The Nets had lost both encounters against humble Washington, including the worst defensive performance in the entire NBA all season. On Sunday they broke the box the wizards had with them.
Brooklyn returned to its winning ways, a 113-106 win at Barclays Center.
The Nets got typically impressive performances from James Harden (26 points, eight assists, five rebounds) and Kyrie Irving (game-high 28 points, seven boards, and six assists), Harden shook off a clash late in the first half to excel in the second. The newly acquired Blake Griffin made his Nets debut, even setting audiences on fire with his first dunk since December 2019.
The Nets (29-14) turned a 14-point deficit in the first half into a lead of two touchdowns in the second quarter that they never gave up. They saw Washington crawl to a point with three minutes to play, but they got an answer from Nic Claxton (16 points) and kept the Wizards at bay for the rest of the night.
Russell Westbrook had 29 points, 13 assists, and 13 boards for Washington. But Brooklyn survived and won for the 15th time in the last 17 games – and fourth in a row at home – to move half a game behind Philadelphia, pending the Kniicks-76ers game. The only negative was that Landry Shamet had a sprained right ankle.
Still, it was a quantum leap from previous rallies against the Wizards. The Nets came out flat and gave up the January 3 tilt, then allowed 149 points in a January 31 rematch at Capital One Arena. It’s still the highest number of points allowed by a team this season, and Brooklyn had only left 13-9.
“Were in the know. We watched a few clips to remind them what we wanted to bring, what we didn’t bring in the first game,” said Steve Nash. “The first game we were mostly complacent. We were big and never came down and guarded because it was so easy on the attacking end and they had a huge fourth quarter and we kicked it out at the last minute.
“The last game in Washington in particular in the fourth quarter, I felt like they had 50 points in the fourth quarter, and a lot of that was [Bradley] Beal or Westbrook take the whole neighborhood from coast to coast. So go back, show a crowd, have the discipline to do that over and over and then go down and take a stand and guard people. We cannot take anything for granted. “
They have done better. The Nets are 16-5 since behind a vastly improved defense.
“We’ve gotten better with our technology, we’ve become clearer with what we ask of them. We’ve had more time together, ”said Nash before the game. “We’ve added more layers to it, so I think it’s more than anything that the time and dedication to it has put us in a better step.
“But we have to keep improving. We are not a defensive juggernaut. We have to keep improving all year round and getting better and better and tonight there is another chance to clean up some things. “
Brooklyn trailed early, trailing 20-6 to a Garrison Matthews 3-pointer with 7:14 left in the first quarter.
But just a period later, with 7:14 in the half, the Nets had turned the game around completely with an extended run of 35-14 – including reeling out nine unanswered runs to open the second quarter.
Joe Harris hit a 3-pointer to give Brooklyn a 41-34 lead. The Nets pestered Washington with 5 of 18 shootings and eight turnovers, which in turn sparked their own transition play.
Harris hit again exactly a minute later and moved the lead to 46-36. And when Irving took a Westbrook pass, it led to a Bruce Brown lay-up on the other side and a 52-38 lead.
Brooklyn saw the Wizards claw within four runs, but immediately reacted with a 9-1 run to rebuild the lead.
The Nets saw Washington return to a roadway at Westbrook in 103-102 with three minutes to go, but Irving found Claxton for a dunk and three-point game with 2:39 in the regulations.
When Brooklyn forced a Matthews miss, Irving grabbed the rebound and hit a few free throws on the other side to push the lead to five with 1:17 remaining. From there they held on.