Spencer Dinwiddie says no excuses… “we have to make plays”; rookie Jarrett Allen scores a career-high 12 points

A mid-afternoon NBA basketball game at the Barclays Center on Saturday featuring the first of a home and home game between the Brooklyn Nets (8-13) and the Atlantic Hawks (4-17) on paper looked promising for the Nets. The Nets were riding high from a two out of three-game road win against Western conference teams. Brooklyn also had twice as many wins as the Hawks, and Atlanta was without three players. However, to the Hawks good fortune, they met up with a lethargic Nets team allowing Atlanta to leave the building with a 114-102 victory.

“I thought they dominated us in every area, they were the more aggressive team,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson told the media during a postgame presser. “I thought they were the quicker team, they were outstanding. I really have to give them a lot of credit. Coach Bud and his staff; we could never really guard them. We could not keep them in front of us. I don’t know how many paint points they had and that was really the story of the game. Couldn’t guard them, couldn’t keep them in front.”

“You have to give credit to the Atlanta Hawks,” Nets forward DeMarre Carroll said in a locker room postgame presser. “They came out and basically kicked our butt. We didn’t have any energy. We came out lackadaisical and we knew coming off of a three-game road trip, this tends to happen and we didn’t do what we were supposed to do.”

A follow-up question was asked if the lack of confidence or fatigue could have factored into the loss. It could not have been lack of confidence, as Atlanta came into the Barclays Center with a 4-17 record vs. the Nets’ 8-13 record. But let “DC” explain it.

“No, I think it was a little bit more of coming back home, sleeping in your own bed, trying to get that rhythm and I feel that we just couldn’t get it,” Carroll explained. “No matter who we put out there, we just couldn’t get it. But the beauty of it, we play them again and hopefully, we can get them on the road.”

“There’s no blaming on the road trip,” Spencer Dinwiddie responded with a no excuses attitude. “Being what we aspire to be, which is a good team, we have to make plays, whether it’s a road trip, home game, away game or whatever it is. We have to come out and bring the juice and get a win.”

Dinwiddie scored a team-high 15 points with six rebounds, a game-high nine assists, and a career-high three blocks for the Brooklyn Nets. Joe Harris added 13 points, and Allen Crabbe, Sean Kilpatrick, and Jarrett Allen each contributed 12 points. The rookie Allen’s 12 points is a career-high to go along with his six rebounds and one block in 17 minutes off the bench today. It marked Allen’s first career double-digit scoring game.

For Atlanta, Dennis Schroder scored 24 points and Luke Babbitt scored 20 points off the bench.

The Nets get an opportunity to redeem themselves against the Hawks on Monday in Atlanta. Brooklyn also has two “home games” in Mexico City before returning to the Barclays Center; they play OKC on December 7 and the Miami Heat on December 9, and then return to the Barclays Center to play the Wizards on Tuesday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Paul Pierce's season-high 27 points were overshadowed in a disappointing 113-107 loss to the Washington Wizards Wednesday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Had the Nets played with more aggression and rebounded as well as Pierce scored, they could have taken home their fourth straight win.

"It is easy to sit here and talk to you guys about what kind of night I had but the bottom line is I really don't care," Pierce told reporters after the game. "We lost the game and that is pretty much all that matters. We come out here and try to win as a team, it is not about how Paul Pierce is feeling. Tonight we had the inability to rebound, defend the three and that is what cost us the game."

The Wizards (11-3) didn't particularly shoot the ball well, but they soared over Brooklyn with boards. The Nets welcomed back center Brook Lopez after missing two games due to a sprained ankle and though he played with little passion, he finished with 22 points.

"It was on me," Lopez said after finishing with only five rebounds. "The effort wasn't there."
(You think, Brook? You got the ball snatched right out of your hands in the third quarter!)

Joe Johnson was the leading rebounder for the Nets, who had seven and finished with 20 points.

"We scored enough points to win," head coach Jason Kidd said. "There were some rebounds that we couldn't come up with down the stretch. We are getting better but we just lost a game that we felt we could control."

Meanwhile, the Wizards snapped a four-game losing streak after beating the New York Knicks on Monday. Wednesday's game against Brooklyn was the 10th time in 24 games this season that Washington ended the game with more than 100 points.

"It was big for us," Trevor Booker said regarding the Wizards' win, who finished with 7 points. "It was working early, just pounding them on the glass and we stuck with it. And we came out, on top."

Brooklyn Nets acquire first round draft pick, Andrew Nicholson and Marcus Thornton from Washington Wizards

As the NBA trade deadline approached, those who follow the Brooklyn Nets closely wondered if a trade deal would happen. Weeks before the deadline, there was lots of speculation swirling around Brook Lopez and Bojan Bogdanovic. So, it’s no surprise that the Nets traded “Bogie”. The knock, if you want to call it a knock, is that although Bogdanovic is a great three-point shooter, he lacked consistency. Also, his laid-back style, fairly or unfairly, seemingly translated into aloofness.

Bogdanovic played in 212 games (121 starts) with the Nets, registering averages of 11.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 25.7 minutes per game. In 55 games this season, Bogdanovic has recorded averages of 14.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 26.9 minutes per game. The 27-year-old was originally acquired by the Nets in a draft-night trade with Miami (via Minnesota) after he was selected with the 31st pick (second round) in the 2011 NBA Draft. He signed a multi-year contract with Brooklyn prior to the start of the 2014-15 NBA season.

Chris McCullough, on the other hand, is a relative newbie; this is only his second year in the NBA. McCullough appeared in 38 games in two seasons with the Nets, registering averages of 3.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in 11.4 minutes per game. This season, McCullough spent his time going back and forth between the Nets and its D-League team, the Long Island Nets.

Fair Trade: NETS and Wizards

In the trade, the Nets acquired a 2017 first round draft pick, and Washington players Andrew Nicholson and Marcus Thornton. The Nets will be able to use the first-round selection from Washington as long as the Wizards don’t end the season in the bottom 14, right now they are No. 8 in the league.

Nicholson has appeared in 28 games with Washington this season after signing with the team as a free agent on July 7, 2016, recording averages of 2.5 points and 1.2 rebounds in 8.3 minutes per game. Prior to joining the Wizards, Nicholson spent the first four seasons of his NBA career (2012-16) with the Orlando Magic, appearing in 247 games and posting averages of 6.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game. The 27-year-old native of Mississauga, Ontario was originally selected with the 19th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Orlando after a standout four-year career at St. Bonaventure University, where he earned Atlantic 10 Player of the Year honors, as well as All-American Honorable Mention, while leading the Bonnies to their first-ever Atlantic 10 Tournament title in his senior season.

Thornton has appeared in 483 career games with New Orleans, Sacramento, Brooklyn, Boston, Phoenix, Houston, and Washington recording averages of 11.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 23.4 minutes per game. In 33 games this season with Washington, Thornton has averaged 6.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 17.4 minutes per game.

Nets Bojan Bogdanovic forces overtime, but Wizards pull off 114-110 win in OT

Another close game resulted in yet another loss for the Brooklyn Nets, as they fell short 114-110 in overtime to the Washington Wizards. In front of a packed crowd of 15,529 at the Barclays center, fans watched as their Nets failed to hold it together in the final minutes of the game.

The Wizards, led by John Wall (25 points) and Bradley Beal (18 points) handed the Nets their 11th straight loss.

The Nets played a decent first half, leading the Wizards 66-51 at halftime. They shot 56.5 from the field and only turned the ball over seven times before entering the third quarter.

But like the Nets’ normal routine, they struggled to maintain momentum, blowing a 15-point lead. The Wizards were able to snap a 28-8 run in the third quarter.

“Their aggressiveness got to us and we started playing a different game,” said Brook Lopez, who finished with 25 points. “Obviously between that run and the turnovers down the line, it hurt us. We were playing well, doing our thing. But obviously, the second half was inversely just as rough.”

By the fourth quarter, Brooklyn trailed by 12 points, while the Wizards gained an 84-72 lead. The Nets didn’t go down without a fight and tied the game up at 89 with 6:21 left in the game. Things got messy when Lopez fouled out the game with 1:20 left in the fourth. With 41.9 seconds left in the game, Bojan Bogdanovic kept hope alive for Brooklyn with a backboard shot to force the game into overtime at 100 points even.

The Nets tried. They fought again, but it wasn’t enough, losing in overtime.

After the game, Lopez reflected on the call that took him out of the game.

“To make that call at that juncture, I don’t agree with it,” said Lopez.

Nets coach Kenny Atkinson praised his guys for fighting until the end.

“We made some really unselfish defensive plays at the end — guys flying around, guys taking charges — so there were a lot of positives,” Atkinson said during a postgame presser.

The Nets are now 9-44 and are the worst team in the NBA. They are the only team in the league who has won less than 10 games. With 29 games left of the 2016-2017 season, they can now put their focus on how they can rebuild their team for next year.

Nets lose steam in 3rd quarter that could not be recaptured and bows to Wizards at home on Monday night at the Barclays Center

Before a crowd of 12,529, the Nets blew a 15-point lead thanks to a sloppy third quarter. Brooklyn, who led 66-51 at the half, looked great. Brook Lopez, Sean Kilpatrick, and Trevor Booker all scored in double digits. At the time, the team was 8-16 from the three-point line and 56.5% from the field. Then, Brooklyn went into the locker room. At first, the game looked like fun basketball for the team, who has been struggling without their injured star point guard, Jeremy Lin. What happened at the start of the third quarter was a disaster. The 15-point Nets lead was soon cut into a 5-point lead, being outscored 32-15 by the Wizards. The Nets soon looked like the same ole Nets.

“Their aggressiveness got to us and we started playing a different game. Obviously, between that run and the turnovers down the line, it hurt us,’’ Lopez said. “We were playing well, doing our thing. But obviously, the second half was inversely just as rough.”

Lopez was right: Brooklyn lost steam and blew probably the best second half the team has played all season.

At the end of the third quarter, the Wizards lead 79-74.

Everyone knows that it's not how you start, but it's how you finish. The Nets just couldn't finish the game. They dismantled all momentum built in the second half.

Kilpatrick, who scored 21 points, said his team has to want it.

"The third quarters are kind of crazy,’’ Kilpatrick said. "It has to be a situation where everyone wants to take the third quarter seriously. … We lax in the third quarter and that’s when teams come back and bite us.”

The Wizards defeated the Nets 118-113. Washington was able to gain the only win of their three-game road trip. John Wall finished with 25 points, 11 of which were scored in the fourth quarter.

"I was just being aggressive," Wall said. "I missed some shots in the third quarter that I was mad about. But the defense was giving me shots and I had it rolling and I just kept making them."

The Nets (5-15) are currently ranked 14th in the Eastern Conference. Next up: Denver Nuggets.