Nets fall again in 2nd night of back-to-back
This back-to-back problem has become a thing for the Nets.
After Friday’s win in Washington, the Nets had the Clippers on the ropes, but they couldn’t finish them off. Brooklyn coughed up a double-digit lead and a pair of late runs to lose, 127-119, before 12,944 at Barclays Center.
“We’re just not at that point where we could get over the hump,” Kenny Atkinson said. “Obviously frustrated on the back-toback. That’s the next step, to come back after a good victory like we had in Washington … and get a win. We had it. We had our opportunities. We just couldn’t close it out.”
Against a jet-lagged Clippers team that flew cross country, the Nets led by as much as 15 points, and 110108 with five minutes left. But they allowed nine straight points and never recovered, falling to 0-4 on the second game of backto-backs. With 10 more, it’s an issue they’d better fix.
The Nets saw former Knick Danilo Gallinari pour in a game-high 28 points, and Long Island native Tobias Harris add 27 points and eight rebounds.
Jarrett Allen had a season-high 24 points and game-high 11 boards, and D’Angelo Russell added 23 points, 10 assists, just one turnover and hit five of seven from deep. But the Nets (7-10) wasted it by coming up small at the biggest moments.
“In the fourth quarter, you could tell they became more physical. They started to get more into the game,” Allen said. “They started to make a run, and we just couldn’t come back from that.”
The Nets got outscored 37-22 in that fourth quarter, with Montrezl Harrell scoring 10 of his 16 points and Lou Williams adding nine of his 16 in the period, both off the bench for the Clippers (10-5).
“That last quarter they out-competed us. They made more plays than us and they went home with the W,” said Allen Crabbe, whose 15 points were a silver lining.
Crabbe has struggled mightily, coming in averaging just 6.5 points on 25.6 percent shooting. But he looked aggressive, hit a pair of 3s in the first 54 seconds and went 3-of-6 from deep. The Nets need more nights like this from him.
“Just being assertive, being aggressive,” Crabbe said. “With Caris [LeVert] out, I feel like everybody has to step up in some way, and whenever the opportunities are there, just trying to get back where I used to be.”
The Nets had a golden opportunity Saturday and squandered it. They led 51-36 midway through the second quarter on a stepback jumper by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who missed Friday’s win with a sprained right ankle.
The Nets were still cruising, up 97-88 with 32.5 seconds left in the third on a free throw by Spencer Dinwiddie — who had 11 points and seven assists, but also four turnovers and six fouls to finish minus-19. And after his foul shot, they gave away control of the game by allowing a 9-0 run that spanned the periods.
Williams went 3-for-3 in that game-tying spurt, then hit three foul shots to give the Clippers their first lead of the night at 102-101 with 8:21 left.
“That was exactly where it was. In that third quarter, there was a stretch there where they went on that run,” Atkinson said. “Give credit to their bench. They came in and outplayed us.”
An Allen free throw gave them a 110-108 lead with 5:21 left. But they couldn’t hold it, surrendering another 9-0 run that proved a bridge too far.
CLIPPERS 127 NETS 119