Kenny Atkinson wanted his Nets to match the Wizards’ physicality — and they did. What they couldn’t match was Washington’s backcourt.
While the Nets’ star Brook Lopez was watching from the bench, having fouled out, the Wizards’ stars took over in overtime. Brooklyn couldn’t stop — or even slow — Bradley Beal or John Wall and lost 114-110 in OT in front of 13,179 at Barclays Center.
The Nets showed at least some of the same offensive flow they displayed in the second half of Tuesday’s loss at Charlotte, when they poured in 70 points in the second half, but still fell just short. But this one likely hurt even more.
After getting shredded 118-95 on Dec. 30 in Washington, the rematch came down to the final seconds. But when Bojan Bogdanovic’s potential game-tying corner 3-pointer missed, Wall (23 points, 12 assists) iced it at the line with 2.9 seconds left in the extra period and the Nets had dropped their 11th consecutive game and their 13th straight at home. They fell to 9-44, still the worst record in the NBA.
Bogdanovic finished with a team-high 21 points, although he will rue the trey he didn’t get. Lopez fouled out with 20 points. But Beal had a game-high 31 points and the Wizards improved to 31-21 after a 2-8 start to the season. The Nets starting backcourt of Randy Foye and Spencer Dinwiddie combined for five points and two assists,
The game was tied at 100 after regulation and the Nets and Wizards went back-and-forth in overtime. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored first in OT, but Beal answered with a 3. Trevor Booker missed, but followed his own shot for a putback. Beal then burned the Nets in transition for a 105-104 lead.
Otto Porter Jr. (20 points) scored for a 107-106 Washington lead, and Caris LeVert made just one of two free throws to leave the game tied. Porter came down and got fouled, and didn’t make the same mistake, calmly sinking both for a 109-107 edge with 1:21 on the clock.
Hollis-Jefferson made a strong drive into traffic with heavy contact, but missed the layup and didn’t get a call. Wall streaked downcourt to draw a foul of his own, and his free throws with a minute left gave the Wizards a 111-107 lead.
Somehow Bogdanovic found himself matched on Marcin Gortat and didn’t waste the mismatch, driving for a dunk to cut the lead in half. Brooklyn forced a Beal miss, but the two Nets collided and botched the rebound. Beal got the board, and the ensuing foul, hitting both free throws for a 113-109 lead with 18.3 left.
Foye made one of two foul shots, and — when the Nets harassed Wall into stepping out of bounds with 6.1 seconds left — Brooklyn had one last chance.
But Bogdanovic couldn’t get it to go down.
“They’re playing great. They’ve hit their stride. They’re an experienced team, a talented team and a physical team,’’ Atkinson said of the Wizards.
Lopez gave them an 18-16 lead with 4:22 left in the first quarter, but conceded a dozen straight points to fall behind 28-18. It was still 10 at 74-64 after Porter found Beal for a layup with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
Brooklyn mounted the first of several rallies, running off eight straight points, 3-pointers by Sean Kilpatrick and Justin Hamilton sandwiched around a pair of free throws by Booker getting them within 74-72. But Washington answered with a 3 by big man Jason Smith and a basket by Wall to pad the lead back to seven points going into the fourth quarter.
The Nets had one last rally in them, and forced overtime. Down 84-72, they mounted a 13-2 run — aided by a technical against Washington coach Scott Brooks — and got within 86-85 on Booker’s driving layup with 7:27 remaining.
They tied it at 89, 91, 98 and — after Lopez fouled out with 1:20 left in regulation — Bogdanovic hit a kiss off the glass to knot it at 100. LeVert, who had missed the previous two games with a sore knee, hustled back to draw a charge with 0.2 seconds left and salvage overtime. But that’s where they lost it.
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