PAIN KILLERS
Nets win numbs blow as injuries mount
NETS 98 GRIZZLIES 88
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Already missing two starters, the Nets lost two more Sunday. But they refused to lose the game, grinding the Grizzlies down 98-88 with their best defensive performance of the season.
The Nets overcame their penchant for late-game collapses, seeing a 19-point lead cut to five but eventually stanching the bleeding and stifling the Grizzlies. And they did it with D’Angelo Russell and Jeremy Lin already out with knee injuries, Allen Crabbe a last-second scratch with a sore lower back and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson forced out of the game in the second quarter with a sprained ankle.
That didn’t stop the Nets (7-11) from shaking off their endgame woes, and snapping a three-game skid in front of 14,889 at FedEx Forum.
“I was happy. It got a little dicey, and we got it together,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Spencer [Dinwiddie] did a real good job in the second half organizing us, slowing down a little; great job by him and the whole group. Obviously we had some guys out. Rondae was out at halftime. That’s why we have 15 guys. Great team win.”
The Nets were decimated, but ultimately victorious.
They erased an eight-point deficit in the first half and built a 19-point cushion of their own in the second. They saw it cut to five at 82-77 with 8:03 to go in the third, but Trevor Booker (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Joe Harris came back in to stem the tide. Booker hit two foul shots and Harris made a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 10.
“It felt really good. They tried to make a run to come back and make it a game, but we did a great job of standing our ground and fighting out to the end,” Booker said. “Yeah, it’s unfortu- nate we have so many injuries right now. But that’s why we have 15 guys on the team. When somebody goes down somebody else steps up, and we did a great job of playing as a team.”
They outplayed struggling Memphis (7-11), which has lost eight straight, the last six without injured point guard Mike Conley. Of course, the hobbled Nets will have no sympathy.
Faced with Memphis center Marc Gasol (18 points), the Nets not only gave Tyler Zeller another start, but returned Timofey Mozgov to the rotation after he did not play in the previous four games. Gasol was too strong for rookie Jarrett Allen, but the Nets’ veteran center duo was so effective that Gasol was benched late.
Hollis-Jefferson fell hard after contact on a layup attempt, staying down and clutching at his ankle as his worried teammates gathered around him. He gingerly limped off the floor and didn’t return, but his team rallied without him.
The Nets knotted it at 37 with a 12-5 spurt, and the score was still tied at 47-all at the half. And the Nets came out of the break even hotter.
Zeller and DeMarre Carroll (team-high 24 points) opened the third with back-to-back 3pointers to push the lead to six. Dinwiddie’s 3-pointer extended the run to 15-2 and the lead to 62-49. Harris — getting the start for Crabbe — hit a 3 to stretch the spurt to 20-4 and the cushion to 67-51 with 6:30 left in the third.
The Nets’ 32-18 third quarter was the fewest points they’d allowed in any quarter this season. They led 76-57 on Caris LeVert’s layup, and closed out the game before heading to play the Rockets on Monday.
“Very important. We took a step forward. They got close. We know teams are going to make their run, but we’ve got to continue fighting and stay together and that’s what we did,” said Carroll, whose two offensive rebounds on one possession epitomized the Nets’ determination. “We really wanted this one. We almost looked at this like a must win. We didn’t want to go to Houston losing another close game.”