The San Antonio Spurs closed the first half in a rush to get some separation from the Brooklyn Nets and stretched their lead from there on the way to handing the Nets a 112-86 loss at Barclays Center.
“Their energy was at a whole other level than ours,” said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson. “No excuses. We had to handle three games in four days, that’s what it is. I think we fought in New Orleans, fought in Charlotte. Tonight we just didn’t have the requisite energy.”
Rookie Isaiah Whitehead scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Nets and Sean Kilpatrick added 17.
But overall the Nets had their lowest-scoring game of the season. They shot just 5-of-25 (20 percent) from 3-point range, their second-fewest attempts and second-lowest percentage of the season.
The Nets started off pounding the ball to Brook Lopez on the block, and the big man scored eight points in the first seven minutes. Lopez, averaging 5.2 3-point attempts per game coming in, took one shot from 3-point range and finished with 12 points.
“They switch a lot and now you have to be able to make plays,” said Atkinson. “You have to keep the ball moving. I thought we got really stagnant. You know, we looked for Brook in the post and couldn’t take advantage of that. Their big guys did a good job of containing our smalls off the dribble.”
Despite their long-distance struggles, the Nets hung even with San Antonio until late in the second quarter.
With the Spurs up by a point, 39-38, Patty Mills sparked a 10-2 run. He opened the burst with a 3-pointer, knocked down a pair of jumpers and fed Dewayne Dedmon cutting down the lane as San Antonio went up 49-40 and eventually led 52-42 at the half after Mills added another 3-pointer to give himself 13 points at the break.
The Nets were still within 12 points in the middle of the third quarter, trailing 66-54 before the Spurs took off on an 11-2 run. It was Mills again to cap the run as his 3-pointer put San Antonio up 77-56.
Starting with Mills’ 3-pointer, the Spurs made 4-of-7 from behind the arc over the next 3:30, running their lead as high as 25 points before the end of the quarter and taking a 91-69 lead into the fourth.