win-wid die!
Spencer’s gift arrives in time to help Nets top Timberwolves
The Timberwolves had been scoring more quick knockouts than vintage Mike Tyson, while the Nets had shown an early glass jaw, giving away games in the first quarter. Even coach Kenny Atkinson joked it had car wreck written all over it. Then the Nets rewrote the script, outslugging Minnesota 98-97 before a crowd of 16,215 at Barclays Center. That crowd cheered when Spencer Dinwiddie (career-high 26 points and game-high nine assists) beat Taj Gibson for a goahead fadeaway with 10 seconds left. And it roared when DeMarre Carroll — who had been questionable with sore ribs, then got kicked in the face during the game — harassed Jimmy Butler (game-high 30) into missing a potential gamewinning three at the buzzer. “Very big, really big victory against a playoff-caliber team; they’ve got three or four allstars. It’s a big win for us on our home court,” Carroll said. “We’re getting better. We’re progressing, going in the right direction. We’re learning how to finish games. That’s the key to becoming a good team.” The Nets (15-23) have finished back-to-back games for just the third time this season. And wins over playoffcaliber teams such as Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Washington and now Minnesota (24-15) are buoying their confidence.
“We just kept at it. Just resilient, gritty, all those words,’ coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Our defense was consistent. We really got stops. Our offense obviously wasn’t pretty - some things didn’t go our way, some calls didn’t go our way, turnovers — we just went back on the defensive end and did a really good job.
“Yeah, it gives a boost to our confidence. … We’re deeper. We’ve taken a step. Now can we take another step? Can we be more consistent? Can we surprise a few more teams? But really proud of how the team’s progressing and showing a resiliency we didn’t have last year. Last year we would’ve crumbled in a situation like that.”
The Nets needed that resiliency against the hot-starting Timberwolves, who had won seven of eight and buried teams early. Minnesota had run out to a 17-0 lead against Indiana on New Year’s Eve, then ripped off a 16-0 start a day later against the Lakers.
But the Nets — the NBA’s fifth-worst first-quarter team — didn’t fall into that trap.
“It was one of the main things we spoke about,” Dinwiddie said. “[Assistant] Adam Harrington did a great job with the scouting. The last couple games he told us they’ve started 15-plus to zero. When you spot a team that many points, it’s always hard to come back, so that was something we really didn’t want to let happen and we didn’t.”
They hit 14-of-30 from deep, with Joe Harris (17 points) going 4-of-5 from deep. And they ran the Timberwolves off the line, just 1-of-11 from behind the arc.
The Nets jumped in front from the start and built a 55-43 thirdquarter cushion, and still lead 55-47 when they coughed up a 19-7 run that saw Rondae HollisJefferson get three charges and a technical in under three minutes.
Trailing 66-62 after that stumble, the Nets fought back to retake the lead 92-87 on Carroll’s free throws and 94-89 on Dinwiddie’s layup with 2:37 to play.
When the Nets gave up a 9-2 run — capped by Butler’s foul shots with :33 left — they fell behind 97-96 and seemed set to suffer another tough loss. But that’s when Dinwiddie drove by Taj Gibson for the go-ahead bucket, and Carroll’s defense made it stand up.
“It’s a big reason why DeMarre’s here. He’s got an elite defensive reputation,” Atkinson said. “His contest was unbelievable. It wasn’t your normal stay-on-the-ground, put-a-hand-up contest. He rose with him. I told him for a 31-yearold that was a heck of a job.”