Trail Blazers Correct Mistakes Of The Past To Beat Nets In Brooklyn

BROOKLYN -- The first time the Trail Blazers and Nets faced off this season, Portland lost in large part due to an inability to score in the third quarter and get stops in the fourth.It went the other way in the second meeting Friday afternoon in Brooklyn, with the Trail Blazers shooting 68 percent from the field in the third quarter and making plays on both ends late in the fourth to come away with a 127-125 victory at Barclays Center.  “The game itself was such a back and forth offensive game and the end of the game wasn’t any different," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "We made some good defensive stops in the last minute and a half and we were able to convert in the other direction."Portland is now 11-8 overall and 4-4 on the road this season. With the win, the Trail Blazers split the season series with the Nets 1-1. Though they would finish strong, the Trail Blazers got off to yet another slow start Friday afternoon. While they shot a respectable 40 percent from the field in the quarter, the Nets shot 20 percentage points better, scoring 20 points in the paint in the process. Brooklyn would take their largest lead of the night at 11 points before taking a 32-23 lead into the second quarter.But the game started to turn in Portland's favor late in the first half. After a Rondae Hollis-Jefferson floater that put the Nets up 46-35 with 5:18 to play in the second quarter, Portland rattled off a 10-0 run, capped by a CJ McCollum three-pointer, over the next two minutes to get to within two points before the intermission. Portland would take their first lead of the night early in the third quarter after a Damian Lillard layup gave the Trail Blazers a 61-60 advantage. The lead would change 10 times in the third quarter alone, even with Lillard going for 15, Jusuf Nurkić putting up 12 and Portland as a team shooting 60 percent from the field.