Mavericks quell late Nets rally
The Nets lost point guard Jeremy Lin. Then they dug themselves into a deep hole. And even after fighting all the way back, they couldn’t get the stops they needed down the stretch in a 111104 loss to the Mavericks before 14,045 at Barclays Center on Sunday.
Lin sprained his ankle with 4:35 left in the first quarter, and the Nets fell behind 55-37 with 1:35 to play in the second. Despite all that they rallied to get within 103101 on Randy Foye’s free throws with 1:20 remaining. That’s when Harrison Barnes (19 points) beat them twice inside to seal the game for Dallas (30-39).
J.J. Barea (20 points, seven assists) fed Barnes inside for a 2foot turnaround hook shot with 1:07 on the clock. And after Foye missed a driving layup, a switch on a pick-and-roll left point guard Spencer Dinwiddie stuck on Barnes, with the Dallas power forward overpowering him for a reverse layup with just 26.5 seconds to play. Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 23 points.
“Barnes made some tough shots in the post through a couple of our guys. I thought the right help was there, but I don’t think I did a good enough job in the pick-and-roll down the stretch,” said Nets center Brook Lopez, who had a gamehigh 27 points. “They took great advantage of us in that situation, and I could’ve done a better job.’’
“We’d been getting hurt with the regular pick-and-roll, so we ended up switching it, and ended up with Spencer on him. He’s a load for Spencer, and he used his size and length to score over him,’’ said coach Kenny Atkinson, who added “I thought Spencer did a fantastic job filling [in for Lin].”
Dinwiddie had 18 points and a game-high tying seven assists.
Yogi Ferrell, whom Dallas inked off the Nets’ D-League roster when the Nets (13-56) opted to keep Dinwiddie instead, had eight points and five assists.
Lopez tied Mike Gminski for second on the Nets’ all-time games played list with 550.
Archie Goodwin made his Nets debut. The 21st player the team has used this season, he logged two points, two boards and two assists in 14 minutes.