Crabbe and Carroll carry Nets in B’klyn

ALLEN Crabbe scored 20 points, DeMarre Carroll had 17 and the host Brooklyn Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks 116-104 on Sunday.

Caris LeVert and D’Angelo Russell each had 16 points to help the Nets improve to 2-1 with their second straight victory.

Marco Belinelli had 19 points for Atlanta. The Hawks have lost two in a row to drop to 1-2. Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroeder went down with an apparent ankle injury with 3:37 left and had to be helped off the court.

Brooklyn found a way to win once again without Jeremy Lin, who was lost for the season on opening night with a knee injury, holding off the Hawks after leading by 16 points late in the third.

The Nets led 98-87 with 7:47 to go after a pair of free throws from LeVert. Atlanta then went on a 12-2 run, tying it at 99 on Belinelli’s 3-pointer with 5:19 left.

Crabbe, who started the second game of the season but came off the bench against Atlanta while LeVert got the nod at shooting guard, hit a pair of 3s during a 7-0 run to put the Nets back up 106-99 with 3:47 to go.

After Carroll’s free throw made it 107-99, Ersan Ilyasova’s layup cut it down to 107-101, the closest the Hawks would get. —AP