Double downer
First the Nets lost their big free-agent target. Then they lost their big lead. Finally they lost the game, 118-113 to the Wizards before a crowd of 12,529 at Barclays Center. Basically, it was a night they’d just as soon forget.
Hours after seeing Houston match their four-year, $37 million offer sheet to 7footer Donatas Motiejunas, the Nets went out and blew a 15-point halftime lead with yet another terrible third quarter, outscored 32-15.
Leading 106-104, Brooklyn coughed up eight straight points to let the Wizards go up by six with 2:30 left. And after they got the ball down three with 18.8 seconds left, and a chance for one last game-tying 3-point attempt to force overtime, they turned the ball over with nine seconds on the clock to seal the deal and fall to 5-15.
“Their aggressiveness got to us and we started playing a different game. Obviously between that run and the turnovers down the line, it hurt us,’’ said Brook Lopez, who had a team-high 25 points. “We were playing well, doing our thing. But obviously the second half was inversely just as rough.”
They wasted arguably their best half of the season. The Nets led 66-51 at the half after shooting 56.5 percent with 17 assists and just seven turnovers. But they committed 10 turnovers in the third quarter alone, including six in seven possessions during a 28-8 Wizards run to open the second half.
“The third quarters are kind of crazy,’’ said Sean Kilpatrick, who added 21 points. “It has to be a situation where everyone wants to take the third quarter seriously. … We lax in the third quarter and that’s when teams come back and bite us. ”
Washington bit them, leading 79-74 after that run. The Nets took the lead back at 106-104 on a putback by Trevor Booker (14 points, 14 rebounds), who missed Saturday’s game in Milwaukee with an illness.
But after Bradley Beal (18 points, three steals) gave the Wizards the lead with a wing 3-pointer, Harris turned the ball over to John Wall (25 points), who went the other way for a dunk. Wall added a 3-pointer with 2:32 left to make it 112-106. When Brooklyn had one last-ditch chance, another Harris and Booker couldn’t connect on a pass, the turnover killing any comeback hope.
“I probably should’ve set my man up a little more, got into Beal,’’ Harris said.
A day that started with disappointment ended that way, after losing out on Motiejunas.
“It’s obviously disappointing when you miss out on a chance to acquire another asset,’’ general manager Sean Marks said. “But it shows us we were going down the right path knowing that. ... he was matched, just like the guys it the past.”
Those guys were Tyler Johnson and Allen Crabbe in July, when the Nets saw Miami and Portland match, respectively.
Considering the last two years were non-guaranteed and the Nets are some $9 million under the salary floor, did they regret not offering more?
“No, we’re comfortable with where we stand,” Marks said. “Had Houston not matched that, then we were comfortable with the offer. We put our best foot forward and that’s what not only myself, but [Coach] Kenny [Atkinson] and ownership, we were comfortable doing,”