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Lakers 128, Nets 113: Brooklyn Falls to Los Angeles

The Brooklyn Nets dropped their fifth straight game as the Los Angeles Lakers pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 128-113 win over the Nets at Barclays Center on Thursday night.

The Nets were down 95-94 late in the third quarter when the Lakers took off on a 26-2 run that extended midway through the fourth quarter and put Los Angeles up 121-96.

Kyrie Irving led the Nets with 20 points and Spencer Dinwiddie had 13 assists and seven rebounds.

Taurean Prince scored 18 points for Brooklyn, Caris LeVert had 16, Wilson Chandler 15 and Garrett Temple scored 11.

A furious first half left the Nets trailing by five at the break after both teams shot over 50 percent in combining for 145 points.

There were seven lead changes and six ties in the back-and-forth of the opening 24 minutes. With the Nets out to an early 8-4 lead, LeBron James scored seven straight points in a 9-0 run that had the Lakers up 13-8. Los Angeles pushed its lead to 32-22 late in the quarter before the Nets closed to within 38-35 at the end of the quarter behind nine points by Chandler in the final 2:17 of the quarter.

Another Chandler 3-pointer — his third on three attempts — tied the game 30 seconds into the quarter. Temple got into the act with three 3-pointers in less than two minutes, and the Nets were up 50-47 with the two veterans Temple and Chandler having combined for 23 points off the bench in the game’s first 16 minutes.

With the Nets down 65-64, the Lakers outscored them 10-4 before LeVert’s two free throws made it a 75-70 game at halftime.

Dinwiddie had 11 assists at halftime, with the Nets having assisted on 19 of 24 first-half field goals while shooting 52.2 percent overall and 47.6 percent from 3-point range. Irving, LeVert, Chander and Temple were all in double figures at the break. The Lakers, meanwhile, shot 54.9 percent overall and 61.1 percent from 3-point range in the first half.

Los Angeles opened up the third quarter on a 13-5 run, with Danny Green making all three of his 3-point attempts in the first four minutes to put the Lakers up 88-75.

With the Lakers up 90-77, the Nets built a 17-5 run fueled by five 3-pointers, including two from Prince. Irving capped the run by banking in a little push shot on a drive and following with a 3-pointer that cut the Los Angeles lead to 95-94. But the Lakers closed the quarter with three straight 3-pointers to take a 104-94 lead into the fourth quarter. Los Angeles extended its run with a 17-2 surge to open up the fourth quarter and push its lead to 25 points.