TIP-INS
MEMPHIS — DeMarre Carroll scored a season-high 24 points, Trevor Booker added 16 points and 11 rebounds, and the Nets snapped a three-game losing streak Sunday night with a 98-88 victory over the struggling Memphis Grizzlies.
Joe Harris finished with 13 points for the Nets, who used a third-quarter spurt to put away the Grizzlies, who have lost eight straight.
Marc Gasol and Tyreke Evans scored 18 points apiece for Memphis, although Gasol did not play at all in the fourth quarter as a smaller Grizzlies lineup made a dent in Brooklyn’s 19-point second-half lead. Chandler Parsons scored 12, but did not play in the second half after tweaking his right knee.
The Nets opened the second half with a 22-6 run, looking much more fluid on offense than in the opening half. Brooklyn connected on nine of its first 15 shots to build the lead to as many as 19.
Meanwhile, the Memphis offense was stagnant with sloppy passes and 1-on-1 play. Memphis converted only two of its first 17 shots.
The Nets made five 3-pointers while outscoring Memphis 32-18 in the third quarter, carrying a 79-65 lead into the fourth.
Memphis was able to get back in the game to open the final period, composing a 12-3 run. Memphis got the deficit to five points, but the Brooklyn lead was too much to overcome.
The Nets, who already were without D’Angelo Russell and Jeremy Lin with long-term injuries, had more setbacks. Allen Crabbe, who was going to start, was a late scratch with a sore lower back. Then in the second quarter, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson went down with a right ankle sprain.
The game was a rough-looking affair in the first half. Both teams looked sluggish on offense and had already reached double-digit turnovers — 13 for the Nets, 10 for Memphis.
The teams were tied at 47 at the break, but the Nets opened the second half with a 22-6 run, looking much more fluid on offense than in the opening half.
Brooklyn connected on nine of its first 15 shots to build the lead, outscoring the Grizzlies 32-18.
“We came out in the second half and got two big stops, scored,” Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We picked up our energy in the second half. The first part of the third quarter, that’s where I thought the game turned.”
Nets: Harris started in Crabbe’s place . ... Carroll’s previous season high was 18 on Oct. 25 against Cleveland . ... The Nets shot 45% from the field, breaking a string of surpassing 50% the last two games and three of the previous four. —AP