Crash Course: Gerald Wallace provides the intangibles in Brooklyn Nets win

If you read ESPN, or some fans comments, Gerald Wallace will forever be defined by the trade that brought him to the Nets: The 6'7" all-purpose forward for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams and what turned out to be the sixth pick in the draft, and likely rookie of the year, Damian Lillard.

Brook Lopez doesn't see it that way, however. "His intangibles, night in and night out, I think he’s arguably the most important piece to our team," center Brook Lopez said of Wallace. "When he’s there, his energy just does loads for us... You can’t really explain what he does, he’s just so good."

Nor does Deron Williams "What he does can’t just be seen on stats, his hustle, his energy, his intensity," Williams said. "Just doing the little things that nobody else wants to do and those are the intangibles he brings to this team."

In other words, he's more a player's player than a pundit's player.

Friday night was not necessarily a typical Crash game, but it showed the sort of thing he can do, whether playing small or power forward, where increasingly he is getting minutes. He finished with six points on 3-of-4 shooting and 13 rebounds, along with two assists and a steal. He also got marked down for leadership as well, noting a win is a win, but that the Nets could have played a lot better.

"We don’t want to take anything away from our win, but they weren’t at 100 percent," Wallace said. "We were able to just outmuscle them with the guys we had on the court, but there’s still some things we could have done better in this game."

• Gerald Wallace emerges as Brooklyn catalyst (Video) - Gregory Hrinya - Examiner
• Crash makes splash in Nets win - Mike Mazzeo - ESPN New York