Allen Crabbe got a step on his defender down the right side of the lane, elevated while drawing a bump, and banked in a one-hander with 2:14 to go in a Friday matinee at Barclays Center.
Crabbe’s basket put the Brooklyn Nets up by six and in a strong spot to close out the Portland Trail Blazers after two tight losses to the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, with a three-game road swing coming up.
But the final two minutes belonged to the Blazers, who outscored Brooklyn 12-4 to the buzzer for a 127-125 win that dropped the Nets to 6-12 with their third straight loss.
“Disappointed,” said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson. “Games come down to the end like that and can go either way. Thought they made the big plays. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times, really a couple turnovers there at the end. Good experience for our guys to go against a really good team like that. Really good experience for our young guys, Jarrett (Allen) and Caris (LeVert), getting their feet wet. We’ll learn from it. Tough loss. Really tough loss.”
With the Nets leading 121-115, Portland scored eight straight points before Spenecer Dinwiddie put back his own miss to tie the game at 123. DeMarre Carroll blocked a Jusuf Nurkic shot, but Nurkic ripped the rebound away from LeVert and finished with a foul for a three-point play that put the Blazers up 126-123.
Dinwiddie’s basket brought the Nets within 126-125, but Portland got a free throw from CJ McCollum, and Dinwiddie’s 3-pointer rimmed out on the following possession.
“They obviously have some big-time players and they made some plays down the stretch,” said Joe Harris. “They’re a tough cover, especially for four quarters. At some point they’re going to be able to either get some calls, get to the line, or just be able to get shots. We didn’t do well enough executing offensively down the stretch to give our defense even a chance to set up and make some possessions there at the end.”
SCORING THE BALL
The Nets had eight players score in double figures, including all five starters, and their 125 points were the most they’ve scored since opening up the season with 131 and 126 points in their first two games.
Spencer Dinwiddie had 23 points and six assists — again without committing a turnover — while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 17 points, Caris LeVert scored 14, Joe Harris had 13, Allen Crabbe 12 and DeMarre Carroll, Tyler Zeller and Trevor Booker scored 10 each.
The Nets shot 50 percent overall and 40 percent from 3-point range.
“Offensively we did a great job,” said Harris. “We did a good job of sharing the ball, playing with the pass, which is what we talk about all the time. We got away from it a little bit in that second quarter, but brought it back around and did a good job in the second half. But you can’t trade baskets with a team like Portland or really anybody for that matter. I think the focus should be more on the defensive end. I don’t think we have problems offensively. We have a lot of guys that can score the ball. It’s just about getting stops.”
PORTLAND’S BIG 3
Damian Lillard, Jusuf Nurkic and CJ McCollum scored Portland’s final 24 points, and the trio combined to score 89 in total, with Lillard scoring 34, Nurkic 29 and McCollum 26. They also combined to shoot 56 percent, while the rest of the Blazers shot 41 percent.
“We couldn’t get the critical stop when we needed,” said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson. “We bailed them out fouling. We couldn’t stop them. Second half I thought that was a key in general, just a tough time stopping their offense.”