The Brooklyn Nets spent the entire fourth quarter on the heels of the visiting Charlotte Hornets, but never quite caught up. After twice closing within a point in the last three minutes — and keeping it a one-possession game into the final seconds — they dropped a 99-95 final to the Hornets at Barclays Center on Friday night.
Both times the Nets were within one the Hornets answered with 3-pointers — first by Kemba Walker and then by Marvin Williams — to hold on to the lead.
But the game had swung earlier, in the third, when the Hornets came from 11 down with a 23-6 run that gave them a lead they never surrendered.
“They take away some stuff you want to do and you have to go down the line with your options,” said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson. “Credit to them. I thought that third quarter really hurt us. I thought we got stagnant. I thought the ball stopped moving. They got into us. They started denying some passes. Got us out of rhythm.”
Two quick baskets in the opening minute of the third quarter had allowed the Nets to build on their halftime lead, going up 54-43. But while the Nets stalled, Cody Zeller got the Hornets moving. The center had nine points an assist in four minutes. His two free throws gave Charlotte its first lead of the game at 59-58.
The Hornets kept going from there. Walker finished don the break, Williams knocked down a corner three and Frank Kaminsky scored on another Zeller feed for a 66-60 Charlotte lead.
There, Bojan Bogdanovic hit a three — the Nets’ first of the second half — and Sean Kilpatrick made two trips to the line, making 3-of-4 to cut it to 69-66. Trailing 73-66, the Nets got a tip-in by Bogdanovic off his own missed drive into a crowd and a little lefty flip by Luis Scola on a baseline run from the left corner to make it 73-70, Charlotte, going into the fourth.
Kilpatrick finished with 19 points and Lopez had 18, but 10 of those came in the game’s first six minutes. As the game went on, the Nets’ big man faced a steadily increasing diet of double teams.
“I think they probably had a talk at halftime and said we can’t let this guy get so many touches and so many shots in the post,” said Atkinson. “I think they made an adjustment. I think they really made his catches tough.”
The Nets did get an active evening from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, as the second-year swingman turned in his strongest performance of the season. Hollis-Jefferson had 11 points with eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. With point guard Jeremy Lin out with a strained hamstring, Hollis-Jefferson shared some turns with Kilpatrick and starter Isaiah Whitehead in initiating the offense.
[gallery_embed: 24581]
“Loved it,” said Atkinson. “First of all we had him on Kemba and he really, I thought he was outstanding defensively. Made a couple of shots. He’s been working hard on it, so credit to him. He drove the ball. I think he had six assists tonight. He made plays. Rondae can play in the pick and roll. It’s just when he’s with Jeremy and that first unit he’s not getting a lot of looks there. Tonight, because we’re sharing the responsibilities a little more, he got in the pick and roll and made some plays. He’s very capable.”
For the second game in a row, the Nets got off to a crisp start on the offensive end. They took a 21-8 lead midway through the first quarter, powered by Lopez’s 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. They knocked down nine of their first 13 shots in another fast start, and Booker handled the early muscle work with six boards and two blocks in six minutes.
After the Hornets tied the game at 23 with a 15-2 run over the last five minutes of the first quarter, the Nets rebuilt a double-digit lead in the second. Justin Hamilton followed up two short jumpers with a 3-pointers and Kilpatrick drove the lane for a runner and knocked down a top-of-the key three for a 38-30 lead. Two Hollis-Jefferson threes made it 50-38 Nets two minutes before halftime.