Stat Line of the Day: April 7th

B. Lopez (NJ): 44 minutes, 39 points (14-20 FG), 7 rebounds, 3 assists

Lopez has been quietly having a good year in Jersey

When your point guard is named Deron Williams, and he goes down with a wrist injury, that's usually not a very good sign for your team. It's even worse when your team happens to be the already 24-54 New Jersey Nets, where it's tough to say things have been going well, at least lately. However, the Nets do have a few new faces in town from the Williams trade, so some chemistry work is to be expected. With Williams out, someone else needed to step up, and that someone was Brook Lopez, the third-year center out of Stanford. Lopez (above) set a career high with 39 points in a loss to the Detroit Pistons, the eighth time this season he's broken the 30-point barrier. The athletic seven-footer is averaging a career-high 20.0 ppg to go along with six boards and a little more than a block per game. You'd like to see Lopez get closer to the 8.6 rebounds he averaged last year, but the Nets are taking more outside shots this season (1280 this season with a few games remaining compared to 1182 all of last year), which leads to longer rebounds, which detract from the center getting boards. Either way it's still something to improve upon, as Lopez is only 23 years old. Either way, the season high in points on such an effective shooting night gets Lopez our stat line of the night.

Honorable Mentions:

C. Ward (CAR): 42 saves, 0 goals against vs. Red Wings

Unfortunately for the Carolina Hurricanes, they're still down two points to the Rangers for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs with just two games to go. Fortunately for the Carolina Hurricanes, they have Cam Ward in net. Ward has been hot lately for the Panthers, putting up a 2.14 GAA in March with a 93.3 save %, and in his first three games in April those numbers have dropped to 1.31 and .962%, respectively. The Hurricanes still need to win their final two games (at the Thrashers and then against the Lightening at home) and hope the Rangers drop one of their final two to make the playoffs, but a 42-save shutout against the Red Wings was a huge game at the most critical of times.

T. Lincecum (SF): 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 13 K vs. Padres

Tim Lincecum is one of those pitchers we would expect to see appearing often in this column, as he loves to put up huge strikeout numbers. This was his second start of the season, and he's managed to keep his ERA at a respectable 0.64 through his first 14 innings of work. He's put up double-digit strikeout lines often in his career, so we'll keep an eye out and see how many times he'll break this 13-K mark set in the first full week of the regular season.

Stat Line of the Day: April 6th

D. Williams: 18 points, 4 rebounds, 21 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers vs. Timberwolves

For most players, hitting the game-winning shot with one second left on the clock would be enough to make it a successful night--but not Deron Williams (see left).  D-Will went off on the lowly Timberwolves last night, scoring 18 points and dishing out 21 assists.  He set a season-high and tied a career-high with 21 dimes, and he committed only two turnovers in the process.  That's a cool 10.5 assists per turnover, well above his two assists per turnover on the season.  Williams could not possibly have been more integral to the Nets' victory last night, recording assists on 50% of the team's field goals and racking up almost as many assists as the entire Timberwolves squad.  Williams' assists are up after the move to New Jersey; he averaged 9.7 assists/game this season in Utah, but he is now giving the Nets 12.8 assists/game.  His higher assists total has to be encouraging for coach Avery Johnson, since the Nets sent their starting point guard, Devin Harris, and several draft picks to the Jazz in exchange for Williams.   D-Will came through, though, slashing through the porous Timberwolves defense all night and setting up his teammates for buckets time and time again.

Honorable Mentions:

C. Young (NYM): 5.1 IP, 7 H 1 R (1 ER) 7 K's; 3-3, 1 R, 1 RBI (2-2 in 3rd inning) vs. Phillies

In his Mets debut, Chris Young pitched solidly, limiting the division-rival Phillies to only one run while pitching into the sixth inning--but that's not why he's here.  Young is getting an honorable mention because of his performance at the plate last night--a first for a pitcher in the short history of Stat Line of the Day.  In three at-bats Young recorded three hits--all singles--while scoring once and driving in another run.  His biggest impact came in the third inning, when he led off with a single and scored on David Wright's single.  Then, later in the third, Young punched a single to left that scored Ike Davis; it also knocked out Cole Hamels and put the Mets up 6-0.  This made him the first Mets pitcher ever to get two hits in an inning.  Regardless of how he fared on the mound, Young's night with the lumber was quite a sight to behold.

Y. Gallardo (MIL): CG, SO, 2 H, 2 K's; 1-3, 1 R vs. Braves

Like Chris Young, Yovani Gallardo contributed with his bat and with his arm.  He singled and scored the game's only run in the 3rd inning, and then went on to pitch a 2-hit shutout for the Brew Crew.  He delivered the second shutout of this young MLB season, and he did so in impressive fashion.  Gallardo didn't allow a hit other than two singles in the 1st and 8th innings.  He also didn't let any Braves baserunners past first base all night, inducing two double-play grounders in the process.  Though Gallardo did not pitch poorly in his opening day start (two runs allowed in six innings), he was utterly dominant last night in Milwaukee.