The Nets played their first game without the defensive leader of their second unit Saturday night.
They offered a strange tribute as their entire defense went missing for the first half.
But the Nets found it just in time to avoid an embarrassing loss to the Hawks, climbing back from an 18-point third-quarter deficit for their biggest comeback win of the year, 122-112, at Barclays Center.
The Nets (16-13) scored the first 14 points of the fourth quarter, surging to a 99-98 lead. After trading buckets with Trae Young, they finally pulled ahead for good in the final minutes to secure the win a day after David Nwaba underwent season-ending surgery for a ruptured Achilles.
“I think that win was pure heart and hustle and grit and all of those intangibles,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I think that’s what got us the win.”
Spencer Dinwiddie led the way with 39 points, six assists and six rebounds, Garrett Temple added 25 points and DeAndre Jordan cleaned up the boards with 20 rebounds off the bench. It was just enough to survive a 47-point night from Young.
The Hawks (6-24) had lost six straight and 17 of 19, including a 23-point defeat to the Knicks on Tuesday night at the Garden, but they did not look the part of doormats early on Saturday while racking up 73 points in the first half.
Spencer Dinwiddie drives to the basket during the Nets’ 122-112 win over the Hawks on Saturday night.Getty Images“There wasn’t much said at halftime — we knew we weren’t playing with any energy in the first half,” Temple said. “They were out-rebounding us, doing everything better than us. It’s tough to come back after one of your brothers goes down like Dave. … We gutted it out in the second half.”
Temple played a big part in that, switching to guard Young after Dinwiddie picked up his fifth foul with 5:54 left in the third quarter. It led to Temple playing a season-high 40 minutes, but with the Nets not playing again until Thursday, Atkinson thought it was worth pushing him.
Atkinson also had to make a decision on when to put Dinwiddie back in the game. The Nets had closed within 90-85 without him, with Temple catching fire, before the Hawks regained a 13-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Atkinson pulled the trigger with 10:28 left in the fourth quarter and Dinwiddie responded by scoring 16 points the rest of the way.
“We felt like the game was in the balance,” Atkinson said. “We needed every minute he had tonight.”
After trailing 73-60 at the half, the Nets allowed just 25 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth.
“We just got a little more aggressive, brought our bigs up a little higher,” Atkinson said. “We’re usually back, really far back, and we just, ‘The heck with it, we’re going to bring our bigs up and try to force the issue a little.’ Because we felt like they were a much more aggressive team in the first half. We couldn’t stop them so it was a good adjustment.”
The Nets had come out flat to start the game. They eventually reeled off a 15-0 run but were still only tied 34-34 at the end of the first quarter. They saved their biggest push for the fourth quarter, though, to send the crowd home happy.
“Forget about the tactics and who made shots,” Atkinson said. “I didn’t feel, really, the whole game that we were going to win this. I felt like they outplayed us. It’s a testament to their character and their heart and how hard they played. Really, an emotional, character win for our group.”
