Brook Lopez's foot is OK
Brook Lopez of the Brooklyn Nets blocks a shot in the second half against Larry Nance Jr. of the Los Angeles Lakers at Barclays Center on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015. Credit: Jim McIsaac
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Brook Lopez held his breath Saturday as his surgically repaired right foot was examined.
Complaining of pain after stepping on someone's heel, he left the game against the Bucks in the third quarter, and with his injury history, the Nets weren't taking any chances. They immediately had Lopez get an X-ray, which was negative. It turned out the foot was just sore, and no further tests were necessary once the team physician compared the X-ray to his previous one.
"It's annoying because it's a whole process,'' Lopez said Monday. "It scared me, but I am confident now and I know it is nothing. This happened last year when we were in China. So we are just taking precautions. There's hardware in the foot, so stuff isn't going to feel 100 percent natural all the time. But I feel good now.''
Even so, he didn't practice Monday because of mild back spasms and isn't expected to do much Tuesday. But if all goes well, the plan is for him to play Wednesday night against the Rockets.
The Nets (0-7) are glad they haven't lost their scoring leader (20.4 average). That didn't appear to be a given on Saturday.
"It's great news that he's not hurt again,'' coach Lionel Hollins said. "Not just for us, but for him personally with all the injury issues he's had throughout his career. It's nice to know that he can step on somebody's foot and just sprain an ankle like normal people.''