By Mike McGraw (Daily Herald)Ronnie Brewer played the entire fourth quarter in Wednesday’s 88-83 win at Cleveland, finishing with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 6 steals.
With his defensive contributions already growing, he’ll get to relive some of his Utah days by helping guard Lakers star Kobe Bryant on Friday at the United Center.
“I think he had his way with a lot of different guys on our (Utah) team,” Brewer said Thursday at the Berto Center. “With him, it’s tough. You can’t really show him the same look twice. You might have stopped him on one play. The next time down the court, he’s going to try to do a counter to whatever you played him the last time.
“You’ve got to mix up playing physical, try to force him to take contested jump shots and don’t put him on the free throw line or give him easy layups.”
Coach Tom Thibodeau pulled starting two guard Keith Bogans less than two minutes into the third quarter, but still has no plans to change the starting lineup.
“Keith got hung up on a screen and I thought he hurt his shoulder. That’s why I took him out,” Thibodeau said. “I like the way the rotation’s working. We got off to a very good start in the first quarter (with Bogans). Ronnie came in and played very well and Kyle (Korver) finished the game well.”
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