OKLAHOMA CITY — The Nets just completed a winning road trip, but they missed out on a wonderful one.
They took their foot off the gas and paid for it Tuesday night, blowing a double-digit lead in a 121-107 loss to the Thunder before 16,986 at Paycom Center.
With a 16-point lead late in the first half, the Nets were on the brink of completing a 4-1 western swing before they let it slip away. No, they let Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a game-high 35 points, and the Thunder snatch the lead and the victory.
“They just played harder than us,” said Mikal Bridges, whose team-high 34 points went to waste. “Lu [Dort] made some 3s beginning of the third, got them juiced up. Other than that, they just played harder than us and got the loose balls, 50-50 balls. They just outplayed us second half.”
The Nets (39-30), who fell to the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference standings after the Knicks’ win over the Trail Blazers, were outplayed and outworked. They led 62-46 with 1:23 left in the second quarter, but closed poorly and went into the break up by just 10. Then they let the Thunder run off an 18-3 blitz over a 4 ¹/₂-minute stretch of the third quarter (a period they’ve owned lately) to flip an eight-point edge into a seven-point deficit from which the Nets never recovered.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. who score a game-high 33 points, goes up for a shot as Dorian Finney-Smith defends during the Nets’ 121-107 loss to the Thunder. APOklahoma City’s Josh Giddey had 15 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Dort added 24 points on 6-for-11 shooting from 3-point range. But it wasn’t Dort’s 3s that beat the Nets; they beat themselves.
“It was the plays before that, their ability to impact the winning from offensive rebounding, from the 50-50 balls we didn’t get,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “Those are things that we can control.
“We talked about every single possession for this team matters. Every 50-50 ball matters. You’ve got to get dirty, you’ve got to get on the floor, you’ve got to get that possession. You’ve got to take on the battle of boxing out your dude every single time, and then you’ve got to come back and help your teammates if your guy didn’t go to rebound. We didn’t do that often enough and we paid for it.”
Spencer Dinwiddie had 16 points and 11 assists for the Nets, while Cam Johnson added 23 points. Johnson acknowledged the Nets just weren’t scrappy enough during that costly third quarter.
Mikal Bridges, who had a team-high 34 points, shoots a jumper over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the Nets’ loss. AP“During that run especially,” he said. “We had our moments, but too many loose balls went their way. Sometimes that happens, but we just need to control we can control.”
The Nets tried to control Oklahoma City’s drives, but that just opened things up for Dort.
After the Nets spotted the Thunder a 7-0 lead, capped by a Gilgeous-Alexander reverse just two minutes in, they seized control with an 18-5 run.
Dinwiddie hit a pair of free throws to pad the Nets’ cushion to 62-46 with 1:23 remaining in the second quarter. But the Thunder got within 10 at the break, then opened the second half on a 6-0 run.
Spencer Dinwiddie, who scored 16 points, looks to make a move during the Nets’ loss. NBAE via Getty ImagesThe Nets clung to their advantage, with a Bridges dunk making it 73-65 with 7:11 left in the third. That lead, however, didn’t last.
After Gilgeous-Alexander got the Thunder within 75-73, he knotted the score on a finger roll. Then Dort put Oklahoma City in the lead, drilling a 3 off a Giddey feed.
A Vaughn timeout with the Nets down 78-75 and 3:40 left in the third did little. Giddey fed Isaiah Joe for a runner that capped the 18-3 blitz, and left the Nets in an 83-76 hole with 2:42 left in the quarter.
The deficit swelled to 15 as the Nets appeared to wear down at the tail end of the long trip, two days after an emotional win at mile-high Denver and with Vaughn testing the starters.
“I played the starting five heavy minutes. There’s something psychological and mental about that,” Vaughn said. “Can you be at the end of a trip and somehow manage to get a win? Can you play heavy minutes and worry about the next day the next day? So it was a challenge for that group to see how they will respond.
“That’s what playoff basketball is about: You’re going to have to play every other day, and you’re going to play high minutes. Can you get a win? Can you respond the next day? So prepping that a little bit was my psychological looking at it. We just didn’t get it done.”
