Reserves lead Nets past Pelicans in battle of tanking teams

The Nets emptied their bench Tuesday and saw those reserves lead a 119-114 win against the similarly-tanking Pelicans before 16,407 at Barclays Center.

This was hardly crisp basketball between two lottery-bound teams.

Brooklyn ripped the Pelicans 43-26 in the third quarter, their highest-scoring period of the season and most in a third quarter at home since March 6, 2020 vs. San Antonio.

They finished 17-of-40 from 3-point range, and led by as much as 20.

Trendon Watford had a game-high 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting and five assists in just 22:47, scoring 11 in Brooklyn’s huge third.

And with the starters rested early, the bench put five scorers in double figures, led by Drew Timme (16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, nine rebounds).

Brooklyn has the NBA’s sixth-worst record (26-53) and sixth-best odds in the lottery, with a nine percent chance at winning and 37.2 percent odds of a Top 4 pick.

The Nets seized the lead for good with 10 unanswered points in the second quarter. Then they blew it open with 11-0 and 8-0 runs in the third.

Brooklyn led 99-77 after Tyson Etienne’s free throws with 5.5 seconds left in the third.

The Nets coughed up a 13-2 run to see that cut to 116-112 with less than a minute left on an Antonio Reeves bucket.

But Tosan Evbuomwan’s 3-pointer staunched the bleeding with 35.4 seconds to play, and Brooklyn saw the game out.