The Nets were defeated by the Dallas Mavericks 129-125 in overtime on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
Here are some key takeaways…
- For the fifth straight game, the Nets went with a starting five of Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Royce O’Neale, and Nic Claxton.
- The Nets started out the game on a 9-2 run, hitting four of their first six shots. Dallas quickly came back to even things up and force Steve Nash to use his first timeout of the night. After that, the teams went back and forth for most of the quarter.
Dallas went on a bit of a run to end the first, finishing things up with a 30-23 lead. After a slow start, Luka Doncic settled into a bit of a groove, picking up 13 first-quarter points. JaVale McGee dropped eight points of his own, four of which came from the free-throw line.
For Brooklyn, all five starters scored a basket in the first. Despite going 0-for-5 from three-point land, Irving led the way with seven points, he also picked up a trio of blocks.
- The Nets' second-quarter success continued in this one. Two early threes from Yuta Watanabe helped cut the Mavericks lead to one early, 39-38. When Durant returned from the bench, he took over to propel Brooklyn back into the lead. Durant recorded a point or an assist on all 13 points of the Nets’ 13-4 run, making it 51-43.
Dallas stormed back, using the three-ball as well. Three straight threes from Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, and Reggie Bullock gave the Mavericks a slim 61-59 lead at the half. Irving almost drained a last-second basket to even things up, but it was waved off.
Brooklyn was a bit sloppy in the first half, turning the ball over nine times, which led to 17 Mavs points. Dallas also shot 53 percent from three, and Doncic led the way with 18 points. Durant dropped 14 points, Irving 12, and O’Neale had eight with a pair of threes at the break.
-The Nets opened the second half on an 8-0 run, to retake the lead early on in the third. The combo of Durant and Irving then went back and forth with Doncic trading baskets and keeping things within a five-point game.
With about four minutes left in the quarter, Simmons dropped in a layup and converted the and one to even things up at 78. However, Doncic took over the last few minutes of the third to open up a 90-84 Mavericks lead. He was up to 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists at the end of the third.
- Irving took over early on in the fourth quarter. He drilled back-to-back threes and added a pretty layup in transition to cut the lead to one with about six minutes remaining. With three minutes remaining he drilled a big three to stretch the Brooklyn lead to four.
However, Dallas came storming back out of the timeout, as Doncic scored four straight points and Tim Hardaway Jr drilled a pair of free throws. With about 12 seconds left, Simmons came up with a huge steal, and he dished off to Durant who slammed home a game-tying dunk. On what could've been the final possession, Bullock had a great look from three but he missed to send the game to overtime tied at 112.
- Dallas opened overtime on an 11-2 run and they never looked back. The Nets were able to cut the lead to four points, but Dallas held on to close out the 129-125 overtime win. The loss pushed Brooklyn's losing streak to three games.
- The stars were on full display in this one, as Doncic recorded a triple-double and finished with 41 points, Irving had 39 points, and Durant had 37 points.