Trevor Booker’s season-high 23 points powered the Brooklyn Nets to a 121-111 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night.
It wasn’t so much the volume of points for Booker’s big night, but rather when he scored them. Tied 89-89 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Nets’ bench used an 11-0 run to separate from the Magic and it was Booker who delivered the body blows. Booker had six points, two rebounds and a steal during the game-changing run and from there the Nets jabbed their way to the finish, keeping the Magic roughly 10 points back till the end.
“The second group came in, everybody was playing with energy and got each other going,” Booker said of the bench’s 72-point night. “That second group got us back in the game and we just had it rolling.”
Seventy-two was the magic number for the Nets, who also scored a season-high 72 points in the paint. With the win, the Nets snapped a two-game losing streak and picked up their fourth win in seven games.
“We drove the ball well and I felt like we were very aggressive to the rim,” Coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Probably the difference of the game was the bench though. They had great energy and really picked up our defense. They did a great job playing together.”
Brook Lopez scored a game-high 30 points on his 29th birthday, breaking 30 for the seventh time this season. The 30-point outing was a nice rebound after an off game on Thursday when Lopez scored 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting. The big night inched the big man closer to becoming the Nets all-time scorer, as Lopez is 90 points shy of setting the scoring record.
Justin Hamilton celebrated his 27th birthday with 13 points and the Nets’ birthday boys – along with Booker – carried the offense through the first half, combining for 42 of the Nets 60 first-half points. Brooklyn led 60-53 at the break, but Orlando came back in the third quarter, turning a seven-point deficit into a six-point lead with 3:30 to play in the period.
It was Sean Kilpatrick (15 points) who brought the Nets back late in the third, scoring seven points as the Nets scraped their way back into an 89-89 tie heading into the fourth. The momentum carried into the fourth quarter.
“When the second unit came in during the second half we started out a little slow in the first couple of minutes,” Booker said. “Then we hit a couple of shots that got us going and then we never looked back from there.”
Orlando’s starters carried the load offensively, as Nikola Vucevic (27 points), Aaron Gordon (22), Evan Fournier (20) and Elfrid Payton (20) each scored 20. Payton recorded a triple-double with a 20/11/11 line on Saturday.
The Nets are back in action on Sunday evening, as they complete a back-to-back weekend against the Atlanta Hawks. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.