PHILADELPHIA -- Brooklyn Nets small forward Gerald Wallace sat at his locker, staring at the ground.
Was he upset that he was benched for the entire fourth quarter of his team’s 106-97 loss to the free-falling Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night? Was he upset at himself after his latest offensive no-show?
Who knows.
Wallace, who finished with four points on 2-for-8 shooting in 26 minutes, wouldn’t say.
He declined a request for comment following the game.
Asked why Wallace received no playing time in the final period, Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo replied, "We put the guys out there that we thought would give us the best chance to win."
Wallace has gone 12 straight games without scoring in double figures. As we blogged about Sunday, he came into Monday night’s game converting 48.6 percent of his layup attempts and 30.1 percent of his jump shots.
Still, maybe the Nets could’ve used him against the Sixers, who double-teamed Brook Lopez in crunch time, knowing Reggie Evans wasn’t going to hurt them in the scoring column. Perhaps Carlesimo would’ve been better served playing Wallace at power forward.
Oh well. Wallace’s four-year, $40 million contract is going to loom over the Nets if he continues to play this way.
Is Brooklyn putting him in the best position to succeed? Or is he just flat-out not getting the job done?
More questions. No answers.