4th is the new 3rd
MILWAUKEE — The Nets finally solved their thirdquarter woes. That probably is why it hurt so much that they let this one slip through their fingers in the fourth.
Thursday’s home loss to the Bucks was a blowout, Saturday’s rematch was more of a gut-punch. The shorthanded Nets stormed back from a huge deficit to take a late lead, only to blow it in a 112-103 loss in front of 15,565 at BMO Harris Bradley Center.
“We just hurt ourselves,” said Brook Lopez, who had 13 points and a team-high six assists, but shot 3-of-17 with just four rebounds and got outplayed by John Henson. “I know I definitely wasn’t happy with the way I played. I’m very disappointed in myself. I definitely affected the outcome. I let us down, no question.
“Our guys just kept fighting. We were all out there [playing hard]. Despite what was going on we had great togetherness and had an energy about us. Again, I feel like I really let us down for a lot of the game.”
The Nets trailed for much of the game, and were behind 62-46 in the third. The Nets seized a 94-92 lead when Lopez hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. But they missed five straight shots — three of those by Lopez — and coughed up seven consecutive points.
Henson knotted it, and the Bucks took the lead for good on Jabari Parker’s lone free throw with 4:33 left.
A pullup jumper by Matthew Dellavadova (18 points) made it 97-94. And after Lopez got blocked by Giannis Antetokounmpo (16 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, five blocks), the so-called Greek Freak made a hook shot on the other end to put the Bucks (10-8) up by five with 2:42 remaining.
The Nets (5-14), who played without ailing power forward and defensive leader Trevor Booker, never challenged again
“We were down one with five minutes left. We couldn’t score,’’ coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We got some good looks. Give credit to them for executing at the end.”
If nothing else, the Nets deserved credit for a solid third quarter. The league’s worst third-quarter team outscored the Bucks 32-25 coming out of the locker room, only the second time they have “won” the period all season. And they played solid transition defense, holding the athletic Bucks to just 10 points on the fastbreak. It wasn’t enough.
They were undone because nobody other than Bojan Bogdanovic (game-high 24) or Joe Harris (17 off the bench) could hit a shot.
“We gave ourselves a chance. I’m so frustrated with myself right now,’’ said Lopez, who finished a plus-15. His counterpart, Henson, led the Bucks with 20 points and was a plus-20. “[I’m] looking forward to that next game, because I’m pretty mad at myself right now.
“I just wasn’t good enough. I made multiple turnovers, missed a lot of shots I needed to make. I let us down on both ends of the floor. … I wasn’t good enough. It’s on me, completely.”
Without Booker, Bogdanovic even did yeoman’s work to hold Antetokounmpo well under his 22.8 points per game average. Sean Kilpatrick added 19 points and drove aggressively (he was 12-of-13 from the stripe), but shot just 3of-13. And against the Bucks’ long-armed defense, the Nets were just 11-of-41 from behind the 3-point arc.