No Jeremy Lin. No problem.
The Nets had to go without Lin on Wednesday when his lower back stiffened up before the game but ended up having more than enough to pull out a 107-97 victory over the spiraling Lakers at Barclays Center.
They got a fourth quarter spark from another point guard — Isaiah Whitehead — to pull away down the stretch and hand Los Angeles its eighth straight loss. Whitehead languished on the bench for most of the game with foul trouble but scored six points and had a pair of assists in a 20-12 burst as Brooklyn pulled away from a tie at 82 for the win.
Brook Lopez had 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.
It snapped the Nets’ two game losing streak and avenged the 125-118 loss in Los Angeles earlier in the season.
Bojan Bogdanovic had 23 points, Sean Kilpatrick had 22 points and five assists and Trevor Booker had 18 rebounds for the Nets. Kilpatrick has 20 or more points in four of his past six games.
Lou Williams had 16 points, Nick Young had 14 points, Timofey Mozgov had 12 points and 13 rebounds and Jordan Clarkson had 12 points for the Lakers.
Whitehead scored on a pair of drives, found Lopez for a layup and capped the run by hitting Joe Harris for a three-pointer and a 102-94 lead with 4:50 left.
He fouled out on the next possession.
After looking weak on both ends of the floor in the first quarter, the Nets started to get their act together midway through the second quarter and then rode a 13-4 burst to reach halftime with a 52-43 lead.
It began for them on the defensive end with the Nets holding Los Angeles without a field goal over a span of 8:49.
The Lakers had been getting a bunch of open looks in the paint and made 15 of their first 27 shots overall. The only reason the Nets were still within 37-32 with about nine minutes until halftime was because they’d made a dozen free throws. That’s when Brooklyn started to lock down.
After the Lakers’ Jordan Clarkson hit the jumper for the five-point lead with 8:58 left in the second quarter, L.A. didn’t make another basket until Lou Williams scored with 9.1 seconds to play. In between, the Nets held the Lakers to 0-for-14 with a pair of turnovers.
The Nets got to their halftime margin with three three-pointers in the last four minutes. Trevor Booker hit the first for a 42-39 lead, Joe Harris hit one with 30 seconds to the break and, after Williams’ bucket, Sean Kilpatrick drained one at the buzzer.
Kilpatrick and Lopez each had 10 points at the break. D’Angelo Russell, who came in as L.A.’s No. 2 scorer with a 15.3-point average, had only one point at halftime.
Russell didn’t stay down. In the third quarter, he had eight points and Nick Young also had eight as Los Angeles rediscovered its stroke and the lead. All of Young’s eight points came in a 15-3 burst that had the Lakers up 70-65.
Larry Nance Jr. had the highlight of the game when he soared over Brook Lopez for a spectacular one-handed slam in the final minute of the third quarter, which ended with the Lakers up 76-75.
..... - Newsday