rebound effort against Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic on Friday night, which Johnson wrote off by saying Howard does that to a lot of people.

The coach added he hoped for a big, bounce-back effort from Lopez and the entire team Saturday in Atlanta.

He didn’t get it.

In fact, things actually got worse. As a team, the Nets were outscored 19-2 at the start and were never in the game against the Hawks in an eventual 98-87 loss. Individually, Lopez was held to six points and no rebounds.

“We just didn’t come out with energy, that’s the bottom line,” Lopez said, when asked after that game to explain his and the team’s performance. “There’s not really a reason.”

the coach wasn’t quite willing to write off the first half no-show to injuries or fatigue.

“No, no. Not at all,” he said. “That’s not my nature. I think we’re going to take it to the very end — there are no free passes. If we’re going to ever get to a level where we want to go, it’s hard work, okay? We’re not in a situation where we barely missed the playoffs last year by one game, okay?

“Our coaching staff works awfully hard; our players practice hard, but some nights we’re just not good enough,” he said. “Tonight, maybe we weren’t good enough, but I didn’t like our effort. And when you’re in our situation, you’ve got to bring the effort, you’ve got to bring the energy, you’ve got to play like you’re really passionate about the game.”

Johnson tried to be diplomatic when asked about Lopez. He mentioned that the 7-foot center had a problem with an arm injury (which Lopez said happened late in the game and had nothing to do with how he played). When asked later specifically about Lopez’s effort, Johnson admitted it was lacking something.

“We’re used to seeing him at a certain level in a game, and he’ll get back to it next week,” Johnson said.