RALLY BAD LOSS
Furious comeback goes for naught in Nets' loss to Clips
LOS ANGELES — The Nets lost yet another heartbreaker, an Oscar night collapse so wild and crazy it would’ve been laughed out of Hollywood.
But the Clippers are the ones laughing, and the Nets the ones crying after a 123-120 implosion before 16,384 at the Staples Center. It was a game they’d given away, fought to reclaim, only to let it slip through their fingers at the end.
The Nets dug themselves a 15-point hole, rallied to go up 118-110 with just 2½ minutes left, and fell apart to let the Clippers close on a 13-2 run.
“Yeah, very discouraging. We couldn’t make the plays to put it away,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “The hardest thing in professional sports is to close out a game. That’s where we’re at right now with our ability to close it out. We’re not there yet. We’ve been in a lot of games like this. We have to do a better job.”
The Nets have dropped 11 of their last 12 games, and 15-of-17. They’ve lost more nail-biters than anybody in the NBA, but that doesn’t make them easier to take. And this one will sting more than most.
The thriller wasn’t over until Joe Harris (19 points) rose up for a tying 3-point attempt, got blocked from behind by Sindarius Thornwell, got the ball back but saw his second attempt miss the mark.
“Obviously they made just enough shots. We didn’t,” said Spencer Dinwddie, who had 10 assists but shot 0-for-6, including a poor force late. He couldn’t slow Austin Rivers or outplay Milos Teodosic.
“Obviously I missed one down the stretch I’d love to have back,” Dinwiddie said. “The timing was a little off on the last play, but we got it to the people we wanted to get it to, and that’s all you can ask for.
With the starting perimeter trio of Dinwiddie, Allen Crabbe and D’Angelo Russell all struggling for a combined 18 points on 3-of-23 shooting — and Russell benched for the entire fourth quarter — the Nets relied on Caris LeVert to get them back in the game.
LeVert had a career-high 27 points, 16 in the second half. His rainbow 3-pointer gave them a 113-110 lead, and Rondae HollisJefferson got free inside to put them up by five. LeVert dropped in another rainbow 3 to pad the lead to 118-110. But they couldn’t hold it.
“I was just trying to be aggressive and make plays. Coach talked about our competitiveness at halftime, and we didn’t want to go out like that,” LeVert said. “We don’t like losing”games. We fought back, but we should’ve never got ourselves in that position in the first place. We’re just trying to get better.”
Rivers (game-high tying 27) hit a tough, contested 3-pointer over LeVert’s long outstretched arms to put the Clippers up for good at 121-120 with 33. 5 seconds left. And when DeAndre Jordan (17 points, 15 rebounds) tipped a LeVert pass, Tobias Harris (26 points) came up with it for the Clippers (34-28).
Lou Williams did the rest, hitting another tough fade over LeVert to pad the lead to three with just 8.9 seconds left. The Nets couldn’t tie.
“I wish I could pinpoint one thing. The shot selection and the inability to get a key stop, it works both ways,” Atkinson said. “That’s why you lose an eight-point lead. It’s not just one or the other. It’s both.”