Logo

DETROIT — No blown leads. No blown calls.

Just a blowout of Detroit — one that put the Nets on the brink of the playoffs.

A night after missed calls robbed the Nets of potential game-tying free throws in a loss to Minnesota, they didn’t leave anything to chance. They ground out a hard-earned 123-108 win over the Pistons before 18,313 at Little Caesars Arena.

“We really tried to prepare a guys for knowing that this team was not going to give up. We took a punch in the third, and I think we really responded,” Jacque Vaughn said. “Shots went in for us, but our box-outs, 50-50 balls, really covering for each other and defending gave us a chance to win this ballgame.”

It was harder than it could’ve — or maybe should’ve — been. But it shaved Brooklyn’s magic number to clinch a playoff berth to one.

They can clinch the sixth and final guaranteed spot in the Eastern Conference with a Miami loss Thursday at Philadelphia.

“That game is on [Thursday]?” Vaughn said. “I’ll be at home … I might tune into that one.”


  Mikal Bridges, who scored a game-high 26 points, drives on Killian Hayes during the Nets’ 123-108 win over the Pistons. USA TODAY Sports Mikal Bridges, who scored a game-high 26 points, drives on Killian Hayes during the Nets’ 123-108 win over the Pistons. USA TODAY Sports

With just Orlando and Philadelphia left on the schedule, the Nets (44-36) matched their victory total from last season and lead the Heat by a game and with the head-to-head tiebreaker after doing what they were supposed to — bouncing back from Tuesday’s heartbreaker by beating a bad team.

“Here’s the thing: We’re pros and you have to flush it and move on. It was a new day and another challenge,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “We knew that our magic number was two: Now it’s one. So we could control our own destiny with two games to go and that was our only focus. Not dropping one or not putting pressure on both games. Hopefully getting the Magic game and hopefully sitting the Philly game.”

The Nets handed out 36 assists to just 11 turnovers.

They had 22 dimes and just four giveaways in a first half that saw them shoot 60 percent and race to a 17-point lead. They never looked back from there.


  Spencer Dinwiddie, making a pass, had 16 assists in the Nets’ victory. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con Spencer Dinwiddie, making a pass, had 16 assists in the Nets’ victory. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

Dinwiddie, who the NBA Last Two Minute Report showed was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 9.5 seconds left in Tuesday’s loss to Minnesota, sliced Detroit’s defense up with a career-high tying 16 assists and just two turnovers as the Nets put six in double-figures.

Mikal Bridges had a team-high 26 points, while Joe Harris added all of his 18 points in the first quarter when he hit 6 of 8 from deep to spot Brooklyn an early lead. It was key in not letting Tuesday’s heartbreaker beat them twice.

The Nets trailed early on, by as much as 25-18 after James Wiseman found Jalen Duran for a dunk.

Then he followed with a hook shot to make it 27-21 with 5:28 left in the first quarter.

But the Nets used an 11-0 run to take the lead for good.

They were cruising 47-34 after the fourth-highest scoring quarter in team history, led by Dinwiddie’s 10 assists and Harris’ deep shooting.

That cushion swelled to 74-57 at the break, their biggest halftime lead on the road this season.

It was still 89-76 with 2:58 left in the third quarter when RJ Hampton (game-high 27 points) single-handedly dragged Detroit (16-64) back into it.

Hampton scored every Pistons point in an 11-2 two-minute blitz, even ripping down a couple of rebounds for good measure.

His 30-footer capped the run and cut the lead to 91-87 with 59.8 seconds left in the third.

But that’s as close as Brooklyn let the Pistons get.

Dinwiddie found Cam Johnson — who briefly had to leave the game with a knee injury — for a drought-busting 3-pointer.


  Joe Harris scored 18 points off the bench in the Nets’ win. USA TODAY Sports Joe Harris scored 18 points off the bench in the Nets’ win. USA TODAY Sports

That made it 94-87 and the Nets largely held Detroit at arm’s length the rest of the evening.

“We got stops at the end. Definitely buckled down defensively,” Harris said. “It got loose a little bit, they hit some tough shots, 3s. But when we limited their second-chance opportunities, were able to get stops. That’s when we started to close the gap and made a little run ourselves.”

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy