WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Brooklyn Nets wiped out an 18-point deficit, but came up short down the stretch in a 110-106 loss to the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
The Nets outscored the Wizards by 16 in a 37-point third quarter to go up 84-81 going into the fourth.
Trailing 97-94, the Nets moved back into the lead after Spencer Dinwiddie’s elbow jumper was followed by two Caris LeVert free throws for a 98-97 edge with 2:36 remaining. A Dinwiddie drive had the Nets up by three before Davis Bertans tied the game at 100 with 1:37 remaining on a corner 3-pointer.
With 1:11 remaining, LeVert grabbed an offensive rebound and fed DeAndre Jordan for a dunk and a foul for the three-point play, but Bradley Beal’s 3-pointer tied the game again with just over a minute to go.
Dinwiddie made 1-of-2 from the line for a 104-103 lead with 31.2 to go, but Thomas Bryant put the Wizards back in the lead with two free throws with 29 seconds left.
A Dinwiddie drive put Brooklyn in front, but Jerome Robinson’s 3-pointer gave Washington a 108-106 lead with 8.4 seconds left.
LeVert led the Nets with 34 points, plus seven assists, six rebounds and four steals. He made 5-of-8 3-pointers and shot 10-for-20 overall.
It was LeVert’s sixth 20-point game in Brooklyn’s last nine games. That dates back to his moving back into the starting lineup on Feb. 3, and in those previous eight games LeVert had averaged 22.6 points, 5.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 43.8 percent from 3-point range. Previously, LeVert had been coming off the bench for a month after a two-month absence following thumb surgery.
“I knew it was there,” said Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson before Wednesday night’s game. “It wasn’t like a progression where he went from struggling to all of a sudden a spark went off. I’m not sure how that evolved. That’s just the truth. Getting him into the starting lineup helped his confidence, but he was struggling for a while.”
Jordan had a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds, making 6-of-8 shots. Dinwiddie had 18 points and Taurean Prince had 13.
The Nets trailed by 13 at halftime after falling behind right from the start.
Washington jumped out to a 14-5 lead six minutes in, and the Wizards led 31-17 after the first quarter. The Nets opened up the second quarter with six straight points to cut their deficit to eight, but the Wizards extended their lead to 18 points with a 14-4 run that put them up 45-27 midway through the second quarter.
LeVert slowed that Washington run with a 3-pointer, and went on to score 19 points in the first half while making 4-of-6 3-pointers, but Washington still led 60-47 at the break.
Still training by 10 four minutes into the third quarter, the Nets outscored Washington 25-12 over the next eight minutes to take their first lead of the game and take a lead into the fourth quarter.
A 9-0 run got things rolling and got Brooklyn within a point. Jordan had six points in the surge, including the dunk that made it a 69-68 game. With Washington back up 77-70, the Nets outscored the Wizards 14-4 the rest of the way.
LeVert scored seven straight Brooklyn points, including the 3-pointer that tied the game at 79 with just under two minutes to go in the quarter. After Bryant’s dunk for Washington, Allen made two free throws to tie the game again, and a Garrett Temple 3-pointer put the Nets up 84-81 going into the fourth quarter.
Beal’s 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter tied the game at 84, and there were four ties and four lead changes in the first seven minutes of the quarter, with two Dinwiddie free throws putting Brooklyn up 94-93 with 5:58 to go.