Spencer Dinwiddie forced overtime with a 3-pointer, then won it with another, as the Brooklyn Nets came back to beat the Detroit Pistons 120-119 at Barclays Center on Wednesday night.
Dinwiddie, reminiscent of his crunch-time heroics last season, scored all 25 of his points after halftime. His 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining in regulation knotted the game at 110, and his game-winner from the right wing came with 7.1 seconds remaining in OT and the Nets down two.
Trailing 103-96 with 3:23 remaining in regulation, the Nets outscored Detroit 11-2 over the next two minutes, capped by Jarrett Allen's three-point play for a 107-105 lead with 1:31 to go. Dinwiddie knocked down two 3-pointers in the surge, turning one into a four-point play after drawing a foul.
But Blake Griffin answered with a 3-pointer for the Pistons. Trailing by a point, the Nets got four shots off in a frenzied possession that began with 56 seconds remaining, but couldn't convert before Griffin finally grabbed a defensive board for Detroit. Reggie Jackson made two free throws for a 110-107 Detroit lead before Dinwiddie hit another three, his fourth of the game, to tie it at 110 with 21 seconds remaining.
Joe Harris had 23 points for the Nets and Caris LeVert added 19. Jarrett Allen had 14 points with seven rebounds and Ed Davis posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Brooklyn gave up 60 points in the first half despite limiting Detroit to 38.5 percent shooting, including 30.0 percent from 3-point range. The Nets did surrender nine offensive rebounds, but only turned it over six times. Mostly, it was just an up-and-down half as the Nets and Pistons exchanged runs. Detroit took 52 shots in the half and the Nets 48. To put that in context, the Lakers lead the NBA in field goal attempts per game with 97.4
The Nets were rolling early, building a 27-12 lead, making 10 of their first 18 shots, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range. But they followed that by going 6:45 without a field goal as the Pistons put together a 21-3 run initiated by Ish Smith and Zaza Pachulia off the bench. Langston Galloway's jumper had the Pistons up 33-30 with 9:30 to go in the second.
The Nets came out of a timeout at that point with a small lineup featuring Hollis-Jefferson at the center spot. After two Harris free throws, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Jared Dudley combined for the last 12 points of a 14-5 run that put the Nets back up, 44-38. But after the Nets stretched that lead to 48-41 on a LeVert layup, the Pistons surged into halftime with a lead on the strength of a 14-2 run, taking a 60-54 lead.
UP NEXT
The Nets host the Houston Rockets on Friday and the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday before heading off on a four-game road trip that begins in Phoenix next Tuesday.