It was another battle of two of the top NBA tankers.
The Nets and Hornets met to open the NBA season in October, and the Nets looked the part of one of the league’s worst teams this year in a 19-point loss.
This time around, it was a competitive battle until the end, when the Nets pulled away for a 116-103 win that saw 11 lead changes at Barclays Center on Monday to end their four-game losing streak.
After a third quarter powered by rookies Drake Powell and Ben Saraf outside of Michael Porter Jr.’s season-best 3-point shooting efforts, the Nets held their largest lead of the game (seven points) at the time and were tasked with holding on to it — something they have had ongoing difficulty with.
Within four minutes, the Hornets cut it down to three points.
However, the Nets went on a run and the mood changed in the arena when a Porter 3-pointer was followed by a dunk from Noah Clowney to take a game-high 10-point lead with under five minutes to play.
And it didn’t stop there.
Danny Wolf, who didn’t score any of his 10 points until the fourth quarter, went on to sink a 3-pointer and complete a 3-point dunk play to extend the Nets lead to 114-100 with nearly two minutes to play.
They never lost it from there in one of the best team efforts this season for the Nets.
Porter led the Nets with 35 points, shooting 7-of-11 from deep.
Claxton had his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Clowney added 18.
Despite Charlotte beating the Nets bench in points, Brooklyn’s reserves came out on top.
Powell impressed off the bench with 10 points along with four assists and three steals, and Saraf added seven points, including a key 3-pointer in the third quarter.
The game started messy with an opening 3-pointer by Kon Knueppel, with the Nets seeming unsure who was going to guard him. Yet, it proceeded to be a back-and-forth fight.
Charlotte’s sloppiness benefitted the Nets, totaling 11 turnovers in the first half to give away 17 points.
Porter getting hot didn’t hurt either.
He had 17 first-half points and was keeping the Nets competitive in his return after he was sidelined for two games with lower-back tightness.
One of Porter’s outside shots put the Nets within one point of Charlotte and on the following possession, he grabbed a steal and found Egor Dëmin for a dunk to take a 55-54 lead — the first of the game for the Nets— but it was short-lived.
A Knueppel deep shot spoiled it. However, as time ran out, Clowney had a layup to enter the half tied 59-59.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
