NEW ORLEANS — The Nets offense set basketball back a couple decades. But they overcame it with some historic defense.

Brooklyn escaped New Orleans with a 108-101 overtime nail-biter at Smoothie King Center, using some great defense and a come-from-behind rally to avoid what would have been a humbling defeat.

“Both teams were throwing rocks out there. It wasn’t exactly great flow to the game, but our defense saved us,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We really had to work for this one.”

Yes, this was more hard work than work of art.

Spencer Dinwiddie had a game-high 31 points and seven assists, including the first four points of overtime, to give the Nets (15-12) a lead they just barely managed to hold on to. Joe Harris added 24 points and six rebounds, but it was Brooklyn’s defense that handed the Pelicans a 13th straight loss.

“It was an ugly game but we pulled it out. I don’t know how we pulled it out but at the end of the day we did what we needed to do to get the W,” said Jarrett Allen, who had 12 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high-tying six blocks.

“That just shows we’re out there playing hard, how much our defense has improved, how much we’re locking up on defense.”

The Nets held New Orleans (6-22) scoreless for an 8:44 stretch that spanned the second and third quarters. They forced 17 straight misses in a 15-0 run.

Brooklyn allowed just 23.5 percent shooting in the first half, its best defensive first half in over a decade. And by the end, the Nets overcame their own horrible 11-for-39 shooting from 3-point range by holding New Orleans to just 34.3 percent overall, and 10 of 40 from deep.

“We were pretty bad offensively,” Dinwiddie said. “At one point in the fourth quarter it was 70 points. That’s not very good.”

They were actually trailing 72-66 after Nickeil Alexander-Walker hit a pull-up with 8:52 left in regulation. But Atkinson called a timeout two seconds later, subbed starters Dinwiddie, Harris, Allen and Taurean Prince back in, and the Nets hit the next seven shots.

“We just came out with a little bit of a burst. At some point in time you’ve got to make shots,” Dinwiddie said. “Law of averages says some of them are going to go in.”

The starters played the rest of the way, minus five seconds by Allen. And they went on a 12-4 run to take a two-point lead on Dinwiddie’s layup. They led 89-83 when Prince (1-for-9) hit his only basket with 2:53 in regulation.

They couldn’t hold it, allowing an 8-2 run and going behind on a three-point play by Jrue Holiday (21 points). But Allen’s dunk knotted it with 45 seconds left in regulation, and when Dinwiddie missed a contested 3 in the waning seconds, they went to overtime.

No matter. Dinwiddie took matters into his own hands, driving for a layup to break the ice in overtime and then earning — and making — a pair of free throws to give the Nets a four-point lead they never surrendered. They held the Pelicans at bay from there.

After Brandon Ingram (22 points) scored, Allen dunked off a Garrett Temple assist. Lonzo Ball cut the lead to 99-97, but Harris drove for a layup to pad the advantage back to four.

Ingram made just one of two at the line, and after a loose ball had been awarded to the Pelicans with 1:30 left, the call was overturned. The Nets cashed in with a beautifully designed play to get Harris an open look, and his 3 made it 104-98.

“It was a good ATO, good screens by Spencer and JA. I’d gotten similar action off a play earlier where [Jaxson] Hayes had stepped up and this time he didn’t step up,” Harris said. “I knew if he stepped up I was going to have JA, and if he didn’t then I was just going to shoot it.”

He shot it, and essentially ended it.

The Nets held on to close out an ugly one.