NEW YORK _ In their final two home games before the All-Star break, the Nets faced 40-year-old former star Vince Carter of the Grizzlies on Monday night at Barclays Center two days before the scheduled arrival of Jason Kidd, Carter's former teammate from the two-time Eastern Conference champions and the current coach of the Bucks. But the big question hovering over the franchise is whether franchise center Brook Lopez might join that list of former Nets by the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 23.
Monday began with Lopez's name prominently mentioned in another trade report involving negotiations between the Nets and New Orleans. Whether it was trade deadline stress or the difficulty of facing Memphis center Marc Gasol, Lopez struggled mightily, and so did the rest of the Nets in losing their 13th straight game, 112-103, to the Grizzlies.
A week ago, Lopez laughed off the first reports the Pelicans might be interested in making a deal for him by saying he was used to the speculation at this time of year. At the time, it seemed the Pelicans were more focused on getting Jahlil Okafor of the 76ers, but those talks have not borne fruit.
Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders on Monday reported the Pelicans now are offering Tyreke Evans (who will be an unrestricted free agent), Langston Galloway, Tim Frazier and a protected 2018 first-round draft pick for Lopez. The Nets reportedly are asking for two first-round draft choices, including one this year for Lopez.
In his nine Nets seasons, Lopez has seen coaches and general managers come and go, but he's never endured such hard times as he's seen in the first year of the latest rebuild under general manager Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson. Monday night's loss was a franchise-record 15th in a row at home and the 24th in the past 25 games overall for the Nets (9-46), who have by far the worst record in the league.
Although the Nets trimmed a 15-point Memphis third-quarter lead to five points early in the final period, the winning formula continued to elude them. The Grizzlies responded with a 16-5 run that included a pair of threes by Troy Daniels for a 95-79 lead. The Nets caught a break when an air ball by Lopez was caught by Carter short of the rim for a goaltending call that sparked a 13-4 Nets run. A four-point play by Spencer Dinwiddie helped cut the deficit to 99-92.
But Memphis guard Mike Conley scored nine straight points to end the Nets' comeback hopes. Conley led the Grizzlies (34-23) with 32 points, and they got 19 points from Gasol, 17 from Brandan Wright and 14 from Carter. Six players scored in double figures for the Nets topped by 17 apiece from Lopez and Dinwiddie and 15 from Sean Kilpatrick.
Both teams made eight of their first 12 shots and traded the lead often in the first period. But as they often do, the Nets dug an early hole when they missed their final eight shots of the opening period and committed a turnover as the Grizzlies ran off 10 straight points for a 27-19 lead.
The Nets climbed within three points in the second period, but Wright came off the Memphis bench to score eight points in a 12-2 run that restored a 45-33 Grizzlies' lead. Lopez got going with two baskets in the third quarter as the Nets pulled within 55-50, but they couldn't sustain the push as the Grizzlies took control with a 15-5 run that pushed their lead to 70-55.
It was a familiar pattern for the Nets, who have put together comeback after comeback only to fall short because the climb they created for themselves early in the game was too steep.
