Every fan in attendance at Barclays Center rose to their toes for essentially the most pivotal possession in Thursday’s encore matchup between the Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers: Game on the road, single-possession recreation, who takes the final shot?
This time it was Spencer Dinwiddie, who sized up his man with a flurry of crossovers earlier than driving the lane for a high-arching layup that ought to have been the nail within the coffin.
Plot twist: It wasn’t — the embodiment of the all of the struggles the Nets face now with no stars left to bail out Brooklyn down the stretch of tight video games.
Cavs star Donovan Mitchell hit a step-back mid-range jumper to carry Cleveland inside two, then the Nets turned the ball over, with the ball discovering its method to Mitchell, who attacked the rim and received to the foul line.
Mitchell made the primary free throw then missed the second earlier than recovering his personal miss. He missed the tip-in, however the ball discovered its method to ahead Isaac Okoro, who hit a game-winning three that left solely 0.7 seconds left on the clock.
Mikal Bridges’ buzzer beater from close to half courtroom fell brief. The Nets led by as many as 10 within the fourth quarter earlier than that lead evaporated.
And because of this, the homestand from hell at Barclays Center went as anticipated — winless.
Thursday’s 116-114 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers marked the Nets’ fifth straight loss and fourth at dwelling in as many video games, together with the second straight loss to a Cavs group set to clinch the Eastern Conference’s No. 4 seed.
The Nets haven’t any such assurances and should proceed the struggle for his or her playoff livelihood in opposition to a surging Miami Heat group trying to climb out of Play-In Tournament territory.
With the Knicks having created separation between themselves and the No. 7 seeded Nets, the one means the Heat can do that’s by profitable extra video games than Brooklyn the remainder of the way in which out.
The Nets and Heat are actually proper subsequent to one another within the standings, with Brooklyn 13.5 video games again from the No. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks and Miami only a half recreation higher.
Bridges completed with a game-high 32 factors and Dinwiddie added 25 factors and 12 assists. Mitchell led his group with 31 and Cavs large man Evan Mobley gave the Nets matches with 26 factors and 16 rebounds.
Joe Harris got here off the bench to hit 5 threes on eight makes an attempt, none extra vital than the triple he hit halfway by means of the third quarter to offer the Nets a 10-point lead, their largest benefit of the night time. Harris cracked the 1,000 profession threes made mark in opposition to the Cavaliers on Thursday. He completed with 15 factors and three rebounds on the night time.
Next up, the Nets journey to Florida for a street back-to-back, first in opposition to the Heat, then in opposition to the Orlando Magic the next night time.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com
