Nets' Hollins on Lopez: 'We're going to try to get Brook more shots'

Brook Lopez averaged roughly 24 points and nine rebounds over the final month of the season, as the Brooklyn Nets capped the campaign on an 11-5 run to squeak into the Eastern Conference playoffs.

But the big man attempted just seven field goals and used only 10 shooting possessions (three resulted in six free throws) in the team's surprisingly competitive Game 1 loss to the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks.

Getting Lopez more shots and touches, then, seems to be an obvious goal for Game 2.

Easier said than done.

"Maybe I should just go out there and say, 'Brook, just shoot anywhere, everywhere, any time,' and we'll win, right?" Nets head coach Lionel Hollins joked Monday. "Come on. It's deeper than that. We're going to try to get Brook more shots, but that's the game of cat-and-mouse," Hollins added, as reported by ESPN's Mike Mazzeo.

The cat in this case (or the mouse, depending on your allegiances) is the Hawks' vaunted defense, which has no doubt game planned to take away Brooklyn's preferred options.

"Their defense is so good against our first actions. We're not gonna score (with) our first pick-and-roll," point guard Deron Williams said of Atlanta's seventh-ranked D.

"We just gotta find some actions that work for (Lopez). Because we definitely need to get him the ball. That little pocket pass that we were getting the last half of the season is not there against these guys. They're doing a good job of taking that away," Williams added, noting that swinging the ball and trying to post Lopez up on the other side could work after the Hawks have taken away the first option.

"We're gonna try," said Hollins of getting Lopez more quality shots in Game 2. "We'll see. You'll see."