Stromile Swift sat with a sprained right ankle for the Nets last night, so Josh Boone was back in the rotation as the backup center.
Boone was inactive Wednesday when he thought he would play, after missing 12 straight games with a bruised ankle bone. Last night, Boone was summoned at the 2:45 mark of the first quarter and played 15 minutes, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds in the Nets’ lopsided 101-79 loss to Toronto.
“It felt OK, but it was a little more sore than I expected it to be. I couldn’t quite move the way I wanted to,” said Boone, who insisted he can play tonight in Chicago. “It’ll come. I’m sure it will get better every day.”
Swift, who injured his ankle Wednesday against the Knicks, was not the only addition to the infirmary. Jarvis Hayes also sat – and is expected to be out again tonight – with a strained left hamstring.
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Vince Carter was 0-of-6 and scoreless in the first half. The last time Carter was scoreless in any half was last Jan. 25 at Denver, when he arrived at halftime with zero points and finished with 13.
Brook Lopez had his third straight single-digit scoring game (six points) after scoring double figures in nine of 11. “There wasn’t much there,” he said. “And a couple [shots] just rolled out for me.”